Evaluation: Express

I see it as a better version of the Mystery Wedges. I would not go for Mystery Wedges because I'm risking my turn.

The Express wedge on the other hand is something I would do. I have a little uncertainty about hopping aboard with the Million Dollar Wedge, but overall, you're better off hopping aboard because that eliminates the risk of spinning. Yeah, you'll be penalized even further for a wrong letter, but the Wheel will be one less thing you'll have to worry about despite having only a 1/8 chance of losing your turn (1/12 chance of going Bankrupt).

So I think the Express is a fantastic element. In fact, for my own adaption of Wheel, I replaced the Mystery wedges with the Express wedge (I still have the Jackpot on my version).

So, here are my thoughts on the matter...

I don't like Express. I just don't.

It shoves aside the element of the game that gives the show its name--the Wheel. (One could argue the Speed-up Round does the same thing, but there's a specific reason for that, and that's to speed up the game when time is short so time isn't wasted watching the wheel spin.)

Here, there really isn't a good reason at all other than to give an advantage to a lucky player.

As Keith of the Final Wager said, there's not enough risk involved. Yeah, you lose it all to a Bankrupt if you miss along the way, and yeah, we've seen it happen, but realistically speaking you hop aboard the Express to remove the risk of hitting a penalty space if you were to spin again anyway. germanname1990 brought up an interesting point: with Express, you're not immediately risking your turn any more than you would by guessing letters normally. If you know the puzzle by that point, there's no risk. Even if you're not 100% sure, you could still buy vowels along the way to narrow your guesses down and could reasonably suss it out by the time more letters appear on the board. So there's virtually no risk there, either. And by then, it becomes so anticlimactic that they're going to solve it (and, since it's the Prize Puzzle, probably win the game, too) that the rest of the round isn't exciting to watch anymore.

Because of the elimination of risk, there really is no compelling reason not to hop aboard, even if it's early in the round. I suppose if you're still gunning for a 1/2 Car tag, you could potentially decline the ride...but let's be honest, the value of an Express ride plus the Prize Puzzle bonus is probably comparable to that of the car anyway (unless it's late in the round). And unless you know exactly how strong of a spin you'll need to hit $3500 consistently, you're not likely to hit the one value on the wheel that's higher than Express's face value multiple times over.

Like all things that are on the wheel at one point or another, it doesn't come into play unless it's hit, so at least we don't see it all the time.

I've heard many arguments that putting Express in Round 1 would make it less game-breaking since it isn't tied to the Prize Puzzle bonus at that point. I'd be in favor of that, as it at least allows for the possibility of the Express and the Prize Puzzle to be won by different people. If they must keep it in the third round, I would've cut the value in half. Sure, it matches the wheel minimum, and it might encourage people passing up the Express to go for more money, but that would at least allow for a bit of a decision--do you take the sure thing at the lowest value on the wheel per letter, or do you risk your stake and keep spinning for a chance at more money, knowing you could lose your turn and/or bank as a result? Knowing how conservatively certain contestants play, I think they'd recognize that they don't have to spin the wheel to make easy money, and probably hop aboard anyway. Sure, they'd win the Prize Puzzle on top of it all, but at least there COULD be a snowball's chance in hell of someone overtaking them in the speed-up when Pat doesn't hit the big one.

The Express is my favourite element of the game. However, it could be better if it wasn't in R3 along with the Prize Puzzle. You win the Express -> You win the game.

I really don't care much about its face value, I think it's OK. Think about the Jackpot: landing on it and solving the puzzle awarded more or less the same that what we've seen throughout this two seasons with the Express (and Express puzzles are usually shorter than R1 and R2 ones).

For making the game better, my game structure should be R1/Express/PP. To be realistic, I don't think that they will get rid of the Prize Puzzle easily. So, if they want to save money, I would eliminate the Mystery Round (I consider that it's a bit outdated) and the Express Round would be more coherent.

This so much.

I watch "Wheel" (hint hint) of Fortune because I want to see the people spin the wheel and call letters - I don't want to see people just standing there looking at the puzzle board and calling out letters like a zombie.  Express takes the wheel out of the game and effectively turns it a one-player Hangman game. That not only takes away the spirit of the competition but it's also boring - extremely boring.  Even moments where a contestant who can solve all letters in the puzzle with the Express alone are just barely entertaining.

To say nothing of the fact that it is a game-breaking mechanic, regardless of which round it is in.  Express may be the polar opposite of Jackpot where the wedge (before hopping on) becomes worse as more and more letters are on the board already (vs. Jackpot, which becomes better and better), but in no scenario does Express have a downside.  Bankrupting is not even a risk; it's just there to provoke the player into a "do-or-die" situation.

For me, if I wanted the Express to be semi-tolerable, here's what I would change to it:
- No vowel buying.
- Reduce each consonant's worth to no higher than $800.

But that's just "semi" and I probably would still hate it.  I'd rather they devise a new wedge that actually has limitations (i.e doesn't allow the player to hog the wheel/board) and is structurally balanced for a round.

I can't really add to what has already been said, because I think everyone's covered the main points. Ditto to separating from prize puzzle (better yet, get rid of the prize puzzle altogether or drastically lower its value). However, I will say that I get irrationally angry when people don't get on the express haha.

I agree with this. R1 should be the PP followed by the mystery round, then express. Either do this or make the PP completely random like it used to be so we don't know which round it will be in each show.

All this aside, I love the express wedge. It's my favorite game addition since the wild card.

I actually wouldn't mind seeing the express wedge in play for the 3 main rounds.

I'm aware the wedge changes color a bit but I think it needs to stay pretty much a reddish tint to match the red $700 it covers.

^ Gill Sans Ultra Bold.

                   But one wrong letter it’s a bankrupt time runs out it’s a bankrupt and if you solve the puzzle wrong it’s a bankrupt