Wheel 2000

Hosts

David Sidoni Cyber Lucy (performed by Tanika Ray)

Broadcast

CBS & GSN: 9/13/1997 – 2/7/1998 (repeats aired until 9/26/1998)

Packagers

Scott Sternberg Productions Columbia Tristar Television

Wheel 2000 (a.k.a. Wheel of Fortune 2000) was a short lived children's version of Wheel of Fortune. Like its adult counterpart, Wheel 2000 was taped in Stage 11 at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, CA.

Gameplay

Main Game

Three child contestants competed in a game based on America's game. They played for points & prizes instead of dollars in this version.

At the start of each round, the player to start the round was shown three categories (one new category replaced the selected one at the beginning of each new round), then selected one to play for that round, after which the puzzle under the selected category was revealed. When the round began, the player in control spun the wheel loaded with point values, surprises and penalty spaces. When the controlling player landed on a point value, he/she then called a consonant, and if it appeared in the puzzle, that player received the points times the number of appearances of that letter, and would spin again. Along the way the controlling player could buy a vowel for 250 points of his/her score regardless of how many of that vowel appeared in the puzzle. But if at anytime the player called a wrong letter, called a letter that had already been called, or called a vowel after spinning; his/her turn was over, and control passed to the next player in line. That player also lost control if he/she landed on one of the penalty spaces or solved the puzzle incorrectly.

The first player 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 200 or under, however, his/her score got bumped up to 500 points. At the end of each round, hostess Lucy or a celebrity talked about the solved puzzle or something associated to it.

ADDITIONAL NOTE: Its original adult counterpart (along with its primetime celebrity counterpart on ABC in 2021) has carried over the three category selection process since its 35th season debut in 2017 where after the final spin/speed up round, the winning contestant gets to choose a category for his or her bonus round puzzle to solve before throwing to a final commercial break. However, unlike Wheel 2000, the categories strips are in Blue, Green or Purple (in the primetime network celebrity version, the category strips were in Gold) while the other two unused categories that were not chosen by the contestant (or celebrity contestant) start to "slide" into the category that was chosen by him or her. In addition, it also mirrors the bonus round from Wheel's short-lived 1980s copycat show The $1,000,000 Chance of a Lifetime.

Categories

The categories for Wheel 2000 were designed for educational/informational purposes, and some of them were similar to the adult categories:

• Globetrotter (Place(s)/On the Map) – Famous Places
• VIPs (Very Important People) (Person/People/Proper Name(s)) – Famous People
• Just Stuff (Thing(s)) – General Items
• Book Soup – Literature
• Made in the USA – Things that are in United States
• Space Case – Things in outer space
• Above & Below – Earth & Space items
• It Adds Up – Mathematics
• Every Body – The Human Body
• Word Rap (Lucy's Favorite) – Grammar & Punctuation
• Lab Test – Science
• Bright Ideas – Famous Inventions
• Paint by Numbers – Art
• Measure It – Self-explanatory
• Monumental (Landmark) – Famous Monuments

Host David Sidoni is geared up.

Cyber Lucy is raring to go.

The Wheel 2000 contestant area. Really scaled down from the adult version.

This is how Cyber Lucy looks like before the categories come in.

Which category do you want to pick?

Four letters left unrevealed. Can you solve this puzzle?

Two unrevealed letters left in this one. Can you solve this puzzle?

I'm pretty sure you can solve this puzzle, right?

I'll bet you can solve this one!

Lucy, move! I can't see the puzzle that good!

This is the letter randomizer. It puts a letter on the letter earning board each time a contestant does something correct in the physical game.

This contestant got two letters.

Who are you calling, Gerrard?

The "LETTER" sign was used when a contestant got a letter for correctly doing something during the physical challenge game.

Lucy talking about the Cattle Drive while sitting on a cow.

Lucy is talking to us now about the printing press!

Here's Lucy talking about your digestive system.

The Nanny cast member Madeline Zima talking about The Tropics.

Mike Piazza of the LA Dodgers talking about Popped Popcorn.

The Wheel

The wheel itself had brighter colors, and had special surprises and different names for the penalty spaces:

• Top Point Value Space – 1,000 points was the top value for Round 1, 2,000 for Round 2, and 5,000 for Round 3.
• The Creature – This acted the same as "Bankrupt". When landed on, a monster from underneath the wheel came up to eat up all the player's points when landed on. In the pilot only, if the player hit that space with no points, the player got 'eaten' instead until their next turn.
• Loser – Same as "Lose A Turn"; self-explanatory. In the pilot, if landed on, the player had to wear a dunce cap; this feature would later be seen on shows such as Street Smarts and Win Ben Stein's Money. When explaining the rules, Sidoni & Lucy simply gave the player "The Big 'L'" with their arms or hands & skipped their turn.
• 250/Physical Game – Three double-wide 250-point spaces contained the name of that day's physical game. The physical game was where the player that landed on it got to play the game for 60 seconds (75 seconds on one stunt, other times, less times, and on those stunts, the player had to answer true/false questions for 15 seconds each) to earn up to three letters selected from a randomizer. When the stunt was over, the player went back to the wheel and then decided to either use those letters and see if they were in the puzzle for 250 points each, or spin the wheel and choose a letter of his/her own. If none of the letters appeared in the puzzle, or if he/she didn't earn any letters at all, that player automatically lost his/her turn. Here is a list of the physical games featured on Wheel 2000:
  • Call Waiting – The contestant would have to pick up telephones and figure out who was calling them.
  • Feed the Raptor – The contestant had to dig meat out of a pit with a giant spoon and put it into the raptor's mouth.
  • Monster Heads – The contestant was given an apron, gloves, and goggles to put on. He/She had to grab pieces of famous heads and stick them on the monster out of a slimey basket.
  • Letter Launch – The contestant had to put alien ships on a catapult and launch them into a spinning pod.
  • Smell-O-Letter – The contestant was given a mask with a smelling tube. He/She had to identify what the smell was inside the four tubes by sticking the tube in the hole. This physical game was similar to another physical game called What's That? on the Canadian kids game show, Uh Oh!
  • Chutes and Letters – The contestant had to stick a ball down a tube towards a spinning wheel, and predict what color the ball would land in. This physical game's name is a play on words of the children's board game, Chutes and Ladders.
  • Remote Rally – The contestant had to control a remote-controlled car through an obstacle course, and cross each line until they got to the end. One line allowed the player to win a Wheel 2000 cap.
  • Cube Roll – The contestant had to toss pairs of cubes into the air, and match a pair of symbols to earn a letter.
  • Match It – The contestant played a matching game in order to earn letters.
  • Wash and Wear Words – The contestant had to put on clothes. Each of the 4 types of clothing (cap, shirt, shorts, shoe) contained a letter. The contestant had to spell the correct 3 to 4-letter words. When he/she hit the button, he/she had to say what word they were wearing to earn a letter.
  • Alien Toss – The contestant had to toss foam aliens at numbered windows with shapes behind them, and match a pair of shapes to earn a letter.
• 100/Prize Box – Where the player could earn 100 points a letter plus a special small prize, win or lose.
• 500/Double Up – Where host Sidoni asked the player a multiple choice question under the category in play. If the contestant was correct, then the value of the consonant was worth 1,000 points, but if he/she got it wrong, the value was worth 500 points.
• 750/WWW.WHEEL2000.COM - The website space where not only the contestant would play for 750 points a letter, but would also try to win a Wheel 2000 t-shirt & hat for an at-home studio player who already registered on the site.

With the exception of the top point space and physical game wedges (when landed on), the wheel was completely isolated, for none of the other spaces changed; the adult version adapted this structure starting in Season 14 in Fall 1996.

The Wheel 2000/Wheel of Fortune 2000 Wheel.

The Top Point Value Space, the only space to change throughout the game. This one is 2000 points.

Here's the mighty 5000 point space.

The normal 250 wedge. This is used primarily after the physical game of the day has already been played.

Call Waiting, a physical challenge game.

The Large 250 Physical Game Wedge; once it's been hit, it and two others become large 250 point wedges.

Feed the Raptor, one of the physical games.

BEWARE! He better be fed or he'll eat you alive!

Here's another physical game called Alien Toss

The 100 point Prize Box Space

The Prize Box Space again from a closer angle

Looks like someone won a prize! Time to open the box!

IT'S A GAME.COM!

The Double-Up Space, answer a question correctly, you play for 1,000 instead of 500.

Visit their website (through archive.org).

A close up of the website wedge

Here's Lucy, announcing today's lucky e-mailer.

LOSER aka Lose A Turn Jr.

Watch out for Bankrupt Jr. aka THE CREATURE!

Whoops! Too Late! Lunchtime, Mr. Creature!

Looks like the creature devoured this contestant's points all up.

Round 1 Wheel (1,000 Top Point Space)

Round 2 Wheel (2,000 Top Point Space)

Round 3 Wheel (5,000 Top Point Space)

The Wheel with the "Call Waiting" Physical Challenge space

The Wheel with the "Letter Launch" Physical Challenge space

The Wheel with the "Match It" Physical Challenge space

Speed-Up Round/Final Spin

When time ran out in the middle of a round, a factory whistle would sound two/three/four times and the game shifted into a Speed-Up round, which was played the same way as the grown-up show. To start, host David gave the wheel the final spin, then the player in control gave a letter. A correct letter won the number of points landed on (nothing for vowels), and five seconds to solve the puzzle.

If the Final Spin landed on any of these specific spaces, here's what happened:

• The Creature & Loser – Spin again
• Prize Box/100 – First person to get a correct letter won the prize in the box, then it became a regular 100 per letter.
• Double Up/500 – Regular 500 point space
• WWW.WHEEL2000.COM/750 – Regular 750 point space

The player with the most points won the game; if the game ended in a tie, a (second) speed-up round puzzle was played to determine the winner. The winner of the game won a chance to play the bonus round for a grand prize.

A speed-up round in progress. Notice Lucy sitting indian-style and in the air.

The blue contestant isn't doing very well.

But this blue contestant is doing really well.

Bonus Round

To start, the winning contestant chose one of two envelopes (A or B), each containing a grand prize. Then the bonus puzzle with the adult categories (always Person, Place or Thing) was revealed. Just like in the grown-up show, The player was given six letters to start (R, S, T, L, N, E). Instances of those letters appeared, then the contestant had to choose three more consonants & one more vowel. Instances of those letters then appeared, then the winning player had 10 seconds to solve the puzzle, and if he/she solved it, the winning contestant won the selected grand prize. The prize was only revealed when it was won, unlike the regular show where the prize was revealed regardless.

Which of the two red envelopes do you want to pick?

Which of the two yellow envelopes do you want to pick?

The answer should be obvious, isn't it?

Gerard just won a computer!

This contestant won a limo ride to school! Holy cow!

Another contestant won a limo ride to school! Awesome!

David, Lucy & the winning contestant

Rating

Music

Dan Sawyer

Gallery

GSN's Nancy Sullivan is here to play!

Pics from WWW.WHEEL2000.COM

Cyber Lucy and the Wheel 2000 logo

David Sidoni

Pump it up Cyber Lucy!

The raptor from the "Feed the Raptor" game

The Wheel 2000 Wheel

Inventor

Based on Wheel of Fortune by Merv Griffin.

International Versions

The German kids version of Wheel of Fortune before Wheel 2000 was called Kinder-Glucksrad running on Sat.1 for a brief period from 1992-1993 hosted by Petra Hausberg. Since this was the only international kids version of WOF that didn't need a letter-turner/toucher, the "Ferranti-Packard" styled small mounted puzzleboard automatically played by itself. 32 years later, in 2024, the U.K. and Australian reboots of WOF hosted by Graham Norton also had an electronic puzzleboard that automatically played by itself since it also didn't have a letter-tuner/toucher as well.

There was also a time when Wheel of Fortune in Vietnam (Chiếc nón kỳ diệu) adopted the Wheel 2000 format, but for adults instead of kids.

There was also a version of Wheel 2000 in Turkey called Cark 2000.

Trivia

• The puzzleboard was a giant monitor which in neutral mode displayed the show's logo & Cyber Lucy. In game mode, it was blank and had square computer tiles.
• In the regular game and speed up round, each time the letters appeared during the game, a Macintosh Fred voice would announce the letters shown. But in the bonus round, when the letters appeared, there were beeps.
• The hostess (Cyber Lucy) announced if there were any letters in the puzzle instead of the host (Sidoni), unlike the adult counterpart.
• Unlike the adult version, the studio audience was never shown on camera.
• At the beginning of the show, the host (Sidoni) introduced the co-host (Cyber Lucy), which played similar to when Pat Sajak introduced Vanna, used from 1983-89.
• Lucy appeared in an episode of Wheel's companion show Jeopardy! where she presented a $100 clue in the category of "Cyber Life". The episode in general aired on November 4, 1997.
• Recent reports state that another new kids' version of Wheel is in the works.

Additional Pages

Wheel 2000/Quotes & Catchphrases
Wheel 2000/Video Gallery

Other Versions

Shopper's Bazaar – The original unaired 1973 pilot.
Wheel of Fortune – The show's original and long-running adult counterpart.
Wheel of Fortune Comes to Norfolk - A locally produced, behind-the-scenes special about the show's trip to Norfolk, VA.
Intimate Portrait: Vanna White - A profile of the famed co-host on Lifetime.
Wheel of Fortune on Tour - an hour-long special about the show's return to Pheonix, AZ.
E! True Hollywood Story: Wheel of Fortune - an documentary episode on E!.
Cover Story: Wheel of Fortune – Greatest Moments - an episode on GSN.
Celebrity Wheel of Fortune - The All-Star primetime celebrity spinoff on ABC.

Links

Official website (via Internet Archive)
Wheel 2000 virtual contestant sweepstakes rules
Game Show Garbage's induction of Wheel 2000

Videos

Episode of the Turkish Version

YouTube

Wheel 2000 Tour

Series Premiere Show

• Part 1
• Part 2

Foreign Versions

Episodes of the Vietnamese Version

German Wheel 2000

• Kids Wheel of Fortune in Germany Part 1
• Kids Wheel of Fortune in Germany Part 2