Unreleased/Rare WOF Games

Atari 2600: Never created because of the Great Video Game Crash of 1983. No prototype exists.

Intellivision: See above.

CD-i: Though a version of Jeopardy! was created, it didn't sell well and thus Wheel was scrapped.

SEGA Saturn: System scrapped before game could be created. Games were created for the SEGA Genesis and SEGA CD systems; it is unknown to me whether or not these versions would work with the Saturn. Odds are the answer is no, as the Saturn was basically the 32X as a standalone system.

3DO: Like the SEGA Saturn, the 3DO was scrapped before adaptations of Wheel or Jeopardy! could be created. The only game show to grace this system was Family Feud.

MGA Entertainment DVD Game: Because the Jeopardy! DVD game was a poor seller, Wheel's adaptation was scrapped.

Sony Platinum Edition: I'm thinking this was supposed to be a sequel to the version available on the PSN? If so, the THQ games scrapped any development of it.

Tiger/Parker Bros. Live Play game: Scrapped for unknown reasons. A prototype appeared on eBay in 2006, like OP mentioned. It probably would have worked similarly to the 1988 Mattel game.

Do you know this for sure? There were other games based on game shows planned to be released, and Wheel was the only one not to make the cut at all. It doesn't seem like it had much to do with the sales of the others.



I don't think they were scrapped that early. I watched a 1996 episode on YouTube once where Charlie said near the end of the show that both of them would be coming soon. He did mention both consoles by name (and pronounced "Sega" correctly).

Also, a commenter on gaming blog Joystiq claimed to have done the QA for both Feud and Wheel. I couldn't find any contact information from him, but it looks like there was definitely some progress made before it was cancelled.



It was going to be another PC edition. Here's a picture of the cover art:



It was slated for release in January 2010, which was before it was announced that THQ got the rights to make future games. It was avaiable for pre-order on Amazon at one point, but now it's not available for purchase anywhere. I bet it wouldn't have differed from the previous PC editions (Deluxe, "Super" Deluxe) except for new puzzles.



It is also not 100% certain that the reason for the cancellation of the DVD game was because of J!'s failure, but it was very likely. It can't be found anywhere anymore, except for Amazon, which had garnered numerous 1-star customer reviews. I have the game myself, and have only played it about 3 times or so. Gameplay is fine, but it's a real hassle to set up and it really eats up your AA batteries. You're much better off with the PS3 or Wii games. I asked MGA a while ago about Wheel, and never got a reply. Plus, I imagine with all the variables and stuff, a Wheel DVD game would be insanely hard to construct without butchering gameplay.

I really wish at least ROMs of the Saturn/3DO versions existed. I bet they had the '95-'97 board and Double Play, two things that haven't been seen in any Wheel game besides bigjon06's game.

I found this on eBay -- an Atari 2600 console and what is described as "Mattel Wheel of Fortune"...although it's the 2002 Crossword game by Tiger. This may be related to the unreleased games, but unlikely.

Also on eBay, what the seller claims to be a third Deluxe Edition released in the 1980s.

As for the supposed 3rd edition Deluxe Wheel of Fortune, I find the claim dubious. Board games past the first edition normally have the edition number on the box and I can't find it.

Yeah, I saw it too, and that just didn't seem right to me either.

If Pressman were to really release an actual Third Deluxe Edition, hopefully, they'll make some changes and keep in sync with the show and make some add-on wedges. And maybe, just maybe, they'll even make a bonus round like the recent French Wheel board game.

Well it's not like you couldn't create your own bonus round if you wanted to. Just play one more puzzle and whatever you land on multiply it by 20. It would be like Australia's bonus round in a sense.

It'd be nice for an American Wheel board game to feature a bonus round, although I know the Quick Picks card game from 2008 has one. So, I'm sure there will be one here soon enough.

But getting back to the unreleased games, I still have pretty obsessive desires for Wheel of Fortune Live Play. I been wishing Tiger came out with it for more than seven years, but since they didn't, I wish I bid on that unit on Ebay for the last five years. If anyone has their hands on a truly rare Live Play unit, it would mean a lot to me just to see how the game works, even without the wireless capability. The big thing is how that wheel would've worked.

There were two photos on the Net, but there's only one that's still up.

The other is a publicity photo. Fortunately, I have that photo in my possession.

Also, to the one who got it in the December 2006 auction, if you happen to come across this, please let us see how it works. I can't even to tell you how rare this thing is!

Another note about WOF LivePlay, the Season 22 premiere had a "LivePlay" graphic in the corner of the screen during the intro.



Pretty sure it was 13. It was on DownsA530's YouTube last year. Charlie was also plugging a few other video game versions, with one of them being the Deluxe SNES game IIRC. At the end of the plug (which was just before the post-game chat), he said something like "And be sure to watch out for 'Wheel of Fortune' on the Sega Saturn and 3DO consoles". I'll see if I can find the plug somewhere based on what's out there now...

Since the 3DO and CDi versions were apparently never released, I will always be wondering what they would have been like, what unique styles they would have, and most of all, how fun they would have been to play. Chances are, however, they would have been similar the SEGA CD version, which is one of my absolute favorite versions of Wheel ever released.

As for the Saturn version, I don't know if it was ever sold on Half.com or ended up being misleading, but if it were to have been released, chances are it'd probably be like the prototype version of the N64.

Here are two shots of the N64 prototype, both from June 9, 1997, as seen at IGN's N64 site. Do you think this would be a WIP version for the Saturn as well?


BTW, please don't bother going to IGN's N64 site, it's full of errors that made Internet Explorer crash on me numerous times as I was struggling just to get the links for these images. If you want the images, just get them from here. I did the hard work for you basically. All I ask is that you please don't go there. It's just not worth it.