29Sep2011
“Wheel of Fortune” Crowns First “Half Car Tag” Winner
It seems that whenever Wheel of Fortune does some gimmick which seems difficult to win, that win comes sooner than we expect. We saw it with the million dollar win a few years back so early into its run. We can add the Half Car Tag winner to this list. Last night Craig West from Las Vegas became the first person to win a car in the main game of Wheel of Fortune with the Half Car Tags. To win it you must spin and land on both halves of the car, claim the two tags by guessing a correct letter, and then solving the puzzle. Craig successfully did this and won over $40,000 in cash and prizes, including the car, by the end of the show. Want to see what it looks like to win? Check it out below.
Most of my interest in WoF waned when they got rid of defending champions, but I believe that’s the same reason you see all of these new mini-games/gimmacks etc on the show. Just from reading the description, this feat needed some luck and that dude had it…..kinda shocked he kept spinning….>Greedy?
I don’t think he had figured out the last word.
OK, I’d prefer to believe that than to believe he was greedy. We’ll never know…
I feel the same way, my interest in WoF waned during Season 14 when they got rid of the defending champs, made every show have some stupid theme, phased out red/yellow/blue backdrops, and added the Jackpot round which is a really tired and dull gimmick. I hate to say it, but WoF has become a bit dull and run of the mill with it’s gimmicks and broken gameplay (win the prize puzzle, win the game). WoF is #1 in syndication is because people watch out of habit and there’s nothing else on at that timeslot but Seinfeld or Family Guy reruns.
Anyway, this new 1/2 Car tag gimmick isn’t as exciting as it was in the Season 28 “Road Week” trial when they were wedges with a 1/2 in the middle and $300 on the side. Now when a contstant lands on the 1/2 car space they automatically get the tag with a correct letter, but no money. And it doesn’t seem like anyone will get both tags to very often.
Half right (no pun intended). As the guy picked up the first half, Pat said he got $500/letter. Now, the space under the first half just so happened to be $500 so I don’t know if it’s a flat $500/per like on Free Play or if it’s whatever space is under it per letter.
Actually, the Road Trip Week Half Car wedges were valued at $500, not $300.
It’s kind of funny that he landed on the Mystery Wedge at the end. It used to be that when you solved the mystery, you got a car.
When I first heard about the 1/2 Car thing becoming permanent, I thought they’d do it the same way it was done last year with the car tag in the middle of two itty-bitty $500 spots. I’m glad to be proven wrong- it’s actually a nice looking gameplay winkle this way.
I faceplam’d when this nut decided to spin again. When he hit the mystery wedge, I actually started to talk to the screen: “If you even so much as TOUCH that mystery wedge, much less pick it up, Im’a come through this screen and hit you… DON’T you dare do it…”
Did Alex Davis have his TV rotated 90 degrees to the right when he took that photo at the top?
I think the half car wedge should work like the wild card: once you pick it up, it’s yours for good, even if you don’t solve that particular puzzle. The current rule will make it very difficult to win the car. I think this particular early win may turn out be a fluke.
The Car Wedge was created under the same idea structure as the Million Dollar wedge. As you can see, in both cases, it is possible to win the prizes, but it’s all based on luck. Landing on the right spaces. Guessing the right letters. Not hitting any bankrupts. They make it difficult because they don’t want people to win the prizes. They may be figuring that, as an example, if 1 out of every 1,000 contestants win the car with the car wedge concept, then they’ve actually recovered the cost of the car and then some, in sponsored advertising costs and commercials and whatnot.
You have to remember that whatever they offer in prizes and money, has to be recovered somehow; otherwise the show wouldn’t last that long on television. Simply put, “Expenses Greater than Income = Failure”.
I’m sure Kia is providing the cars actually won as well as a hefty fee to the production company for the daily advertisement. Three rounds with their brand plastered all over the wheel and a video clip of their latest product is an expensive advertisement package. Believe me, Wheel of Fortune is not paying for those cars out of pocket. Even if they were it would amount to a miniscule sliver of their annual production budget.
Is there a reason why the image is sideways?