Wheel of Fortune Live stage show kicked off its third year on the road a few nights ago in Georgia, before going to Tennessee, and last night in Carteret, New Jersey, where my daughter and I got to see the show. Bob Goen is hosting all of the shows this fall, which as of now runs through November.
Here's how the show works this year, as changes were made to allow more participants. A group of five is randomly called up to the stage. If some of the people called up are not present, more audience members are called up until they reach five players. The first person to ring in and solve 2 toss-up puzzles becomes a contestant on that night's show. This process if repeated two more times to find the night's second and third contestants. The whole process takes about an hour, then Bob comes on stage to talk to the audience for a bit before starting the game. Yours truly yelled out the answer to his question of who was the fifth host of the show besides him, Pat, Chuck, and Ryan. The audience was clueless to Rolf Benirshcke. Then three women were called up and played a quick game revealing wedges on a screen. The first to reveal 2 or 3 of their color got to be the Vanna for the night. They also later that night called someone else up to play a round of trying to solve 5 puzzles within a specific time period (I believe 80 seconds). Bob said they were testing this out, I am thinking possible to add something like it to the real show.
Two toss-ups were played just like the real show, worth 1,000 and 2,000 points. Whoever solves the second toss-up starts Round 1. Unlike the actual show, however, the player after the one who solves a puzzle starts the next round. There is a "dinner and a movie" gift tag on the wheel, I believe you win it if you guess a correct letter in the puzzle (you don't have to solve the puzzle). The next round either added or replaced dinner and a movie with a spa day package. There is also a surprise wedge on the wheel starting round 1, where you must solve the puzzle to win it. The $10,000 mini wedge is there as well, like previous years, and plays like the real show's million dollar wedge. In addition, there is an audience wedge, where if you land on it and guess a letter in the puzzle, everyone in the audience wins something small, like a magnet or a patch. A trip to Las Vegas was added in a later round. The mystery round was played once (one had a bankrupt, one had 5,000), and at least one later round had the express wedge. A total of 5 regular rounds are played, with the fifth ending in a speed-up. Top point values increased from 1,500 to 2,500 to 3,500, and finally all top values including 5,000 (I wish the actual show did this).
The winner of the game went to the bonus round and spun the bonus wheel, where the top cash amount is $5,000 ($10,000 if you bring that over from the game). A trip to Paris was the other big prize, which was landed on the previous night in Tennessee. Other prizes included a large screen TV, and an Apple iPad, iPhone, iWatch (I believe as one package).
I was lucky enough to be called down as an alternate and solved two toss-up puzzles out of three played to become the second contestant for the night. It definitely helped that the chances of being chosen were greater since only about 300 people showed up out of over 1,000 seats. I won the surprise wedge (an espresso machine) and I believe in all I solved 5 out of the 7 puzzles, losing the second toss-up and one round. I made it to the bonus round and won another $750! When signing papers after the show, they offered to give me $265 cash instead of the $350 espresso machine. I took their offer and left the theater $1,015 richer.
It was an awesome experience. It brought me back to 1987 when I was a 14-year-old big winner on the real show! It was so cool that Bob was back as host. I joked with the announcer before the show in the lobby that probably next to no one in the crowd had any idea he was the host 35 years ago. Bob was wonderful as expected, I only wish I got the chance to talk to him a little more after winning the bonus round rather than being shuffled offstage.
A fun night, go check it out if the show comes to an area near you!
