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Post by duke on Apr 14, 2024 8:50:03 GMT -5
One of the more interesting aspects I've found when researching wedges to create my wheel, is the huge variety of prize wedges that were used. So far, I have compiled notes on 430 prize wedge variants from seasons 1-11.
Today I will be bringing all of you the first few of what will hopefully be many posts regarding prize wedges. First, I'm going to focus on Vintage-era prize wedges. For me, "Vintage" means anything prior to the Season 4/1986 changeover of the wheel from the "Tupperware" 70's color palette that leaned heavily on warm colors like deep oranges, yellows, and browns to the "New Wave" 80's color palette that brought a somewhat cooler tone while retaining warmth, leaving brown behind and adding pink and purple to complement the blue.
With the exception of a few instant-award prizes early in the history of the daytime edition, the proper introduction of the Prize Wedge as we are familiar with it coincided with the start of the syndicated series, Season 1 Episode 1. Prize wedges would not be properly introduced to the daytime edition until much later, after the Season 4 makeover. So this series will be covering prize wedges used in syndicated seasons 1 through 3.
I hope to go in the order that the prize wedges were introduced, guided by our house episode order. However, if I find it necessary to skip a wedge for some reason and come back to it (for example, I can't get a clean enough screenshot of the wedge from source), I will.
For each wedge, I will provide a brief account of when it was introduced, and the span over which it was used. I will not list all episodes that the wedge was used in; if you want that level of detail, consult my Wheel Prize Dataset. If there is anything else notable about the wedge that I can think of, I will include that also.
Finally, I will include a source image of the wedge, my render of the wedge, and a picture of the made wedge placed on my wheel. My renders are created from source video and use my oversized wedge template. If you use them, please give credit.
By my current count, there were 55 different prize wedge variants used in those three seasons. Some popular prizes, such as FUR or TRIP, had multiple variants, each with its own unique typographical style.
I will not promise any kind of regular cadence. I do this on my free time and do have a day job. Likely these will usually appear in pairs or quartets due to my wedge production process.
So, let's get stuck in on some vintage Prize Wedges.
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Post by duke on Apr 14, 2024 9:20:05 GMT -5
#1: FUR (Season 1, Variant A) Duke's ID: PRIZE-FUR-S1-A
This was the first prize ever offered, and one of the more prolific prizes, being offered no fewer than 73 times over the seven seasons in which fur appeared to be offered as a prize. Evolving public sentiment against fur coats, fur industry troubles that resulted from the stock market crash of 1989, and a gradual shift toward more destination-based prizes were likely contributing factors to the FUR prize being retired. This particular variant was used at least 8 times.
Being the first prize offered, it was of course first offered in the syndicated premiere, [S1-E1 Jeff/Leslie/Linda 9/19/1983].
For reasons unknown, this would be one of two very distinct variants of FUR Prize Wedge used during Season 1. Both variants were used during seasons 1 and 2, though I have found no record so far of this variant being used in Season 3. So it may have been retired in Season 2, with its last known appearance being [S2-E220 Andy/Michael/Kathy 10/12/1984]. At latest, it seems it would have been replaced by Season 4 when a new FUR variant was introduced.
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Post by duke on Apr 14, 2024 9:52:49 GMT -5
#2: RING (Season 1)Duke's ID: PRIZE-RING-S1 The RING was a very popular wheel prize, being offered no fewer than 83 times from Seasons 1-11. Often, the ring was actually a stand-in for a gift certificate to one of their jeweler sponsors, with plug copy such as "you might choose this with your gift certificate from..." frequently being used. The first appearance of this variant was [S1-E2 Kelli/Barry/Pam 9/23/1983]. Despite a new RING variant being created in Season 2, it was used at least 12 times up until a couple of months into Season 5, when it was seemingly superseded by a new but short-lived Season 5 variant. The last appearance I have record of for this variant is [S5-E809 Mary Beth/Donna/Robin 10/22/1987].
Oh and what is up with that "G"? That is NOT a Clarendon G... The first of many typographical oddities to come...
  
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Post by duke on Apr 14, 2024 10:18:43 GMT -5
#3: TRIP (Season 1, Variant A) Duke's ID: PRIZE-TRIP-S1-A
The TRIP was hands-down the most popular wheel prize, appearing no fewer than 141 times over seasons 1-11. Until more specific named-destination prized wedge variants came about over the years, it was the go-to wedge for any sort of vacation prize offered. Even later when this variant was long retired and a large library of named-destination wedges appeared, TRIP was still used for some trips offered. This variant’s first appearance episode-wise was [S1-E3 Steven/Pam/Jodi 9/26/1983]. However, it appears that [S1-E15 Lou/Cindy/Karen 9/22/1983] where this variant also appears may have aired earlier in some markets; it’s hard to tell. This variant was used at least 17 times through seasons 1 and 2, alongside a second variant that was created for the first season. Both season 1 variants seem to have been superseded by a season 3 variant, with this variant’s last known appearance being [S2-E332 Steve/Tim/Elleen 3/26/1985].    |
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Post by duke on Apr 14, 2024 10:28:07 GMT -5
#4: $ (Season 1)Duke's ID: PRIZE-CASH-S1This wedge appears to have been used exactly once, in [S1-E4 Kathy/Janet/Barry 9/21/1983]. It was a cash prize of five “crisp new” $100 bills. There are a number of reasons why this prize may have been so short-lived, I suspect many of them may revolve around prize sponsorship. After all, why give away cash from your own show budget when you can get a sponsor to furnish prizes?   
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Post by duke on Apr 21, 2024 18:58:54 GMT -5
#5: PIN (Season 1) Duke's ID: PRIZE-PIN-S1Despite PIN being offered as a prize on a fairly regular basis (at least 50 times thru Season 12), this is a rare prize wedge variant, with only two known appearances very early in Season 1. It appeared in [S1-E5 Lisa/Bob/Nancy 9/20/1983], and then once more in [S1-E11 Laura/Lisa/Glenn 10/4/1983]. It possibly appeared more in Season 1 as only about a fourth of the episodes have surfaced. Eventually in Season 2, a new PIN variant appeared, and other variants of PIN have featured since. Let me just PIN this new wedge to my wheel.    |
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Post by duke on Apr 21, 2024 19:04:15 GMT -5
#6 FUR (Season 1, Variant B) Duke's ID: PRIZE-FUR-S1-B
I'm not quite sure why they would produce and use two of the same prize wedge at the same time, and have them look differently, especially at this point in WoF history. Later, it would make sense that both the home and road sets have distinct prize wedge variants (and they often do), but at this point in history there is no second set that I am aware of. One theory that I have, purely conjecture, is that as the prizes are assigned to episode tapings, the prize wedges go into folios that travel with the other episode-specific props like name tags. Thus if the same type of prize is offered twice in the same group of episode tapings, one wedge is needed for each folio. From there I suppose the differences can be attributed to a lack of reproducible production method (i.e. each prize wedge made was a one-off). No matter the reasons, these distinct variants exist and were both active for a time. This second FUR wedge variant was used at least 15 times from Season 1 through Season 3. It first appeared in [S1-E6 Bob/Pearl/Carmen 9/27/1983], only shortly after its sibling. The current last known sighting is in [S3-E418 Ron/Margot/Elaine 10/9/1985], but I suspect that it might also be used in [S3-E493 Judith/Elizabeth/Blue 2/18/1986] but I am unable to verify that at this time. It was superseded by a Season 4 variant. With so much FUR to put on my wheel, it will definitely stay warm when the temperatures drop again.    |
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Post by duke on Apr 21, 2024 19:05:38 GMT -5
#7 SCOOTER (Season 1) Duke's ID: PRIZE-SCOOTER-S1
The SCOOTER prize is pretty rare, with this particular variant only being sighted twice so far. It first appears in [S1-E7 Ed/Dawn/Ellen 9/28/1983], and then is seen once more in [S1-E42 Theresa/Patti/Scott 11/14/1983]. By Season 2, a new, short-lived variant was used, and after that, it seems that scooters were only given away in pairs under the related SCOOTERS wedge, possibly to help compensate for the low retail values of the prize. Making the vector trace of this wedge was especially a challenge, as both possible sources were of poor quality. It would have been fun to see accompanying KERMIT, FOZZIE, GONZO, or MS. PIGGY wedges...    |
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Post by duke on Apr 21, 2024 19:10:44 GMT -5
#8 SILVER (Season 1) Duke's ID: PRIZE-SILVER-S1
For centuries, silver and gold have been associated with and coveted for wealth. While we won't see a GOLD wedge until Season 5, SILVER is fairly plentiful on the wheel, especially in the first few seasons. SILVER has at least 38 appearances thru Season 12. At least 14 of those appearances were by this particular prize wedge variant, with an additional 2 suspected but as-yet-unverified appearances. The first appearance of this variant is [S1-E8 Barbara/Harlene/Kevin 9/29/1983], with it last being observed early in Season 3 with [S3-E404 Marsha/Cheryl/Bob 9/26/1985]. After that, it was replaced by a Season 3 SILVER wedge variant. SILVER was used for a variety of prizes. Often it was silverware, though pretty much anything made of silver was fair game to be designated SILVER on the wheel. They say every cloud has a silver lining. These days, so does every dollar value on the wheel.    |
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wheelgenius
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Graphics Galorium
I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore!
Posts: 763
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Post by wheelgenius on Apr 21, 2024 19:38:45 GMT -5
Duke, I have to say you're just as great as I am at doing these shopping era prize wedges. Have you seen my versions? postimg.cc/gallery/k40gkvn |
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Post by duke on Apr 21, 2024 20:41:05 GMT -5
Duke, I have to say you're just as great as I am at doing these shopping era prize wedges. Have you seen my versions? postimg.cc/gallery/k40gkvn
Thanks, I take that as high praise coming from one of the masters here.
I have absolutely seen your versions of the prize wedges, and other wedges, and they are awesome!
I've been meaning to properly learn how to work with vector art and especially Bezier curves for a long time - this has been my opportunity to do so, and produce the raw .svg files that the vinyl cutting machine craves (importing .pngs for cut is an imperfect process unless they are really high DPI).
I'd love to show my .svg cut files here but postimg autoinfernally turns them into .png. (my program outputs 2 versions of each wedge - the .png renders I've been posting, and the .svg cut file). |
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Post by duke on Apr 21, 2024 20:59:18 GMT -5
Duke, I have to say you're just as great as I am at doing these shopping era prize wedges. Have you seen my versions? postimg.cc/gallery/k40gkvn
Thanks, I take that as high praise coming from one of the masters here.
I have absolutely seen your versions of the prize wedges, and other wedges, and they are awesome!
I've been meaning to properly learn how to work with vector art and especially Bezier curves for a long time - this has been my opportunity to do so, and produce the raw .svg files that the vinyl cutting machine craves (importing .pngs for cut is an imperfect process unless they are really high DPI).
I'd love to show my .svg cut files here but postimg autoinfernally turns them into .png. (my program outputs 2 versions of each wedge - the .png renders I've been posting, and the .svg cut file). |
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Post by duke on Apr 21, 2024 21:49:43 GMT -5
(sorry for double post, site was giving errors at the time)
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Post by duke on May 4, 2024 15:49:03 GMT -5
#9: VIDEO (Season 1) Duke's ID: PRIZE-VIDEO-S1 VIDEO was introduced early as a prize [S1-E10 Richard/Claire/Melissa 10/3/1983], though it did not seem to reach its peak popularity in the prize pool until seasons 6 and 7. So far in my data thru Season 12, I count 30 instances of VIDEO being used, with three of those instances being of this variant in seasons 1 and 2. I have not spotted it past [S2-E224 Larry/Diane/Howard 10/18/1984], and in season 3 a new VIDEO variant seems to appear to replace it. Generally, the VIDEO prize was one or more of a list of video-related items including televisions, VCRs, Laserdisc players, or video cameras. Sometimes some movies or an entertainment center were added in. I don't have a VIDEO of me putting this wedge on my wheel, so a picture will have to do.    |
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Post by duke on May 4, 2024 15:54:01 GMT -5
#10 WATCH (Season 1) Duke's ID: PRIZE-WATCH-S1-A WATCH was used early and often as a prize, at least 83 times through season 12. My first record of it being used is in [S1-E12 Rick/Joan/Cecelia 10/5/1983], and this particular variant can be observed as late as early season 3 in [S3-E417 Ednita/Mario/Kathy 10/10/1985]. After that, a new Season 3 styled WATCH variant took over. (Speaking of related variants, one thing I am really curious about, though, and have not yet spotted in-episode, is the glitter-bordered, off-brand fonted WATCH variant that was also supposed to be present in the 1983 portion of season 1 (as rendered by wheelgenius). Any info on this variant would be appreciated. I suspect it may be in either [S1-E22 Francine/Kim/Paul 10/18/1983] or [S1-E26 Carla/John/Linda 10/24/1983], as at current those seem to be the only known 1983 episodes for which I do not know what prize wedge was used.) As with many jewelry prizes, the WATCH was often a stand-in for a gift certificate, and often referred to a watch worth thousands of dollars. Less expensive watches were often paired or even grouped in fours and given away under the related WATCHES prize. Just a second, it feels like it's time to put my new WATCH wedge on my wheel.    |
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Post by duke on May 5, 2024 19:30:57 GMT -5
#11: WATCHES (Season 1) Duke's ID: PRIZE-WATCHES-S1 What's better than giving away one watch? Giving away two WATCHES, or even four! WATCHES was introduced fast on the heels of the WATCH wedge, and was used to package together two or more less expensive watches as a single package, though this was not very common practice until Season 6. As such, while WATCHES has been found so far to have featured in 29 episodes, only three of those episodes used this particular variant. This variant first appeared in [S1-E17 Ruth/Rhonda/Randy 10/11/1983], has been spotted once in early season 2, and then was last spotted in early season 4 in [S4-E629 Erin/Anne/Bostic 11/10/1986]. When they really started giving away watches by the fistful in season 6, two new WATCHES variants appeared and took over duties. When a pair of watches was given away, they were usually a his-and-hers set. When four watches were given away at the time, they were usually grouped as a his-and-hers active and his-and-hers evening set. Does anyone even own multiple WATCHES any more? Let me contemplate that as I put this new wedge on the wheel.    |
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Post by duke on May 5, 2024 19:34:30 GMT -5
#12 TRIP (Season 1, Variant B) Duke's ID: PRIZE-TRIP-S1-B The second TRIP variant appeared within a few weeks of and was used alongside the first variant, but less frequently. Only five appearances have been spotted: a single showing in season 1 with [S1-E21 Susan/Charles/Rhea 10/17/1983], and then four appearances in season 2, last appearing late in the season in [S2-374 Terrie/Tom/Lynn 5/30/1985]. Both Season 1 TRIP variants seem to have been retired by Season 3. A different flavor of Clarendon seems to have been used on this wedge versus the first variant, with lighter weight and larger letters overall. I hope I don't TRIP over a growing collection of prize wedges as I put this new one on the wheel.    |
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wheelgenius
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I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore!
Posts: 763
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Post by wheelgenius on May 8, 2024 14:47:37 GMT -5
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Post by duke on May 11, 2024 14:00:45 GMT -5
Thanks. The one that I really need a screenshot source for currently is this one right here: postimg.cc/NLMtpnDj
It keeps me up at night knowing I'm coming toward the end of Season 1 wedges but I haven't found this one yet lol. Where did you find this unique specimen of prize wedge?
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Post by duke on May 11, 2024 14:02:28 GMT -5
#13: TV (Season 1) Duke's ID: PRIZE-TV-S1 Back when TVs were actually expensive, they were worthy in themselves of a prize wedge. In fact, while the TV wedge appeared infrequently, it appeared fairly perenially in seasons 1 through 12. This first TV wedge variant first appeared in [S1-E24 Jackie/Jeff/Pat 10/20/1983] and continued to be used into Season 3, with the last appearance that I currently know of being [S3-E450 Niki/Tony/Terry 12/5/1985]. I have record of five total appearances for this particular wedge variant, out of 19 TV wedge appearances. It may very well have been used in seasons 4 or 5, but only spotty information is available for those seasons. However, in Season 6, two new TV variants were introduced, and the original Season 1 variant was not seen again. Early TVs given away were smaller in size, but later large-screen projection TVs became the standard prize for this wedge. It's notable that in 1988, they were giving away 41" TVs worth nearly $3000, but today, the same size TV can be had literally 20 times cheaper. Usually we put the Wheel on TV, but today I'm putting TV on the Wheel.    |
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