The Wheel of Fortune arcade game is a light spinning ticket redemption game. It can be a mostly skill-based game where you can win tickets pretty consistently. The Wheel of Fortune strategy guide below will help you learn Wheel of Fortune “hacks” that will get you closer to winning the big jackpot.
This article also contains important Wheel of Fortune manual information and a review of the game and how much luck you will need to win big.
Is the Wheel of Fortune Light Wheel Game Rigged?
It is rigged in the sense that it is deceptively hard to hit the spin zone light.
There is also a payout system that can be set to allow the game to be easier to win after a certain amount is paid into the machine.
Wheel of Fortune is a lot less rigged than other light spinning arcade games, such as Cyclone.
Wheel of Fortune is easier to hit the initial light but you do not win the jackpot instantly like in the Cyclone game. In Wheel of Fortune, you would then have to spin the wheel that is entirely luck-based. The ticket values are also quite a bit lower than the jackpot in Cyclone.
How to Win the Wheel of Fortune Light Spinning Arcade Game: Tips and Tricks
- Use your fingers and have them resting on the button.
Do not start above the button as your timing will be slightly delayed as you bring your hand down.
Rest your fingers on the button and press down quickly when you see the light about to move into the “Spin Zone”.
- Adjust your timing after each play.
If the light lands after the “Spin Zone” then adjust your timing to be quicker.
If you are landing before then wait a little bit longer to press.
The timing can be very precise depending on the settings the machine is set on. You will have to adjust by just milliseconds in a lot of cases.
Keep in mind that you could be missing the “Spin Zone” because the game is impossible to win when the Wheel of Fortune game is not ready to pay out.
- Practice.
Keep playing Wheel of Fortune to get in a lot of practice.
You will have to get lucky to win on your first try. With each play you will learn the timing and also get used to the light as it moves around the machine.
- Try to figure out what the difficulty or payout settings are on the Wheel of Fortune machine you want to play on.
See more on the Wheel of Fortune manual below to know about the different difficulty settings.
You can do this by watching someone else play to see if the light skips over the “Spin Zone” or not. This can be tricky to tell from just watching someone as you really need to see up close and get the feeling that you should have hit it or not.
It may be easier to try and hit the “Spin Zone” yourself. You should be able to tell if the payout is set or if the difficulty is set too high on that machine by seeing the light skip over the jackpot spin slot.
There are four game option settings that the arcade owner can change within the Wheel of Fortune machine to adjust how many tickets are paid out to players.
Wheel of Fortune Arcade Manual Settings
Note: These settings can be changed based on arcade location.
- Light Ring Values
The ticket values shown above of 10, 8, 7, and so on can be changed.
- Wheel Jackpot Values
Once you hit the spin zone light then the game is all luck to determine how many tickets you will win with the wheel. There are 20 spots on the wheel with two jackpot slots.
Default jackpot 1 value: 300 tickets
Default jackpot 2 value: 500 tickets
The chance of hitting one of these two white-colored jackpots is 2/20 or 10%.
- Wheel Difficulty
This is the big one. The Wheel of Fortune difficulty setting is the best way that the arcade can change how many spin zone jackpots are won.
This option determines how easy or difficult it is to stop the light on the “Spin Zone”.
The manual says this about the wheel difficulty setting:
“The range for this option is 1-20. The default value for this option is ‘6’. When the game is set to ‘6’, average players will hit the spin zone approximately once every 20 times. This is where we feel the game works best, balancing difficulty with the excitement of being able to hit the target on a consistent basis.”
- Winability
The final option that an arcade can adjust to change the payout of the Wheel of Fortune game is winability.
This lets the owner set the machine to a desired payout no matter what the wheel difficulty is set to.
If they set the winability to 10 then after 10 games played with no winner it will open up the difficulty to the easiest setting.
Though, you are likely to not encounter this as winability is turned off by default.
Wheel of Fortune Arcade Game Review Score
Score is out of 10, with 1 being all luck to win and 10 being all skill.
Skill Rating: 4
This all depends on what the difficulty is set at. Some settings make it almost impossible to win. The default setting should be winnable fairly consistently but even if you hit the light then it is all luck when you spin the wheel whether you get the Wheel of Fortune jackpot or not.
I think this game has more skill than the similar Cyclone arcade game. As that game is usually rigged with a payout. Wheel of Fortune the arcade game keeps really skilled players in check because of the wheel that is entirely luck based.
Fun Rating: 4
The Wheel of Fortune arcade game is a flashy game that is very exciting to test your luck on both the light spinning part and the jackpot wheel spin. Because it is more luck based it can be more fun to watch the wheel spin and finally hit the big jackpot.
The game is not very original as you can find many different variants of the light spinning arcade machine even within the same arcade. As such, it can get stale to play for too long.
To save money at Dave and Buster’s while playing Wheel of Fortune check out the guide on coupons, deals, and rebates so that you can play more arcade games for as cheap as possible.