The Star Bonus was only used for a brief period in 1978: it debuted at some point between March 15 and April 6, and was gone by about early July (one 1978 episode has Chuck joke 'there goes my Emmy', referring to that year's Daytime Emmy Awards where he was nominated but didn't win, suggesting it was taped after the nominations were announced but before the winners were named). After the correct letters were revealed (if any), s/he was given the category and 15 seconds to solve an onscreen 'stopwatch' graphic served as the timer. The puzzle was shown, and the player chose four consonants and a vowel. In the Star Bonus Round, the contestant chose one of four prizes, with the difficulty of the puzzle corresponding to the prize's value (Easy, Medium, Hard, Difficult). It could not be lost to Bankrupt nor forfeited by failing to solve that round's puzzle, and landing on it resulted in a 'Charge' fanfare playing.

While this particular format was only used in 1973, the concept was eventually recycled into the Prize Puzzle (albeit much less straightforward most of the time).Ī token which covered a low-value wedge (the orange $100 next to Free Spin in Round 1, the tan $100 in Round 2, and $150 in Round 3) and allowed the player who picked it up to play a special puzzle at the end of the show. The winner was shown all vowels in the puzzle, then had 30 seconds to give one correct consonant and solve the puzzle. Used only on the Shopper's Bazaar pilot, the puzzle was the name of the prize the contestant was playing for.

Wheel of fortune 80s board game