Wheel of Fortune is pretty simple to play. The tough part is making a wheel. Once you have that, it is easy to pick words or phrases and have the kids take turns spinning and guessing letters.

To play a round, pick the order of the players and put the right number of spaces on the board. The board can be as simple as dashes on the board as you would do with hangman. Have the first contestant spin the wheel. Unless the person hits bankrupt, they should select a consonant as their guess. If the letter they guess is not in the puzzle, or they hit bankrupt, play goes to the next contestant. After spinning (and if they have scored 'money' already) the player may buy vowels using their earnings. After any guess of a letter that is in the puzzle, the player may choose to solve the puzzle.

To review; after correctly guessing a consonant in the puzzle, the player may spin, buy a vowel, or solve the puzzle.

Some ideas for wheels: Spinners from board games can be modified for your setup. My board is a piece of plywood about two feet in diameter. I put dowels at regular intervals around the wheel for stopping the pointer. I put one piece of doweling completely through the center to also go through the roller. The roller is from an old microwave. It was the part the plate rotated on.

A link to the Wheel of Fortune Game Show's website. They have lots of information about the show, and even an online version.

Back to my main Game Show page

Back to my main Puzzle page

DnDCrownover@comcast.net (Please put 'puzzle' in the subject)

This page updated on: December 3, 2004
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