$500,000 Bonus Round Coming To Wheel of Fortune
The classic game show is upping the stakes for the week of Thanksgiving.
For one night only, Wheel of Fortune is switching up the bonus round format, and giving one contestant a chance to win up to $500,000.
According to a press release, the DraftKings Casino Multiplier Tournament will air next week, from November 24 to 28. The basic format will be similar to previous Wheel tournaments, with two major exceptions. During the main game, two DraftKings Casino Multiplier wedges will be available on the wheel. If a contestant lands on these wedges, the consonant they call will be worth $1,000 times the number on the other side of the wedge. This multiplier will max out at 5x.
The other notable change is the bonus round, but only for the final game of the tournament. Monday through Thursday’s bonus rounds are set to be played as normal, but the three biggest winners will return on Friday to compete for the championship. During this game, a DraftKings Casino 10x Multiplier Wild Wedge will be added to the wheel. If a contestant picks up the wedge, they can use it as a wild card. If they win the game, they can take it to the bonus round instead, where they can use it to try and win half a million dollars.
The final contestant will spin the bonus wheel, which will have envelopes containing multipliers instead of dollar values. These multipliers will range from 2x to 4x, but if they have the special wedge, a 10x multiplier will be added to the wheel as well. Next, they’ll be tasked with solving five toss-ups within 45 seconds.
Like the traditional bonus round, the contestant will choose the category they want to play, and RSTLNE will appear on the board first. Each successful solve will be worth $10,000, so solving all 5 will net them $50,000. Then the multiplier in the envelope is revealed, which can potentially increase the contestant’s score to $500,000.
Suzanne Prete is Sony Pictures Television’s President of Game Shows, and she commented on the partnership with DraftKings. “This new bonus round format is just one of the many ways our collaboration with DraftKings demonstrates how Wheel of Fortune integrations set the industry standard.”
DraftKings isn’t the only gambling company to partner with game shows this year. BetMGM has worked with two Fremantle shows in recent months as well. Earlier this year, they acquired exclusive online casino rights for Family Feud and The Price is Right. They’re also the sponsor for The Lion’s Share, as well as a recent Las-Vegas themed week on Feud.
This bonus round is brand new to the syndicated version of Wheel in the US, but it’s not completely uncharted territory. The current Italian version of Wheel has a somewhat similar bonus game, which consists of three puzzles and a collective time limit of 60 seconds. Unlike the DraftKings bonus round though, each puzzle has a different set of rules. On La ruota della fortuna, the first puzzle works like the traditional American bonus round, although the contestant only gets the letters NRTE for free. For the second puzzle, only the first and last letters of each word are revealed.
The third puzzle starts completely blank, and the contestant calls out letters to fill it out. They can call an unlimited amount of consonants, but only one vowel. Each correct letter is added to the board, and each incorrect letter deducts 3 seconds from their clock. The contestant gets only one chance to solve each puzzle.
The DraftKings bonus round format may sound especially familiar to some Wheel fans, because a very similar idea has been tested during Wheel of Fortune Live, a traveling show where audience members are called down at random to play the game. Last year, a minigame called Lightning Letters was introduced to the show, which also involves rapid fire toss-ups. The letters are filled in considerably faster than a normal toss-up, and the player’s job is to solve five of them within 50 seconds.
