Wheel 2000

{{For|general Wheel of Fortune gameplay mechanics|Wheel of Fortune (American game show)#Gameplay}}

The gameplay of Wheel 2000 was very similar to that of Wheel of Fortune, except children aged 10–15 competed for points and prizes instead of cash with the eventual winner playing for a grand prize in the bonus round. Round categories were chosen by the contestants from a possible three; the names of the categories were updated to reflect the younger contestants ("Place", for example, became "Globetrotter"). New categories replaced those chosen in each round. In Round 1, the coin toss winner/the red contestant would choose, Round 2, the yellow contestant, Round 3, the blue contestant and so on.

The first contestant to solve the puzzle got to keep all the points he/she earned in that round and won a prize; if the player who solved the puzzle scored less than 250 points, however, his/her score for the round was augmented to 500. At the end of each round, hostess Lucy or a celebrity talked about the solved puzzle or something associated to it.

On a Speed-Up Round; if time has run out in the middle of a round, a factory whistle would sound and the game shifted into a Speed-Up round, which was played the same way as the grown-up show. The host David will start off by giving the wheel a final spin, then he will ask the contestants to call a letter and he/she got five seconds to solve the puzzle. Vowels are worth nothing and consonants are worth a number of points landed on. The eventual top winner advancing to the Bonus Round. In case of a tie for first place that happens after the speed-up round, a tie-breaking puzzle (also known as a second speed-up round) will be in play between the tied contestants which will decide the winner. The first contestant who solves the tie-breaking puzzle wins the game and advances to the bonus round. Presumably, due to the game being played for points, the Wheel is not spun and consonants are worth 5,000 points.

After each round, Cyber Lucy (or a celebrity; most featured were the child actors on The Nanny, a fellow Columbia-TriStar produced series also airing on CBS) presented a short video clip related to the solved puzzle. Vowels cost 250 points.{{cite book|last1=Schwartz|first1=David|last2=Ryan|first2=Steve|last3=Wostbrock|first3=Fred|title=The Encyclopedia of TV Game Shows|edition=3|year=1999|publisher=Facts on File, Inc.|isbn=0-8160-3846-5|page=252}} Games were typically played to three rounds, with top point values of 1,000 for Round 1, 2,000 for Round 2, and 5,000 for Round 3.

Image:Wheel2000Round2.jpg

The wheel featured a special wedge on which a contestant could choose to play a pre-determined stunt to earn up to three extra letters (first round only; the spaces were otherwise giant 250-point spaces). There was also a "WWW.WHEEL2000.COM"{{cite web|url=http://www.wheel2000.com |title=Official Website of Wheel 2000 (courtesy of Wayback Archive) |access-date=April 21, 2016 |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981212034055/http://www.wheel2000.com |archive-date=December 12, 1998 }} wedge, which allowed a home viewer who had previously registered on the site to win Wheel 2000 merchandise if a contestant hit the wedge and called a consonant that appeared in the puzzle. The Lose a Turn wedge was named the "Loser". In place of the Bankrupt wedge was "The Creature", which, if the contestant landed on that wedge, would prompt the wheel to rise, belch smoke, and cause an unseen creature to "eat" the contestant's points.{{Cite episode |title=Series Premiere |series=Wheel of Fortune 2000|network=CBS; Game Show Network |date=September 13, 1997}} Other special wedges included Double Up, which awarded double its value per letter if a contestant correctly answered a trivia question, and a Prize Box, which functioned identically to the special prize wedges on the adult version, except contestants were allowed to keep the prize whether they solved the puzzle or not and the value was not added to their score.

Cyber Lucy would tell the contestants whether or not letters were in the puzzle instead of Sidoni, and whether or not they solved the puzzle.

The bonus round was played almost identically to the adult version, including the adult categories, except that prizes were determined by selecting from two envelopes labeled "A" or "B" instead of the five choices in the adult version at the time. Unlike the adult version, the prize was not revealed if the bonus round puzzle was not solved.

In early 1998, Wheel 2000 made a 13-city tour, appearing in shopping malls around the country. The Discover-branded tour, coordinated by the Chicago office of New Jersey–based promotion agency DVC Group, also featured Sidoni as host, with Ray as Lucy joining him again. The tour visited a variety of major market cities: Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C., New York City, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, Indianapolis, San Jose, and Anaheim. Winners from each market were invited to appear as contestants on the program in a grand finale.{{cite news|title=Game Youths Can Try Luck at Wheel in Traveling Show at Navy Pier|last=Williams|first=Jeffrey|url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/418484916|id={{ProQuest|418484916}} }}

{{reflist}}

• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/19981212034055/http://www.wheel2000.com/ |date=December 12, 1998 |title=Official website}}
• {{IMDb title|0287281}}

{{Wheel of Fortune}}

{{Children's programming on CBS in the 1990s}}

Category:1997 American television series debuts

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Category:1990s American children's game shows

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Category:CBS game shows

Category:Television series by Sony Pictures Television

Category:Wheel of Fortune (franchise)

Category:American English-language television shows

Category:Roulette and wheel games

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Category:Television series about children

Category:American television series about teenagers

Category:Television shows filmed in California