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Post by moline on Sept 9, 2023 23:31:22 GMT -5
The Wheel is the one element of the set that has essentially remained unchanged. Yeah, they refreshed its shell and even the wedges over the years, but that's it. When the electronic puzzle board was introduced in 1997, the wheel was left unchanged. Now, however, I believe is the prime time to replace the wheel altogether with a new electronic wheel! Electronic wheel, you say? Yes! The current wheel as it is, if they want to change a wedge, they have to make the wedge out of whatever material they're made of (probably cardboard) and put it on. If you land on a wedge like the Mystery wedge, you have to pick it up.
With the electronic wheel, all of this is a thing of the past! The wedge amounts can be easily edited from a computer where you can do many things with them besides just editing the dollar amounts displayed. You can change the wedge backgrounds and have it display on all the wedges. So, if they're doing Teachers Week, they could have a school inspired background across the wheel. If they're doing Margrittaville week, they could have a beach inspired background with sand, water, and sea shells. The wedges can also have animations associated with them as well. For instance, the Mystery wedge could have an animation that alternates between it showing Bankrupt and the $10,000 on both to give you an idea as to what that wedge is about.
Speaking of the mystery wedge, you might be wondering how the currently pick-upable wedges will work. If you land on one, say the million dollar wedge, and you guess correctly, an icon of that wedge gets added to your lectern, similar to the Wild card. That wedge will also automatically disappear from the wheel and get replaced with whatever dollar amount is hidden underneath it. If you hit Bankrupt, the icons will go away. As for the Mystery wedge, you would be able to tap it to reveal what's on the other side. Of course, this could introduce accidental tappings of that wedge (and possibly unintended bankruptcy's that could halt filming as they work to restore that contestants score), so the little white arrow thingy that denotes what dollar amount you landed on would have to be upgraded to a sensor system that scans the wheel for the mystery wedge. If you land on said wedge, it "activates" it and allows you to tap it. Once your turn is up, the wedge " either deactivates (should you choose not to flip it) until someone else lands on it, or is automatically swapped with the $1,000(?) wedge if you flipped it.
The possibilities an all electronic wheel could bring are endless and could really spice things up! If the puzzle board can be electronic, I see no reason why the wheel couldn't follow suite. It would be a lot easier updating the wheel via a computer than having to take off the wedges just to add a new one in and so forth. You also wouldn't have to design a new wedge manually, either, as a computer would do that. Plus, you eliminate the risk of anybody damaging the wedges, which, I'm not sure if that has happened, and if it has, it was edited out of the show.
Now, what are your guy's thoughts on an all electronic wheel? I'm personally for it due to the ease of use, the ease of updating the wedges, the ability to choose a background that matches a themed week, plus not having to pick up any of the wedges with your only wheel interaction being to spin it, and to tap the mystery wedge.
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wheellover65
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Post by wheellover65 on Sept 10, 2023 0:06:48 GMT -5
Wheel has been interested in this for years. Companies at CES each year claim to be able to make this, and after being investigated by the show for possible use, aren't able to meet the show's demands and we go another year without a video wheel.
Once the technology is there, we will have one!
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Post by moline on Sept 10, 2023 0:14:31 GMT -5
Wheel has been interested in this for years. Companies at CES each year claim to be able to make this, and after being investigated by the show for possible use, aren't able to meet the show's demands and we go another year without a video wheel. Once the technology is there, we will have one! Interesting. I would think we have the technology for it now, considering the puzzle board is now a seamless monitor. Maybe we'll see it when Ryan Seacrest debuts, who knows. And maybe, if Wheel does implement this, other wheel-based gameshows like Price is Right will adopt something similar. |
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Post by willdj on Sept 21, 2023 13:21:49 GMT -5
Be interesting to see what the new UK/Australian series do set wise, whether they try to be close to the US version or do something different. I could see them trying a video wheel for that potentially - the last Australian series had an LED wheel with the color of the wedges being LED lights (but you could hear the creaking of the machinery and heavy wheel needed for that to work in 2008)
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Guint
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Post by Guint on Sept 21, 2023 15:55:20 GMT -5
Wheel has been interested in this for years. Companies at CES each year claim to be able to make this, and after being investigated by the show for possible use, aren't able to meet the show's demands and we go another year without a video wheel. Once the technology is there, we will have one! Interesting. I would think we have the technology for it now, considering the puzzle board is now a seamless monitor. Maybe we'll see it when Ryan Seacrest debuts, who knows. And maybe, if Wheel does implement this, other wheel-based gameshows like Price is Right will adopt something similar.
While the technology for it may exist, it may not be sophisticated enough yet to adequately replicate the current Wheel. It might only be good enough for a wheel, like, 1/3 of the size.
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SmashWhammy
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Post by SmashWhammy on Sept 21, 2023 16:28:35 GMT -5
plus wouldn't a video wheel be easier to rig (or seem so to the common folk/reporters for The Sun US)
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Post by jjc927 on Sept 21, 2023 20:55:02 GMT -5
I could see maybe they would make the wedges that can be removed (the Mystery wedges, the Million Dollar Wedge, Round 1-2 trip/other prize wedge, etc) electronic rather than using the cardboard wedges at some point, perhaps the Express and the dollar amount it covers too.
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WooWho
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Post by WooWho on Oct 9, 2023 9:30:58 GMT -5
This is a terrible idea for several reasons: - Wheel of Fortune is not a casino--it is a game show that has federal laws making it illegal to rig. The viewers need to have some level of assurance that the wheel is fair and balanced for all players (not that this has stopped people from claiming the wheel is rigged in the past). An electronic wheel would only open the floodgates for rigging accusations.
- For the same reasons, electronic removable wedges, particularly where the Mystery Wedge is concerned, would also arouse suspicion in viewers about potential rigging in favor (or even against) a particular contestant.
- Matching the background of the wheel to match the theme of the week would be tacky and may potentially confuse the viewer over which space ends where. Whatever additional (negligible) visual appeal it would provide would cause more problems in the long run.
- Unlike the puzzleboard, which ate up a significant amount of time when it had to be manually changed, whatever layout changes the show makes nowadays to the wheel take no more time than a typical commercial break. The perceived time savings from transitioning to an electronic wheel are probably minimal.
tl;dr it is my opinion that an electronic wheel would cause way more problems for the show than it would solve.
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SmashWhammy
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Post by SmashWhammy on Oct 9, 2023 18:13:13 GMT -5
and lest we forget, a lot of people get their WOF dosage via tabloids that ignore context and rules
meaning of course they'll think it's rigged
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StrangerCoug
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Post by StrangerCoug on Oct 9, 2023 20:03:19 GMT -5
- Wheel of Fortune is not a casino--it is a game show that has federal laws making it illegal to rig.
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't play at a casino where I knew the games were being rigged in favor of or against particular players. I otherwise think you make good, important points with your argument. |
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germanname1990
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Post by germanname1990 on Oct 9, 2023 23:12:53 GMT -5
It's kind of interesting that when the pilot set was designed in 1974, the designers wanted a modern Vegas feel, so much so that the Wheel has since been referred to as a Roulette Wheel from time to time, but WooWho brought up some good points. I like experimenting with ideas, but then again, you don't want to overdo it. |
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WooWho
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Post by WooWho on Oct 11, 2023 19:42:30 GMT -5
- Wheel of Fortune is not a casino--it is a game show that has federal laws making it illegal to rig.
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't play at a casino where I knew the games were being rigged in favor of or against particular players. I otherwise think you make good, important points with your argument. You've obviously never played a slot machine before. Plus many of the table games have a house edge, meaning you're already at a disadvantage even before you put money on the table. |
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StrangerCoug
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Post by StrangerCoug on Oct 11, 2023 20:59:27 GMT -5
I don't know about you, but I wouldn't play at a casino where I knew the games were being rigged in favor of or against particular players. I otherwise think you make good, important points with your argument. You've obviously never played a slot machine before. Plus many of the table games have a house edge, meaning you're already at a disadvantage even before you put money on the table. I'll take it to Mr. Irrelevant. |
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Post by GameGirl on Feb 9, 2024 3:56:53 GMT -5
This is a terrible idea for several reasons: [li]Unlike the puzzleboard, which ate up a significant amount of time when it had to be manually changed, whatever layout changes the show makes nowadays to the wheel take no more time than a typical commercial break. The perceived time savings from transitioning to an electronic wheel are probably minimal.[/li][/ul]
tl;dr it is my opinion that an electronic wheel would cause way more problems for the show than it would solve.
[/quote] I wonder if they could just do a half digital one that just is for the things that they changed and keep the rest manual. I agree though there is really no reason to make it electronic touchscreen wheel. |
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Post by wheelfan79 on Feb 21, 2024 10:02:10 GMT -5
I see the idea with the Wheel itself keeping up with modern technology, but why ruin one of, if not, the most iconic thing that made Wheel of Fortune possible in the first place?
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Post by duke on Apr 7, 2024 21:32:25 GMT -5
If they used custom e-paper displays with the wedge background colors as the display background colors they could keep the classic wheel feel while still having it be electronic. If e-paper is done right the audience shouldn't even be able to tell that it's an electronic display.
I certainly hope I don't see a wheel with 24 glowy screen wedges though. I'd also love for them to bring back the old trilon puzzle board with e-paper tech. |
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Post by trevor807 on Apr 8, 2024 2:14:14 GMT -5
I'd also love for them to bring back the old trilon puzzle board with e-paper tech. Yeah, considering it would take a quixotic budget, it's easier said than done. |
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Post by duke on Apr 8, 2024 5:25:07 GMT -5
Yeah, considering it would take a quixotic budget, it's easier said than done. Realistically, I think the cost would be somewhere around $2k and $5k per trilon - most of that going to manufacturing the custom-sized e-paper display. Considering that last I heard they were giving Pat $16m per year, I think they can afford to spend a quarter million on a core gameplay set piece that should last 10+ years. That's an amortized cost of about $25k per season. |
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Post by trevor807 on Apr 8, 2024 10:10:23 GMT -5
Yeah, considering it would take a quixotic budget, it's easier said than done. Realistically, I think the cost would be somewhere around $2k and $5k per trilon - most of that going to manufacturing the custom-sized e-paper display. Considering that last I heard they were giving Pat $16m per year, I think they can afford to spend a quarter million on a core gameplay set piece that should last 10+ years. That's an amortized cost of about $25k per season. There's also the fact that this would be a whopping 156 screens to take care of once we consider the usual 52 spaces along with each trilon consisting of three panels. Plus, the LIDAR puzzleboard is a far more cost-effective solution that doesn't require nearly as much maintenance. |
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Post by nbcdaytime on Apr 16, 2024 12:43:03 GMT -5
It won't happen. S and P will deny it for sure. Lock this one up already
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:eek: Z
