NBC WoF Question

[alfonzos]

Milton Bradley's editions of Wheel of Fortune don't allow the buying of vowels unless one spins \"Buy a Vowel\" or there are no more consonents to guess. Was this a rule on the series? If one examines the box art one can see a \"Buy a Vowel\" space on the Wheel.

Alfonzo Smith

[PeterMarshallFan]

It was seen on at least one pilot and briefly on the series.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'PeterMarshallFan\' date=\'Aug 3 2003, 03:05 PM\'] It was seen on at least one pilot and briefly on the series. [/quote]
 The space was seen, or the rule Alfonso refers to was? IIRC, you could buy vowels from Day One, provided you had the cheddar with which to do it. You were merely FORCED to if you hit the Buy A Vowel space.

Which begs the question, which I'm sure was answered in the past, but what the hell: What happened to a player who landed on Buy A Vowel and couldn't afford one?

[Casey Buck]

[quote name=\'clemon79\' date=\'Aug 3 2003, 04:13 PM\'] What happened to a player who landed on Buy A Vowel and couldn't afford one? [/quote]
 ...or for that matter, what happened if there were no more vowels left in the puzzle?

I'm guessing that that Buy a Vowel acted like Lose a Turn in those two situations.

[JasonA1]

I always knew it as \"Buy a Vowel\" was the only route to getting them revealed, hence why it was dropped. The box game rules suggest that...okay, we need somebody who truly knows one way or the other.

-Jason

[Matt Ottinger]

I don't know anything about the first few weeks/months of the show, but in the second Edd Byrnes pilot, one \"Buy a Vowel\" space was added to the wheel in the second round, and a second \"Buy a Vowel\" space was added in the third round.  Players could, however, choose to buy a vowel any time they had enough money.  (No one chose to buy a vowel in the pilot, nor did anyone land on a Buy A Vowel space with too little money.)   And yes, the price of vowels has held steady at $250 for twenty-eight years!

BTW, in the original box game instructions, you can't even ask for vowels after there are no more consonants to guess.  Everybody, in turn, gets one shot at solving the puzzle.  If no one can guess, the money carries over and a new puzzle is introduced.  Also, keep in mind that unlike today's elaborate puzzles, the original ones were rarely even three words long.

[Adam Nedeff]

And yes, the price of vowels has held steady at $250 for twenty-eight years!

And given that bottom dollar on the wheel now is $300, doesn't that suggest that some kind of adjustment is in order?

[Brandon Brooks]

[quote name=\'Adam Nedeff\' date=\'Aug 3 2003, 11:14 PM\']

And yes, the price of vowels has held steady at $250 for twenty-eight years!

And given that bottom dollar on the wheel now is $300, doesn't that suggest that some kind of adjustment is in order? [/quote]
 Not at all.  Vowels shouldn't break you, IMO.

Brandon Brooks

[SplitSecond]

I disagree.  Vowels shouldn't break you, of course, but if there's going to be a premium on calling a vowel at all, it should be a premium that's worth giving some consideration.

Vowels cost a finger each.

[Brandon Brooks]

[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Aug 3 2003, 11:40 PM\'] Vowels cost a finger each. [/quote]
That's an absurd idea.  Besides, toes are less useful, especially those pesky big ones.  Get rid of those first.

Brandon Brooks

[DrBear]

Pat: \"And there are ... 11 E's! So that will be all 10 toes and a finger...would you like to solve the puzzle?
(yes, I know it's just one price for however many vowels, but I can't resist the joke)

[SplitSecond]

I'll forward the suggestion along.  Of course, that will require a special hand-held ToeCam, and they'll need an operator.

Brandon, is your resumé available online?

[SplitSecond]

Pat: \"And there are ... 11 E's! So that will be all 10 toes and a finger...would you like to solve the puzzle?
(yes, I know it's just one price for however many vowels, but I can't resist the joke)

If I were a writer on that show, I wouldn't sleep until I came up with a puzzle that included 21 \"E\"'s.

[CherryPizza]

And yes, the price of vowels has held steady at $250 for twenty-eight years!

Here in Aus, they've always been priced at only $50. Maybe we really ARE the lucky country Granted, on Australian WoF, when a contestant correctly guesses a letter, only the dollar value on the wheel is added to his or her score. The dollars aren't multiplied by the number of times the letter appears in the puzzle. A shame, really, the multipled dollar values makes for a whole new lot of strategy

[CherryPizza]

[quote name=\'SplitSecond\' date=\'Aug 4 2003, 12:03 AM\']

If I were a writer on that show, I wouldn't sleep until I came up with a puzzle that included 21 \"E\"'s.[/quote]
Or you could always just have that quote from Tarzan: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

(or does that have an H in it somewhere?)