Wheel of Fortune has been a television staple for decades and made its way to almost every gaming platform imaginable and has now made its inevitable way to Facebook. The game is true to the style of the show, but includes many extras that make it a treat for the social media crowd.
Wheel of Fortune has been a television staple for decades and made its way to almost every gaming platform imaginable and has now made its inevitable way to Facebook. The game is true to the style of the show, but includes many extras that make it a treat for the social media crowd.
For those of you that have not heard of Wheel of Fortune, and let me say I am sorry you were trapped in a cave for 30 years, the premise is players have to guess a special phrase or title by choosing letters. It’s basically a giant game of hangman.
Players spin a wheel that has specific dollar amounts, lose a turn and bankrupt sections. Once they know the answer, they solve the puzzle and earn the money. If they land on bankrupt, players lose all their money and have to start over.
In the television program, players have opponents and if a person picks the wrong letter, hits bankrupt or lose a turn, then the turn goes to the next person. Since there are no opponents on the Facebook game, players are given a limit on the number of times they can miss a letter or lose a turn. Once they reach that limit, the game is over and no bonus round is given.
There are power-ups to help make things a little easier when you get stuck. Time out stops the clock for 30 seconds, reveal letter gives you a free letter, free play lets you choose a letter without spinning and double bucks doubles the amount of money on the next spin.
Games are broken down into episodes made up of one standard game puzzle and the bonus round. In the bonus round, players are given the letters R,S,T,L,N and E and then choose three additional consonants. The player than has a time limit to solve the puzzle and win the bonus money.
Each player is given two episodes per day, but can purchase more using Wheel bucks.
When a player earns money playing the game, the cash accumulates from game to game. There are collections such as vowels, letters, prizes, etc. that players can purchase using the game money called Wheel Bucks . Once a collection is complete, the players are awarded Wheel gold, which can be used to purchase additional power-ups and even episodes.
This game fits the gaming style of Wheel of Fortune perfectly and does a good job of creating limits so there is added difficulty. It would have been easy to just let people keep playing and playing, but by limiting the turns and time there is actually a strategy involved.
Wheel of Fortune also has a social component with a score board for your friends. If you can’t figure out the bonus puzzle, then you can send it to your friends for help.
My main complaint with this version of Wheel of Fortune is the length of the games. I would like to have seen three regular games before heading to the bonus round. Then, it would have been nice to be able to have won some virtual prizes such as cars, vacations, etc. just to add a little variety.
Wheel of Fortune is a gaming classic and the Game Show Network has not only brought the game itself to Facebook, but the feel of it as well.
