Wheel 2000
Wheel of Fortune 2000 (also known as Wheel 2000 or "Kids' Wheel") is a children's version of the American version of Wheel of Fortune. The show was created by Scott Sternberg. David Sidoni was the host, with a virtual hostess, Cyber Lucy; the moves and voice were those of Tanika Ray. The show premiered on September 13, 1997 on CBS and also aired concurrently Game Show Network. The show lasted one season.
The Main Game
Gameplay was very similar to the adult version, except three teens competed in this kids version of the game show.
At the start of each round instead of just presenting the puzzle along with the category, the contestants got to choose the puzzles for each round among three categories (with new ones replacing chosen ones for each subsequent round).
As in the adult version players take turns spinning the wheel except they played for points and not money. On a player's turn if he/she landed a point value, the player calls a letter. If it's in the puzzle the player gets the points times the number of times that letter appears in the puzzle. But if the player called a wrong letter, he/she loses his/her turn to the next player in line (the same thing happens if that player incorrectly solved the puzzle or landed on one of the two penalty spaces which will be explained later). During a player's turn, he/she can buy a vowel for 250 regardless if the letter appears in the puzzle (and how many) or not. The first player to solve the puzzle keeps the points & wins a prize such as a Game.com, a season pass to any Six Flags theme park, and a Sony PlayStation. After each solved puzzle, a short video clip presented by Cyber Lucy or a CBS television star would be shown that related to the solved puzzle.
Note: If the contestant solves the puzzle with less than 250 points, his/her score gets augmented to 500 points.
The Categories
The categories on this show are different, but some resemble the adult version categories. Some of the categories are:
- "Globetrotter" (Place/On The Map on the regular show) - famous places
- "Just Stuff" - (Thing(s) on the regular show) - general items
- "VIPs" (Proper Name on the regular show) - it stands for very important people meaning that it's about famous people
- "Book Soup" - literature
- "Made in the USA" - things related to the United States
- "Space Case" - things in space
- "Above & Below" - same as above except it also has to do with things on earth
- "It Adds Up" - math things
- "Every Body" - body parts
- "Word Rap" (usually Lucy's favorite) - grammar & punctuation
The Wheel
The Wheel was redesigned with brighter colors and different names for various spaces:
- "The Creature" ("Bankrupt") - It would come up from under the wheel and eat all of the player's points for that round. That player would also lose his/her turn.
- "Loser" ("Lose a Turn") - just like the adult version, that player loses his/her turn if landed on. (host Sidoni likes to call it "The Big 'L'")
- "WWW.WHEEL2000.COM" (750 point space) - this allowed a home viewer to win a Wheel 2000 t-shirt and cap if the in-studio contestant managed to choose a correct letter in the puzzle & earning 750 points for each instance.
- "Double Up" (A 500 point space) - this is where a puzzle-related question was asked and if it's answered correctly by the player, 500 gets doubled to 1,000 for each right letter found; if not the correct letter was still worth 500 points.
- "250/Stunt Spaces" - Three 250 point spaces became six-peg wedges branded with the name of that day's stunt, and the first person to hit it played that stunt to receive three random letters for the puzzle. When they got three letters, or when time was up, the stunt was finished. They went back to the wheel and had the option of seeing if the letters that they earned are in puzzle or choosing to spin the wheel and choose a letter of their own, meaning that the stunt only took up gameplay time. If no letters were earned before time ran out, or if none of the letters that the player got are in the puzzle, that player automatically loses his/her turn. The "stunt" wedges then became regular double-wide 250 point spaces.
- "Prize Box" (100 point space) - if landed on the player could receive 100 points for each instance of the correct letter and win a small prize inside the box if a correct letter was given.
- "Top Point Value Space" - this space on the wheel in each round increased 1,000-2,000-5,000; the remaining wedges did not change. This space had a patriotic design on it.
Speed-Up Round
When time runs out during a round, the game shifts to the Speed-Up round which was played as normal. As in the adult version, host Sidoni gives the wheel one final spin, then asks the player in control to guess the letter. If it's in the puzzle not only he/she gets the points landed on (vowels are worth nothing) but also gets five seconds to solve it.
The player with the most points at the end of the game is the winner and goes to the bonus round for a grand prize. If the game ends in a tie, another speed-up rounds was played with the player solving that puzzle winning the game and advancing to the bonus round.
The Bonus Round
The bonus round was like the adult version, except that the contestant had a choice of only two secret prizes (A or B), rather than the regular five (at that time). Also, as opposed to the altered category names in the main game, bonus round puzzles had the same category names as the adult version (usually "Person", "Place", or "Thing"; no "Phrase"). Once the category & puzzle were revealed, the winning contestant was given the six standard letters ("R", "S", "T", "L", "N", and "E") to start. Once some of those letters were revealed, the player was allowed to choose three more consonants and one more vowel and see if any of them are in the puzzle. He/she then had 10 seconds to solve the puzzle; if he/she was successful, he won the secret bonus prize. Unlike the adult version in which the bonus prize was revealed regardless if the bonus puzzle was solved or not, the prize stayed hidden if the puzzle was unsolved.