Wheel Of Fortune / Tropes A to D

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Tropes E-O HERE!

Tropes P-Z HERE!

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A

• Added Alliterative Appeal: The "Same Letter" category, in which every word in the puzzle begins with the same letter. Since 2014, contestants receive a $1,000 bonus for calling the "Same Letter" in question. For reasons unknown, the category took a brief hiatus when the show filmed six weeks of episodes in Las Vegas in 2013, but that didn't stop them from using several puzzles that would normally fit the category, such as the infamous CORNER CURIO CABINET puzzle, which was categorized as "Thing".
• All or Nothing:
  • For the Mystery Wedges in Round 2, uncovering one means the contestant either wins a $10,000 cash prize or loses everything to a Bankrupt. During the wedges' first round of existence, the announcer would even say "The Mystery Round: It's all or nothing."
  • For the Express Wedge in Round 3, the contestant can either choose to continue their turn as normal or play a solo Speed Round, with each correct consonant earning $1,000 while vowels still deduct $250. Express play ends either by solving the puzzle correctly or making any mistake (e.g., calling a letter not in the puzzle, calling a used letter, taking too long to call a letter, or solving the puzzle incorrectly), with the latter having the same effect as landing on Bankrupt.
• And Starring: Until the daytime show moved back to NBC on January 14, 1991, The Announcer introduced only Chuck/Pat/Rolf/Bob, who in turn would introduce Susan/[guest hostess]/Vanna. The nighttime show changed the opening spiel to introduce Pat and Vanna together on September 4, 1989.
• Animated Credits Opening: The show has used these on and off since 1992:
  • Seasons 10-11: Anthropomorphic Wheel wedges walking down a staircase.
  • Season 12: Hand-drawn versions of Pat and Vanna "riding" the Wheel amid graphics related to the show; this animation ended with them parachuting.
  • Seasons 14-17: CGI of the Sony Pictures Studios, with the camera "zooming in" through the studio doors.
  • Season 23: One of three intros showing people racing to their TV sets to watch the show: one shows a man ostensibly getting ready for a date, one shows a woman racing home from work, and one shows a suburban African-American family finishing dinner quickly then running to the couch. The last one has also been used for "America's Game" weeks in Seasons 31 and 32.
  • Season 28: Each intro is tied in to the week's theme, using the Pat and Vanna avatars from the 2010 THQ Wii game. Some of these showed up again in later seasons, most often as bumpers but occasionally as openings, most notably the one for Halloween week, which has been re-used most years since.
• The Announcer:
  • Mike Lawrence did the first pilot and Charlie O'Donnell the other two. For the show proper, Charlie O'Donnell (1975-80), Jack Clark (1980-88), M. G. Kelly (1988-89), O'Donnell again (1989-2010), and Jim Thornton (2011-). Don Morrow filled in for one week in 1980, O'Donnell returned a few times in the 1980s when Clark was unavailable; and Johnny Gilbert filled in for both Clark and O'Donnell at various points. Don Pardo did the two weeks of 1988 nighttime episodes taped at Radio City Music Hall. Gilbert, John Cramer, Joe Cipriano, Rich Fields, Lora Cain, and Thornton all filled in after Charlie's death.
  • John Deeks was the most prominent announcer of the Australian version.
• Apple for Teacher: The set for Teacher's Week 2023 references this by having a giant apple to the left of the puzzle board (the viewers' right).
• April Fools' Day:
  • 1991: Vanna appeared to be pregnant in the final segment... until she pulled a cushion out from her dress.
  • 1996: APRIL FOOL'S DAY was the Round 1 puzzle.
  • 1997: Pat hosted that day's Jeopardy! while Alex hosted Wheel. Pat and Vanna also played Wheel that day for charity with Pat's wife, Lesly, at the puzzle board. The entire flip-flop was lampshaded heavily by the puzzles, especially the Speed-Up and Bonus Round puzzles (IT'S NOT AS EASY AS IT LOOKS and TRADING PLACES, respectively).
  • 2008: Pat "revealed" that he was actually bald. Vanna's reaction was priceless. The moment is often replayed or mentioned on subsequent April 1 episodes. It was a real wig on a bald wig.
  • 2010: The show did ten things that were "out of the ordinary" and asked home viewers to spot them. All ten were revealed on the next show. Examples included the full-size Bankrupt wedges saying "Bankrut" ^note (Gratuitous Polish), Charlie taking Vanna's place for a couple shots, Pat wearing a barely-visible stud earring for a whole round, footage of a Final Spin from a 1995 episode over the current one, etc. There were also two seconds of rodeo footage in the opening montage of tropical shots, although this was never pointed out.
  • 2011: All the puzzles (except the bonus round) had some form of the word "fool". Amazingly, the contestants never caught on.
  • 2016: Jim reads a promo for "Live like a Pilgrim Week" after the first round. This episode re-aired in 2017 due to April 1 falling on a Saturday that year. On the same day's Jeopardy!, the Bankrupt sound effect was used when a contestant's score decreased after an incorrect response to the Final Jeopardy! clue.
  • 2019: The weekend prior, Pat tweets an announcement of a "major prank" and tells viewers to watch the show to spot it. At the end of the show, Pat announces that there was no prank, therefore fooling the viewers who spent the episode looking for one.
  • 2022: The episode begins with Pat and Vanna having a typical end-of-show chat and signing off.
  • 2024: Jim introduces "Jared Leto and Vanna White". Leto then approaches the host podium and introduces the first Toss-Up as Pat would. Once the Toss-Up is underway, Pat is suddenly in place and the show proceeds as normal, with the prank never acknowledged.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Sometimes invoked with the Triple Toss-Ups, which often have a common theme to the answer. Usually the third one will be a "lighter" variant on the theme than the other two, such as THE FRENCH RIVIERA, THE ITALIAN ALPS, and NEW JERSEY TURNPIKE, or MEMBER OF CONGRESS, STATE SENATOR, and DOGCATCHER.
• The Artifact:
  • Since the board changed from trilons to video screens in February 1997, Vanna isn't really needed on the show anymore, but since she's been so inextricably associated with the show for so long, she stays.
  • They also don't need the green circle in the middle of the Wheel to do Chroma Key shots of the host and hostess anymore (high-tech in 1974, looks downright silly in the 21st century), but it remains because of familiarity.
  • Similarly, the "house minimum" for a round — solve with anything less and you get a chunk of cash (originally $200, then $500, now $1,000) by default. This was initially done so the contestant would at least be able to buy something during the shopping rounds (although even that backfired at least once). Now, it's just there to make the contestant feel better for not having an opportunity to get more.
  • The Speed-Up round, thanks to both the electronic puzzle board and editing that dates back to 1997. Starting in Season 18 (2000-01), every episode now ends with one. For familiarity, and possibly for the chance of Pat spinning $5,000, it is kept; in fact, several episodes between 2000-02 had rounds go to Speed-Up even if there was only one consonant left in the puzzle. On the other hand, always ending in a Speed-Up offers a greater chance for all three contestants to play, and many games have been decided on a Speed-Up even in cases where the Final Spin didn't land on $5,000.
• Ascended Meme: [invoked]] RSTLNE is an example of this. Most contestants picked those letters in that exact order, and they are now given to the contestants in that order.
• Awesome, but Impractical: Whether on the TV show or the (many) video game versions, this is effectively what the choice of milking a puzzle the current contestant has already internally solved for as much extra cash for their bank turns into as the threat of hitting a "Lose a Turn" and losing control of the board (and maybe losing the round to someone else who has also solved the puzzles) or hitting "Bankrupt" and watching their hard work go down the drain becomes all the more likely to happen. Obviously a "Risk vs. Reward" gambit, it's more common to see players maybe making a little extra and/or revealing more of the puzzle and then quickly solving to secure their current score rather than risk losing everything by being greedy.

B

• Bait-and-Switch: The Triple Toss-Up puzzles are almost-always related to each other, but on occasion, the third one will be completely unrelated to the first two, or it uses slightly different wording to try and throw the contestants off. One example from the June 2, 2022 episode is the Phrases THAT'S POSSIBLE, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE, and HIGHLY IMPROBABLE. The last of these went unsolved.
• Big Eater: If there's local cuisine to be eaten during a road show, Pat and Vanna will indulge. This was even referenced in the ceremonial 4,000th nighttime episode, which showed footage of Pat and Vanna eating while "Eat It" played.
• Big "WHAT?!": A contestant was going for the Million Dollars, and only had four letters, plus a wildcard, and only four showed up. She gave the answer TOUGH WORKOUT in two seconds.
  (Vanna is nodding in the background, about to clap)
  Pat: WHAT?!
• Bittersweet Ending:
  • Any time a contestant wins the game despite losing a lot of money and/or a big prize in a previous round (either by not solving the puzzle, or losing it to Bankrupt).
  • Any time a contestant carries the Million Dollar Wedge to the Bonus Round, solves the bonus puzzle, and is revealed to have spun the envelope right next to the $1 million.
  • Any time a contestant loses the Million Dollar Wedge during the main game, then wins the $100,000 in the Bonus Round. This has happened twice so far - on November 17, 2008 and April 30, 2012.
  • A contestant that solves a Nintendo Hard Bonus Round puzzle with very few letters, only to win the minimum prize or a car of lesser value.
  • Subverted on June 11, 2013. A contestant misses out on both the car and Mystery Prize in Round 2, but makes it to the Bonus Round and wins the $100,000.
  • A subversion took place on the Season 13 premiere. A contestant loses the $10,000 Wedge to Bankrupt but makes it to the Bonus Round, where he wins the $25,000.
• Blinking Lights of Victory: From its inception, any puzzleboard that had lights in them would form a chase pattern when the puzzle was solved. From the start of the modern era with the flatscreen displays, the blue lights around the puzzleboard shift colors and flash white.
• Bonus Round: Sometimes referred to as "Bonus Land" by Pat. Has changed over the years, but retains the same "core": the winner faces another puzzle and is given both the category and a number of letters. The contestant must solve the puzzle within a time limit to win a (generally) nice prize.
  • 1973: Used on the Shopper's Bazaar pilot, the "Shopper's Special" was the prize the contestant was playing for. All vowels in the puzzle were revealed, after which she was given 30 seconds to give one correct consonant and solve the puzzle.
  • 1975-76: During the seven weeks of hour-long episodes, the day's champion chose a difficulty from Easy, Medium, Hard, and Difficult with prizes increasing in value accordingly.
  • 1978: A token marked "Star Bonus" was placed on the Wheel, and allowed a trailing contestant to perhaps win the game by way of the same puzzle difficulties above. In both cases, s/he chose four consonants and a vowel, then was told the category and given 15 seconds to solve.
  • 1981-: Introduced at least a couple weeks before Pat took over. The contestant is asked for some letters, and given a short time limit to solve the puzzle for a prize; further details are given below.
  • The German version, Glücksrad, had an interesting pre-bonus round. The Super-spiel was a 4-5 word Crossword Puzzle using the board that all three players played as a team. Each player picks two letters, and then they have 90 seconds (each player as captain for 30) to solve the puzzle. If they cleared the wall in time, they all got a share of a rolling jackpot (which in some cases was worth more than the actual Bonus Round win). Then the normal Bonus Round's played like usual.
• Bonus Space:
  • Free Spin and its successor, Free Play. The latter provides the page image.
  • The Wild Card, which allows a contestant to call a second letter during a spin, or call a fourth consonant in the Bonus Round.
  • The "Same Letter" puzzle awards a $1,000 bonus to the contestant who calls the letter that starts every word in it.
• Bowdlerise: When Wheel taped two weeks of episodes in New York City for November 1988 sweeps, "New York, New York" from Leonard Bernstein's On the Town opened each episode instead of the show's theme, though using the line "It's a wonderful town" (as bowdlerised by the film adaptation) rather than "It's a helluva town".
• Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs:
  • For years, they'd had weeks where college students would play, and weeks where celebrities would play. They combined the ideas in 1992 for a Soap Opera College Challenge, which had a college student playing against two soap stars.
  • One episode had a contestant who could imitate Forrest Gump and another who could imitate the Road Runner. Pat then asked the former to "do Forrest Gump as the Road Runner", which he did.
  • From 2007-2012, the active categories included Fictional Character, Family, and Fictional Family.
  • A January 2020 episode had a contestant named Divinefavor. When inquired about the name, he explained that his mother wanted to name him Divine while his father wanted to name him Favor, so the two compromised.
  • In the September 20th, 2022 episode, the first of the Triple Toss-ups has the solution of "EGG AND CHEESE BURRITO", followed by one that reads "FRESH SUSHI". The third puzzle combines the two foods, "SUSHI BURRITO".
• Buffy Speak: Beginning in Season 38, measures were put in place for the COVID-19 Pandemic. Among them, one was providing contestants a white plastic tube that they would cup over a peg of the wheel to spin it without having to actually touch it. While it has no official name, Pat likes to refer to them as "white things".
• Brick Joke:
  • November or December 1987 (nighttime): Pat said at the beginning of the show that he forgot to put a belt on because he was talking to Bob Murphy, then-president of Merv Griffin Enterprises. Come the end of the show, he deliberately drops his pants. Jack Clark was laughing his way through the fee plugs.
  • Christmas week 1998: During this week, the Prize wedge had a gift box on top. Pat opened the box on the Christmas Eve episode to find a John Tesh CD inside, hinting at the fact that the Bonus Round prize included John Tesh albums and merchandise. The next day, he opened the box again and found an empty CD case with his picture on it.
  • November 2003: Vanna said that she wished Thanksgiving were at a different time of year, perhaps in March. Come March 2004, Pat references that discussion and presents Vanna with a turkey dinner.
• Butt-Monkey: Some of Pat's comments to both Charlie and Jim have portrayed them as this.
  Pat: [Jim] is sitting in a little 2-foot-by-3-foot cubicle alone, but he's having a ball.

C

• The Cameo: Several episodes have had celebrities walk on after a puzzle themed toward them. Beyond these, other notable cameos include:
  • In September 1977, Susan Stafford injured her back on a Circus of the Stars stunt gone wrong. Arte Johnson turned the letters in her place, also doing this to promote his new game show Knockout.
  • The New York City episodes in November 1988 had several celebrity cameos, including Dick Cavett and Debbie Reynolds.
  • On a 1997 episode, Rosie O'Donnell made a cameo after her name was the answer. She then helped Vanna touch letters in the next round.
  • In September 2002, Donny Osmond made a cameo to promote the debut of the Pyramid revival (also a Sony property).
  • In December 2008, Betty White made a cameo after the puzzle THE GOLDEN GIRLS.
• Catchphrase:
  • "I'd like to buy a vowel."
  • "I'd like to solve the puzzle." In Pat's early years, he'd often follow this with "For [amount], solve this [category]."
  • "Yeah, that's it." when most puzzles are solved.
  • "'Person'/'People' does not always mean 'proper name(s)'." was a catch phrase until they finally made Proper Name its own category in 1996.
  • In the shopping era, "...once you buy a prize, it's yours to keep." This was replaced with "We're playing for cash.", which Pat continued to say into March or April 1997.
  • In the first seasons with the Jackpot round, Pat would sometimes introduce it with "Put down that ____, Charlie, it's time for our Jackpot round!" One time, the object was a Viagra espresso.
  • "Did you need any more time?" Pat when someone solves the Bonus Round puzzle instantly or the Speed-Up with very few letters showing.
  • "Say everything, don't add anything" for when a contestant solves a Crossword Clue.
  • Every time Vanna recounts her appearance on The Price Is Right in interviews or on the show itself, she says, "I didn't win a doggone thing."
• Catchphrase Spouting Duo:
  Pat: We'll see you next time!
  Vanna: Bye-bye!
• Celebrity Edition:
  • Played straight for some time in the 1990s. Later on, they tried variants where each team consisted of a celebrity and a contestant playing together; the contestant got their winnings as usual, while the celebrity had an equal amount donated to charity. These were most often done with Country Music singers or sports stars.
  • In 1980, a Game Show Hosts edition was played, with a then-prominent game show host playing against two regular contestants for a show. The host would play for a designated player in the audience, selected at random before the show. Hosts known to have played were Tom Kennedy, Bill Cullen, Wink Martindale, and Jim Perry.
  • A primetime, hour-long celebrity edition premiered on ABC in January 2021, with each episode featuring two standalone games played by three celebrity guests for a charity of their choice. The rules are simplified by the removal of most of the special wedges, cash bonuses of increasing amounts^note $5,000 for Round 1, $10,000 for Round 2, and $20,000 for Round 3 and beyond are awarded for solving the puzzle, and there are four full-size (not hemmed in by Bankrupts) Million-Dollar Wedges to increase the odds of a large donation. Contestants are guaranteed $30,000 should they not manage to win more over both games.
• Christmas in July: Starting in 2021, Wheel began rerunning its "Secret Santa" episodes in July. Normally, these episodes are excluded from reruns because they are built around the special gimmick of the contestants' winnings being matched to three home viewers with SPIN IDs. For Wheel's "Christmas in July", the original SPIN IDs are changed to new ones, and the graphics that accompany them are changed from a wintry theme to a beach theme.
• Chroma Key: The center of the Wheel, most notably for the closing shot of the host and hostess from 1974-78 and 1980-87. It saw double-duty from 1974-75 in the opening.
• Clip Show: The ceremonial 3,000th and 4,000th syndicated episodes.
• Clumsy Copyright Censorship:
  • Almost every episode in Season 30 began with a retro clip. In nearly all cases, the older music beds (prize cues, Toss-Up bed, puzzle-solve cue, theme song) were dubbed over with their modern counterparts. This led to particularly jarring dubs, such as the current Toss-Up solve cue on a clip obviously from the late 1980s. The pre-1983 Theme Tune "Big Wheels" remained untouched, as did all but one instance of the 1994-97 solve cue (They showed a clip from 1994 twice: the first airing had the original cue, but the second airing had the current cue dubbed in). This was also the case for most retro clips replayed in subsequent seasons, especially during the week leading up the 7,000th episode in May 2019.
  • Perhaps the most egregious was a 1985-86 clip of Jack Clark describing a prize, in which they scrubbed out nearly all of the music around Jack's voice (which, for the record, was Merv's "Frisco Disco").
  • They also showed retro clips in Season 25, but in those cases the music was always left intact.
  • All of the classic themes were left intact during "Wheel 6000" week in 2014, which featured different retrospectives on shows 1,000-4,000, each one being backed the appropriate theme of the era.
  • The show's music cues were changed in January 2017, halfway through Season 34. However, the week of episodes airing April 3-7, 2017 was taped before this change, so the new cues had to be spliced in during post-production. This resulted in several sloppy sound edits, and even a couple cases where the old cues were left completely untouched. Reruns of Season 33 and early Season 34 episodes, were likewise changed after this point, with the original music often being highly audible underneath the new music.
    • Subverted when three weeks from Season 33 reran during Summer 2020, where all of the original music cues were left untouched.
  • In November 2018, Game Show Network aired a special showcasing several memorable moments over the years. Almost every past music cue was dubbed over with its 2000's equivalent. While there were a few exceptions, they were very inconsistent, such as footage from a 1989 episode leaving the original solve cue intact for one puzzle, then overdubbing it on another puzzle from the same episode.
• Colour-Coded for Your Convenience: Like so many other game shows before and after it, Wheel separates the contestants into red, yellow, and blue motifs. Chuck Woolery would sometimes refer to Player 2 as "Mellow Yellow". For a time in 1975, the displays themselves also used these colors before going to white (which had also been used in the 1974 pilots). From 1981-97, colored backdrops appeared behind the contestants.
• Complacent Gaming Syndrome:invoked Frequently invoked by contestants:
  • In the earliest days, any money left over after shopping (less than the least-expensive prize remaining) was immediately put "on account", meaning that it carried over to the next shopping round and would be lost if the contestant hit Bankrupt or failed to solve another puzzle (which gave the contestant the ability to buy the prizes). By mid-July 1975, contestants could put leftover money on a gift certificate while retaining the "on account" option. Until the shopping aspect was ousted entirely in mid-1989, almost all contestants asked for the gift certificate. That said, one recollection had at least one contestant place all of his money "on account" for the first two rounds (i.e., deciding not to go shopping)... and after winning the game, he used his winnings to buy one of the new cars onstage, with plenty left over for some of the other prizes); said episode was believed to air either in 1978 or '79.
  • When the current Bonus Round was introduced in December 1981, contestants were asked for five consonants and a vowel to help fill in a blank puzzle; they almost exclusively picked some permutation of R, S, T, L, N and E because those letters are so common. The rules changed on October 3, 1988 to give them those letters automatically and ask for three more consonants and a vowel, and the time limit was cut from 15 seconds to 10. This trope showed up again even under the new rules, as countless contestants guess the next-most common letters C, D, M and A. This itself has occasionally been replaced with B/P, H, G, and O, which a couple different sources have unofficially found the most strategic.
  • In the shopping era, contestants could pick from any of the remaining prizes in the bonus round, but almost always chose cars. After shopping ended on nighttime in October 1987, contestants were given the choice of five prizes in the bonus round ($25,000 cash, a car, and three other prizes that rotated weekly), but almost everyone went with the cash. This was most likely a combination of the other prizes often being undesirable and the cash being less of a tax liability. Beginning in September 1989, the bonus prize selection was changed to a random draw from five envelopes spelling out W-H-E-E-L. If a prize was won, it was taken out of rotation for the rest of the week ^note (except for the $25,000 in Seasons 16-18; for the first few weeks of Season 19, all five envelopes were in play all week). The envelopes were ousted in November 2001 for a 24-space bonus Wheel, in which the top amount is $100,000 (or $1,000,000 if the contestant who made it to the bonus round lands on and keeps the million-dollar wedge during the game).
  • Some categories in general fall into this trope.
    • For its first season of use, Same Name spelled out the word AND, causing nearly every contestant to start the round with N, D, and A. This was circumvented in Season 7 by replacing the word with an ampersand. The category occasionally relapsed into spelling out AND since the Turn of the Millennium, although this practice stopped during Season 35.
    • Husband & Wife also guarantees the word AND, and it has also relapsed into spelling out the word for reasons unknown. This is also true for Proper Names and many Characters puzzles.
    • Song/Artist and Title/Author lend themselves to this, guaranteeing either BY or _____'S in each puzzle.
    • Expect "Things" to kick off with the letter "S", although some crafty puzzle writers will try to subvert this with objects that don't have an "s" with pluralization.
  • Similarly to the above, nearly every contestant calls N, G, and I first if the category is What Are You Doing?, due to the category using at least one -ING ending about 99% of the time.
  • If T_E is revealed as part of a puzzle, expect the next consonant called to be "H". Even in the Bonus Round, the contestant is likely to call "H" as one of their consonants in this situation, presumably to make sure the word is indeed "THE" (revealing letters has no additional benefit in the Bonus Round).
  • If the Bonus Round puzzle is under any category but Phrase and has a single blank at the beginning that is obviously "A", expect the contestant to call it for their vowel. The writers are completely aware of this; generally, when a bonus puzzle starts with the word "A", there are no A's elsewhere in the puzzle.
  • If the Wheel landed on Free Play between 2009-2021, expect the contestant to call a vowel if any are left.
  • Double Play, used only in the 1995-96 season, was frequently used immediately after the contestant earned it, often resulting in a paltry amount for an infrequent or wrong consonant.
• Confetti Drop: $100,000 and $1,000,000 winners get showered with confetti and streamers. Lampshaded multiple times by Pat, either by making verbal references to it, sweeping it up after a big win, or having the contestants sweep it up themselves.
  • Subverted on the October 12, 2020 episode. Despite the contestant winning $100,000 in the bonus round, the confetti didn't drop. Pat explained immediately afterward that it was because for whatever reason, the confetti machine wasn't working, jokingly suggesting it was the fault of new executive producer Mike Richards. He and Vanna tried to make it up to the contestant by throwing small amounts of confetti from their hands onto him.
  • From Seasons 1-3 of Celebrity Wheel, the confetti only dropped for $1,000,000 winners, as the $100,000 is considerably easier to win and, unlike on the regular show, can still be won if the $1,000,000 is in play. However, in one Season 3 episode, Joel Madden lost the $1,000,000 in the first Bonus Round, then won $100,000 in the second, and Pat requested that the confetti be fired anyway. This led to a permanent change of firing the confetti for $100,000 winners on this version of the show starting in Season 4.
  • On the episodes that aired on or closest to New Year's Eve in 2020 and 2022, the show ended with a balloon drop.
• Consolation Prize: Initially played straight. Until Season 20, anyone who finished with a score of $0 got consolation prizes. From then until Season 23, they got $500; since then, they get $1,000 ($2,000 on weeks with teams).
• Credits Gag:
  • For a few seasons beginning in the late 2000s, full credit rolls put a gag title over Pat's name (e.g., "Pumpkin Picker" on a Halloween Week episode).
  • After the failed Confetti Drop on October 12, 2020, Mike Richards was listed as "Mike 'Confetti' Richards" in the credits. This became a Brick Joke on the January 4, 2021 episode when another $100,000 win occurred (even though the confetti dropped properly this time).
• Crossword Puzzle: The "Crossword Round" introduced in Season 34 features interlocking words (usually four, but on rare occasion, three or five) which all have a common theme.

D

• A Day in the Limelight:
  • Vanna has spun the Wheel several times, including a January 1984 nighttime episode. She also played a round for charity in November 1989 while Pat turned the letters.
  • Pat had laryngitis during a College Week taping session in San Francisco (aired November 18-22, 1996). On Thursday, he decided to rest his voice, so he had Vanna host the bonus round while he turned the letters.
  • April Fool's Day 1997.
  • In early 2011, the show held a contest allowing home viewers to be "Vanna for a Day": viewers could submit video auditions, which were then voted on through the show's website. The winner, Katie Cantrell, took Vanna's place for Rounds 2 and 3 on March 24, which was lampshaded by the Round 3 puzzle IT'S HARDER THAN IT LOOKS.
  • As Pat has appeared in only one iteration of the Wheel video games, nearly all of them have handed hosting duties to Vanna, who will call out letter frequencies, dollar amounts, the Rules Spiel, and general player encouragement.
  • Vanna finally got to host for real during three weeks in Season 37. The first two, being Disney tie-ins, had Mickey and Minnie Mouse in her usual role, while the third had Pat's daughter Maggie instead.
• Deadpan Snarker: Pat is fond of snarking both at himself and at contestants who are doing poorly, or ones who are really good at playing the game. (Prime example: claiming that a bonus puzzle will be "very difficult" when the contestant picks letters that leave it mostly or completely filled in.)
• Delayed Reaction:
  • Sometimes contestants are looking at the board instead of the Wheel when spinning, and may not realize immediately that they've landed on something noteworthy (such as the top dollar, a prize wedge... or a Bankrupt).
  • An unusual example came with contestant Emil DeLeon, who solved the notorious bonus puzzle NEW BABY BUGGY with only the N and E revealed. It took about three or four seconds for the board to light up with the correct answer, likely because the techs were not expecting him to solve it.
• Deliberate Monochrome: Most Halloween Week episodes briefly go black-and-white at the beginning to emulate the look of a scary movie from the black-and-white era.
• Demoted to Extra: Jim Thornton's presence has been noticeably reduced on Celebrity Wheel of Fortune. Unlike the regular series, he never appears on camera, and also does not announce any cash prizes won in the Bonus Round. While Jim originally introduced the celebrities at the top of the show and recorded a bumper following the end of the first half, Seasons 3 onward now have the celebrities introduced by Pat, and there is no longer a mid-show bumper. Jim does now read for the Prize Puzzle and its associated giveaway, but for anyone streaming the episodes on Hulu, Jim's only involvement is saying "It's Celebrity..." and introducing Pat and Vanna, due to Hulu removing the giveaways.
• Department of Redundancy Department:
  • On several occasions, they've gone to Speed-Up with only one or two consonants left. This was even more egregious in the 1980s and 1990s, when the Final Spin was not mandatory and finishing without one would have taken considerably less time.
  • FIREPLACE MANTEL, STAR CONSTELLATION, PURPLE LILACS, YELLOW BUTTERCUPS, SPOTTED LEOPARD, and BABY DUCKLINGS have all been used as Toss-Ups. CHURCH HYMN, YOUNG CUB, and EGYPTIAN PHARAOH(S) (twice!) have been used as bonus puzzles.
  • In recent years, many puzzles under the Fun & Games category have the unnecessary word "PLAYING" added in front.
  • Starting in the 2020's, several puzzles have a format of "[noun/verb] [preposition] A/THE [noun/verb derivative]", including: JUNK IN A JUNK DRAWER, FIRE IN THE FIREPLACE, and YELLING SURPRISE AT A SURPRISE PARTY, to name just a few.
  • Can also apply to gameplay. When a contestant loses their turn and the puzzle is obvious, the next contestant will often spin the Wheel once, call a letter that appears once (usually the top-leftmost letter that has yet to be revealed), and solve. Hitting any dollar amount other than the top one will result in their three-digit score being raised to the house minimum of $1,000. However, many players fail to realize that they could've won that $1,000 anyway by simply solving with $0, making their spin and letter call redundant in addition to a pointless risk of spinning a penalty wedge.
    • Averted if the contestant spins with the intention of landing on the top-dollar value, any prize or tag, the Wild Card, or the Million-Dollar Wedge (this includes the Mystery Wedge only if neither one has been flipped over).
  • Several times, contestants have hit ½ Car tags on occasions where winning the car is impossible (i.e., two players picking up one tag each in Round 3, especially if the first of the two also loses it to a Bankrupt).
    • It can also go the other way: a few contestants have managed to accumulate both ½ Car tags in separate rounds, then hit a third tag as well.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: From 1983 to 2000, the show used Merv Griffin's own "Changing Keys". Merv also composed a lot of the music beds used in the 80s and early 90s.
• Does Not Like Spam: Pat Sajak will often mention how he hates ketchup on hot dogs, and will shame anyone who admits to liking it, even Vanna. On the October 19, 2022 episode, Pat reluctantly took a bite out of a hot dog with ketchup, to Vanna's delight and the audience's applause. He quickly took a bigger bite of another hot dog with mustard and relish to cancel out the ketchup.
• Don't Call Me "Sir": On an episode of Celebrity Wheel, Pat brought up Caroline Rhea being addressed as "ma'am" by staff during a break.
  Pat: So, during the break, a stage manager called you "ma'am," and you said...
  Caroline: "Don't call me 'ma'am.' It's Southern for 'no longer hot.'" (laughs, then points to Vanna) You've never been called ma'am in your life.
  Vanna: Yes, I have! I've been called ma'am.
  Caroline: You are ma'am proof, Vanna White. There's no ma'am'ing you.
  Vanna: I'm from the South!
• Donut Mess with a Cop: Referenced on the September 12, 2002 episode. After a contestant failed to identify the place described by the Where Are We? puzzle GLAZED DECAF PLEASE BAKER'S DOZEN (doughnut shop), Pat asked one of her opponents to identify it due to him being a policeman.
• Double the Dollars:
  • The Double Play token from Season 13, which could be used prior to any spin to double its value if the Wheel landed on a dollar amount. It did not double the value of the regular prize wedges, however, it did double the 1/3-width $10,000 prize, which would net the contestant $20,000 if they won the round.
  • On the UK version (which was played for points, not cash), all Wheel spins were worth double starting in Round 3.
• Double Unlock:
  • The Million-Dollar Wedge. To win the Million, the contestant has to:
    1. Land on the wedge, which is 1/3 the width of normal wedges and surrounded by 1/3-size Bankrupts.
    2. Call a letter that's in the puzzle.
    3. Solve that round's puzzle without first hitting a Bankrupt.
    4. Win the game without hitting Bankrupt.
    5. Land on the $1,000,000 envelope (which replaces the normal top prize of $100,000) in the Bonus Round.
    6. Solve the bonus puzzle.
    • Despite the large number of steps needed and the sheer odds against it, the $1,000,000 was won just a month after its introduction by a contestant who hit it on her first spin!
  • The ½ Car tags. The contestant has to pick two of them up with correct letters, and solve the round(s) in which he or she claims them without losing them to Bankrupt at any point.
• Downer Ending:
  • Vanna's first official episode (December 13, 1982) had some stellar gameplay: no Bankrupts, Lose A Turns, or wrong letters. However, the winner was unable to solve the bonus puzzle GEORGE BERNARD SHAW, remaining stumped on the last word until about three seconds after the buzzer.
  • Whenever a contestant solves or figures out the Bonus Round puzzle just after time runs out. Even more of a downer when it results in a $100,000 or $1,000,000 loss.
  • January/February 1989 (nighttime): A contestant has the Bonus Round puzzle MILAN ITALY — the first word of which is pronounced "mi-LAHN" — partially revealed. She mispronounces it as "MILL-in", then "MY-lun"^note which is the pronunciation of Milan, Indiana and Milan, Michigan, and her expression after the answer is revealed amounts to "But that's what I said!" Pat took her side and consulted with the judge during the commercial break. Unfortunately, they decided not to accept either pronunciation.
  • January 28, 2004: A contestant has most of the bonus puzzle BACK TO BASICS filled in... but says BACK TO THE BASICS and never realizes her mistake, thus losing the round.
  • February 18, 2005: A contestant sets a new one-round record of $54,000 in the Speed-Up and wins $60,150 overall, but loses $100,000 in the Bonus Round.
  • September 10, 2007: A $100,000 loss on Season 25's premiere.
  • Anyone who sweeps the game but loses the Bonus Round. On November 26, 2008, a contestant did this and lost the $100,000.
  • February 27, 2009: A $100,000 loss on the 5,000th episode.
  • Season 28: Ten consecutive games, four $100,000 losses. These happened on December 29, 2010; and in January 2011 on the 4th, 7th, and 11th.
    • January 4, 2011: The puzzle solution? A KNOWN FACT. The contestant's repeated guess? AN UNKNOWN FACT.
    • Incidentally, a $100,000 loss occurred exactly two years before December 29, 2010, and another $100,000 would be lost exactly one year after January 4, 2011.
  • September 19-21, 2011: The first two Bonus Rounds of Season 29 were solved just after the buzzer. The third had a $100,000 loss.
  • The week of November 5, 2012: Four Bonus Round wins, one of which had a contestant fill in their bonus puzzle entirely, and another who had only one letter missing from it. But on Friday, a team lost $100,000.
  • December 21, 2012: Leanne wins $69,300 in the main game, including a $10,000 Mystery Prize and $36,000 in the Speed-Up, setting a new record for the highest pre-Bonus Round total. However, she loses $30,000 on a very tough Bonus Round answer of HIT THE BUZZER.
  • December 26, 2014: Matt absolutely blows his opponents out of the water, sweeping the game and cleaning out the show to the tune of $91,892 (far surpassing the previous record for pre-Bonus Round total above), but he loses $32,000 in the bonus round. He was unfazed about it, using the 10 seconds to thank Pat for a good time.
  • April 2, 2015: Contestant Whitney has $41,294 before the Bonus Round but becomes the first contestant ever to lose the $1,000,000 when she was unable to solve WITHOUT A DOUBT with only the Ts and A showing. Even worse, she would have set a new record had she solved.
  • December 23, 2015: A game that sees seven rounds of game play and all three contestants winning $10,000+ ends with a $100,000 loss.
  • November 15, 2017: A pair of contestants are unable to solve the Bonus Round puzzle BAKED ZUCCHINI... and become the first team to lose $1,000,000.
  • December 21, 2017: Another $1,000,000 loss. This after the contestant won $32,100, including the ½ Car.
  • January 1, 2018: The first show of 2018 ends with a $100,000 loss. To make matters worse, the final episode of that week also has a contestant losing $100,000.
  • January 11, 2019: A contestant figures out the Bonus Round puzzle FLIPPING THROUGH PAGES just after the buzzer... and loses the $1,000,000. As of this episode, the $1,000,000 has been lost more than it has been won. Even worse, another $1,000,000 loss happened on the 16th.
  • November 14, 2021 (Celebrity Wheel): Jason Mraz takes the Million Dollar Wedge to the Bonus Round twice. He wins $25,000 the first time, but fails to solve BROWNIE PAN for $1,000,000 the second.
  • On at least three occasions, a third party defied this trope after disagreeing with an on-air ruling.
    • April 9, 2018: A contestant mis-solves the fully revealed puzzle FLAMENCO DANCE LESSONS by mispronouncing the first word as "flamingo". Since this was a Prize Puzzle, Airbnb stepped in and gave the contestant an all-expenses paid trip to Spain.
    • November 21, 2019: A contestant adds the word AND while solving a Crossword Puzzle and is ruled incorrect. She had a trip to Nashville in her possession, so several businesses in the area treated her to a free trip to the city and tickets to the Grand Ole Opry.
    • December 21, 2021: A contestant is ruled to have said the third and fourth words of the Bonus Round puzzle CHOOSING THE RIGHT WORD too far apart from each other. Time expires before she has a chance to say the solution again. Her prize would have been an Audi Q3, so Audi tracked her down and gave her the exact same car she would have won. After this incident, no Audis were ever offered on the show again.
  • December 16, 2022: With all four previous Bonus Rounds of the week won, a contestant blows a rare five-win week by adding one extra letter to APPLYING OURSELVES, guessing APPLYING YOURSELVES.
  • February 11, 2023: Defied by the show itself. The contestant pauses between the fourth and fifth words of the Bonus Round solution WAY AHEAD OF THE CROWD. Pat has her say it again, but the show rules her correct before she can do so. In particular, the board operator reveals the answer as if to tell Pat, "We Are Not Going Through That Again!"
• Dramatic Timpani: Used in the current Bonus Round until 1989 on nighttime, and until 1991 on daytime. Also used for some road show intros in the 1990s and at the end of the credits from 1992-96.
• Dude, Not Funny!:
  • Pat got this reaction from the audience on the January 22, 1997 episode. Vanna forgot to turn a letter when revealing the answer to the puzzle; Pat quipped "Well, you know, you get pregnant, you forget", to which the audience responded with booing and groaning.
  • Pat's response to a contestant on April 11, 2002. She rang in on a Toss-Up puzzle which had AN ___Y CHILD showing. Her guess? AN UGLY CHILD.^note Answer: AN ONLY CHILD
    Pat: You are a school counselor—a former school counselor...
• Dynamic Difficulty:
  • Many fans have noticed that the difficulty of puzzles sometimes gets jacked up after weeks with several wins. This often manifests itself in shorter maingame puzzles with few consonants, and especially in Fake Difficulty in the Bonus Round.
  • Each $1,000,000 win has also had an impact on gameplay. Most notably, the second Bankrupt wedge was put on the Wheel in all rounds in Season 27 after the first one happened the year before.