Wheel 2000

Wheel 2000
Genre	Game show
Created by	Scott Sternberg
Presented by	David Sidoni with "Cyber Lucy" (Tanika Ray)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	1
Production
Running time	30 minutes (including commercials)
Broadcast
Original channel	CBS
Original run	September 13, 1997 (1997-09-13) – 1998 (1998)

Wheel 2000 (also known as Wheel of Fortune 2000) is a children's version of the American game show Wheel of Fortune. The show was created by Scott Sternberg. David Sidoni hosted the program and Cyber Lucy (whose movements and voice were provided by Tanika Ray), a virtual reality character, served as hostess.

The show premiered on September 13, 1997 on CBS and lasted one season with the series ending in 1998. It was broadcast simultaneously on CBS and GSN.

The gameplay was very similar to the adult version, 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.

Gameplay differences from the adult version

• Round categories were chosen by the contestants from a possible three. New categories replaced those chosen in each round. In Round 1, the coin toss winner/the red player would choose, Round 2, the yellow player, Round 3, the blue player and so on.
• The house minimum in each round was 500 points.
• Contestants received a prize for solving each puzzle. The player who solved the puzzle also added the points to their bank, with the eventual top winner advancing to the Bonus Round.
• After each round, Cyber Lucy (or a celebrity) presented a short video clip related to the solved puzzle.
• Vowel cost 250 points.

Categories

Categories resembled those used on the adult version but with minor name changes.

• Globetrotter – Place or On The Map
• Just Stuff – Thing(s)
• VIPs – Proper Name(s)
• Book Soup – Puzzles related to literature
• Made in the USA – Puzzles related to the United States
• Space Case – Puzzles related to outer space
• Above & Below – Puzzles related to Earth
• It Adds Up – Puzzles related to mathematics
• Every Body – Puzzles related to body parts
• Word Rap – Puzzles related to grammar & punctuation
• Lab Test – Puzzles related to science
• Bright Ideas – Puzzles related to inventions
• Paint by Numbers – Puzzles related to art
• Measurement – Self-explanatory

The Wheel

The Round Two layout used on Wheel 2000, with 2,000 as the top point value. Note the large 250-point spaces.

The top values on the wheel were 1,000 points in Round One, 2,000 points in Round Two, and 5,000 points for Round Three and beyond. The wheel was redesigned with brighter colors and different names for various spaces:

• "Bankrupt" became "The Creature", with the creature coming up from under the wheel to "eat" the player's points.
• "Lose A Turn" became "Loser".
• If a player hit the WWW.WHEEL2000.COM and called a consonant that appeared in the puzzle, an at-home player who had previously registered on the site would win a Wheel 2000 hat and t-shirt. The in-studio contestant also earned 750 points per instance of the letter called.
• If a contestant hit "Double Up", host Sidoni asked the contestant a question. If the contestant answered correctly, the value of each consonant found in the puzzle on that turn was worth 1,000 points. If the contestant solves incorrectly, the value was 500 points.
• Three six-peg stunt wedges allowed the player who landed on them to play a stunt in order to earn up to three additional random letters. Each wedge featured a different stunt. Following the stunt, the contestant could either choose to see if the letters earned were in the puzzle or spin the wheel and choose their own letter. If the contestant did not earn any letters or if the random letters earned were not in the puzzle, play passed to the next contestant. Each stunt could only be played once; afterward the space became a six-peg wedge worth 250 points. Some episodes featured more than one stunt on the wheel, one in each round.
• In addition to 100 points per letter, if a contestant hit the "Prize Box", they automatically won a small prize regardless of the game's outcome. A new prize is added for each round.

With the exception of the top point space and physical game wedges, the wheel's layout remained constant throughout the program.

Bonus round

The top winner chose one of two prize packages, labeled "A" and "B". The bonus round puzzles had the same category names as the original version (usually "Person", "Place", or "Thing"; "Phrase" was never used). The letters R, S, T, L, N, E were shown in the puzzle, and the contestant was asked for three consonants and a vowel, and then had 10 seconds to solve it.

Wheel of Fortune 2000 - The Tour

In early 1998, Wheel of Fortune 2000 made a 12-city tour, appearing in shopping malls around the country. The tour was sponsored by The Bravo Card, and branded by Discover. The Chicago office of New Jersey-based promotion agency DVC Group coordinated the tour, sponsorship and promotion.

Sidoni hosted the touring show as well and was again joined by Ray as Lucy. The tour visited a variety of major market cities including Chicago, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C., New York City, Charlotte, Dallas, Denver, Salt Lake City, Seattle, San Jose, and Anaheim. Winners from each market were invited to appear as contestants on the program in a grand finale.

International Versions

There was also a version of Wheel 2000 in the Phillipines besides the regular US version.