GSN Launches Wheel of Fortune on Facebook

There seems to be a rising trend of Faceook apps that are remakes of old game shows. Joining social renditions of The Price is Right and Family Feud, the latest is Wheel of Fortune from GSN. This new title has been growing quickly over the past seven days. Wheel of Fortune is a close replica of the original game show, coming with a number of challenging word puzzles to solve. While there are social mechanics, there is no synchronous multiplayer mode of the sort we've seen in other recent apps. Just as in the game show, players spin the big wheel for cash, and guess consonants in order to figure out a word puzzle. The catch here is that players only get five turns to guess correctly. Of course, just like in the show, the player can buy a vowel after each spin, using the cash (called Wheel Bucks) they’ve racked up from past spins. Players are given vague clues to the puzzles (e.g. “An Event”) and can choose to solve it at any time. Puzzles generally consist of phrases or sayings and can be quite challenging to solve. Typically the player gets 15 seconds to either spin, solve, or guess a letter. There is also a virtual currency called Wheel Gold, which can be used to purchase a handful of powerups to boost the chances of solving a puzzle. These consist of Timeout, Reveal Letter, Double Bucks, and Free Play; they grant the user extra time per turn, reveal a random letter, earn double cash on their next spin, or give them a free turn respectively. Wheel Gold can be purchased, but it can also be earned via “Collections.” These are virtual items made up of different parts of the game show, such as wheel tiles, letters, and so on. Once a Collection is complete, the game rewards the player with a respectable amount of virtual currency. However, the bigger and more rewarding Collections are gated by level, and leveling up is achieved by winning more Wheel Bucks. Leveling up can take a long time. Players are only given two games to play (dubbed “Episodes”) a day, unless they purchase more episodes or win a daily bonus game. At the end of each game, players are also given a bonus round puzzle to solve. This is where the first social mechanic comes into play. These bonus puzzles will grant a handful of random letters, but only allow the player to guess three more consonants and one vowel. It’s surprisingly hard, but users can opt for friend participation, and have them try to help -- via a wall post -- solve the puzzle. Should they succeed, $1000 Wheel Bucks and a new level are rewarded to both parties. Beyond this, friends can gift various bonus powerups, and compete via an online leaderboard. Unlike the game show, this Wheel of Fortune is completely single player and asynchronous. Given the growing success of sychronous games like The Price is Right, we expected this one to be as well, but it isn't. Additionally, limiting the player to only five guesses makes the games very short and difficult. Due to the difficulty and brevity of the games, the app is sometimes more frustrating than entertaining. There is also no active competitiveness in an asynchronous game show. The developers state that Wheel Bucks can be traded in for cash prizes. That makes for a nice incentive, but after perusing the app for some time, we could not find this option. The game is new, so it just may not be active yet. Overall, Wheel of Fortune on Facebook is okay. It has all the parts of the classic game show, but it loses much of the competitive feel without synchronous play. Additionally, only five turns per puzzle and the low number of daily games makes the game experience exceedingly short. We just didn't feel that this game is as strong as it could be.

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GSN Launches Wheel of Fortune on Facebook

Christopher Mack

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Christopher Mack