Post by ballooney on May 13, 2024 16:16:47 GMT -5
- 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.
I would think it's possible to prove that an electronic wheel is fair. I still remember "Spin the Wheel" and wonder if it had problems. The wheel was spun at a random pace. Maybe "WOF" can do something similar and yet still feel natural.
I have seen PiR games given a sprucing up for one day, so WOF could do the same. It would be odd to see, however, to see it work if every space has to be a different color.
Overall, an electronic wheel is a complex idea, but if it can be done, it's inevitably will.
