Wheel of Fortune slot machines are a casino mainstay, becoming ubiquitous around the turn of the millennium. When you walk into a modern casino, you expect to see a Wheel of Fortune slot, as sure as you expect to see roulette wheels and cocktail waitresses.
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IGT launched their first Wheel of Fortune slot machine in 1996. Since then, IGT says they’ve created more than 1,100 millionaires thanks to the more than $3.3 billion the machine has handed out in prizes. To date, IGT has released some 250 Wheel of Fortune slot game variations, from mechanical reel games to video and digital slots.
IGT’s Wheel of Fortune slot machines line paved the way for the licensed game rush that started within a few years of its launch. It’s not hyperbole to say that this line of games was instrumental in the development of our modern slot machine craze.
This post explains everything about IGT’s Wheel of Fortune slots line, from the basics of gameplay to instructions on how to play the games for free.
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Wheel of Fortune Facts
Another creation of the TV genius Merv Griffin, Wheel of Fortune is a TV game show that’s been continuously on the air since September of 1983. The game’s host, Pat Sajak, is the longest-running host of any TV game show in history, surpassing even Bob Barker’s famous four-decade run on The Price is Right.
The rules of the game are based on the children’s classic Hangman game. Each round offers a category and a word puzzle, with blanks for each letter. Contestants spin a roulette-like wheel which assigns their letter guess a prize amount – that’s how much they’ll earn for each letter they correctly guess. Contestants win each round by solving the puzzle, winning the overall game by collecting the largest amount of money after each round of play. A final round offers larger prizes and a tougher puzzle with a time limit.
Love it or hate it, everyone recognizes the trappings of the game. Many of us have fond memories as adults of watching Pat Sajak and Vanna White in our childhood – and they’re still out there doing it, day in and day out. Most of us have older relatives who follow the show religiously.
To date, Wheel has aired more than 7,500 episodes in its current format. To put that into perspective, that’s more than ten times as many episodes as The Simpsons. So, to say that Wheel is a part of the national cultural landscape is an understatement.
IGT’s Wheel of Fortune Slots – the Basics
I’ve found four basic designs used by the vast majority of the hundreds of games in the IGT Wheel of Fortune slot machines collection:
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3 Reel Wheel of Fortune Slots
Most IGT Wheel slots are 3 reel games. These games have either 1, 3, 5, or 9 pay lines. The variety in terms of game variants is impressive – 150 different titles, with different pay tables, bonus systems, and play styles.
4 Reel Wheel of Fortune Slots
10 of IGT’s Wheel slots have 4 reels. These games have either 9, 15, or 50 pay lines, and some are set up as 256 Ways to Win games. These releases have pretty much fallen by the wayside. The most recent Wheel slot designed as a 4 reel game came out nearly 10 years ago.
5 Reel Wheel of Fortune Slots
Based on the games currently in the library, IGT became more intent on releasing 5 reel games about a decade ago, and most of their new games use a 5 reel layout. These games are varied in terms of pay lines – I found fourteen different line layouts in a basic search of the collection. 5 reel Wheel of Fortune slots are also varied in terms of variance, cost-per-spin, and other options.
20 Reel Wheel of Fortune Slots
To date, there are just two Wheel of Fortune slots in a 20 reel layout:
Wheel of Fortune Power Wedges
Power Wedges is a 20-reel game that uses a 1,024 Ways to Win format to present one of the more unusual games in IGT’s Wheel of Fortune library. Power Wedges is the only IGT slot in this collection that uses the Power Wedges bonus system, which reduces the size of the spinning wheel and pays out big jackpots up to 250x.
Wheel of Fortune More Money
More Money is another IGT Wheel game with 20 reels and a 1,024 Ways setup. This game is studded with bonuses, including a Gateway Pick Bonus, Wheel Bonus, and Free Games Bonus. Available in a wide-area progressive.
Wheel of Fortune Slot Machine Symbols
Typically, an IGT Wheel of Fortune release uses a combination of traditional slot machine symbols and a few Wheel-specific ones. With so many different games on offer, it’s hard to make sweeping generalizations. But for the most part, these games are designed using an arrangement of fruit symbols, numbers, or playing cards alongside a few Wheel of Fortune-style symbols.
Here’s an example from one popular IGT Wheel slot, Wheel of Fortune Triple Extreme Spin:
- Wheel of Fortune Logo Symbol
Pays 10,000 credits at max value. - Yacht Symbol
Pays 1,000 credits at max value. - Emerald
Pays 400 credits at max value. - Convertible
Pays 300 credits at max value. - Apple
Pays 125 credits at max value. - Cherry
Pays 100 credits at max value. - Peach
Pays 100 credits at max value. - Plum
Pays 50 credits at max value. - Banana
Pays 50 credits at max value. - WILD Symbol
Appears on reels 2, 3, and 4 only. Substitutes for all symbols except for the Logo, scatter, or WILD symbol. - SCATTER Symbol
Appears on all reels. 3 or more triggers the Mini Wheel Bonus, which pays 50 to 3850x the coin value.
This layout is standard for all of IGT’s Wheel of Fortune slot releases, with some slight changes to the payouts, symbols used, and game rules.
Wheel of Fortune Slot Machines – Bonus Rounds
This is where IGT really excels – designing bonus rounds that incorporate some aspect of the game show. Obviously, with dozens of different variants, it’s impossible to describe all bonus rounds in all the different games. But, by describing two of the most popular bonus rounds from all of IGT’s Wheel releases, I can give you a sense of what these games bonus play is generally like.
Wheel Spin Bonuses
It makes sense that a game based almost entirely on a spinning wheel would incorporate that spinning wheel into bonus rounds. Every Wheel of Fortune slot uses the big spinning wheel in its design, usually highlighted at the top of the machine to draw interest. Bonus games that use a spinning wheel are common enough on these games to call them a “must.”
Typically, a player spins three wheels, and the results of those spins pay out a certain amount in prizes, free spins, or other rewards. It’s a simple concept, but by designing the wheel to look like the familiar one from the game show, the designers have created a slot machine that really catches the eye.
Pick Bonuses
Pick ‘em bonuses are nothing new in slot machines. They’re simple, they don’t take much time, and they can lead to big prizes. Essentially, this is any bonus where you pick from a selection and win whatever reward is behind the symbol picked.
Thanks to the rules of the game show, pick bonuses make sense on Wheel of Fortune slots. Usually, the slots player plays out the role of a player on the game. You make a “guess,” which reveals a number of free spins, a prize multiplier, or another freebie.
How to Play Wheel of Fortune Slot Machines for Free
Thanks to the Internet, you can play IGT’s Wheel of Fortune slot games for free. People do this for fun or as a kind of “trainer” to prepare for live play.
There’s no guarantee that the specific variant you’re looking for will be available in a free-play format. A quick Google search and you can find any number of free-play versions of various IGT Wheel releases.
The good news here is that many of the variants are similar. So, you can get a sense of what playing Wheel of Fortune slots by IGT in a live casino is like. That’s true even if the specific version of the game you’re looking for isn’t available for free.
Conclusion
It’s a rare year that IGT doesn’t release 10 new versions of Wheel of Fortune. If you enjoy this licensed game, you have plenty of opportunities to play it.
It’s a fun game with big potential prizes. Wheel of Fortune slot machines is synonymous with slot gaming in the US. IGT’s gone on to release many more licensed titles. These include a few based on game shows. But no title has had the staying power of the company’s massive Wheel of Fortune slots line.
