Wheel of Fortune — the home computer versions

Wheel of Fortune is the home computer transcription of the American puzzle show, and it copies the rules almost line for line. A phrase hangs on the board as a row of blanks, you spin the wheel, and whatever the wheel lands on becomes the value of every occurrence of the consonant you call. The same wheel also carries wedges that cost you your turn or wipe out everything you have banked in that round, which turns every extra spin into a bet: keep guessing, or stop and solve. Vowels are never guessed, only bought at a fixed price out of money you already hold.

Most of the catalogue entries are Sharedata and GameTek releases for home machines. Under the hood they are the same program, and what separates them is which words are in the box: the base edition, Wheel of Fortune 2nd Edition, New Second Edition and New Third Edition are successive puzzle packs bolted to the same board.

What actually changes between editions

The Golden Edition is the dressiest of them, with a brighter studio presentation. The console branch went its own way: Wheel of Fortune: Featuring Vanna White put a digitised hostess on screen to turn the letters, Junior Edition cut the puzzles down to a children’s vocabulary, and Family Edition rebuilt the rounds for a household playing together. Whichever you pick, the evening comes down to the same judgement call about when you know enough letters to stop spinning.

Five of these editions start straight in the browser window here, with no install and no download; the remaining three are catalogue profiles with descriptions and screenshots.