Picking up from yesterday –
In the big packet, we get a mini-packet of things from Pat Sajack – his “secrets to winning on Wheel.”
He basically talks about how important he thinks it is to buy vowels. And he talks about how he’d always use “Free Play” for a vowel.
I’ve always vehemently been against using Free Play for a vowel in most cases. Yeah, sure, it’s “free.” So, you don’t have to buy your vowel. BUT they still give you $500 for any consonant you call while on Free Play! So, if you landed on Free Play, got a consonant for $500, and then bought a vowel for $250 right after, you’ve still netted $500!
Now, $500 is a pretty low amount, so maybe you want to burn the turn to spin for more money, so you call a vowel just to do it. But I don’t think it’s “saving” you money, per se.
Also, there are only 5 vowels, but 21 consonants! And vowels, for the most part, must appear in every word. I think in general, with context clues and just probability, I think you generally have a better chance of calling a vowel in the puzzle than a consonant (if you’re lost as to what the puzzle is, and don’t have other things to build off of).
So, I’d call what I’m less likely to get correct.
I think what free play is best used for is stuff like:
– something you think is a strong possibility, but there are other good options and it’s risky to call on a normal turn, so you’d luck out in having the safety net
– a “good letter” in a puzzle in which you are almost certain of a part of it, but you don’t know the other part. So, if you’re almost CERTAIN about like a “T” and “N” are in the puzzle, and that will complete RSTLNE, and you don’t know what another word is, guess like a P, or a C, etc. – something reasonable, but iffy.
The only time I can generally imagine using Free Play for a vowel is if I’m really lost on a puzzle and we only have two vowels remaining, and free play is gonna give me my answer.
Because if there are only 2 vowels left, and you call one on Free Play, you then have a ton more information.
If that vowel is in the puzzle, and there’s still another vowel remaining, and it’s the last vowel available, then you can immediately buy it after Free Play, and have all the vowel information.
If the vowel is not in the puzzle, same deal, buy the one that is.
If it’s in the puzzle and you get the sound that you’re out of vowels, congratulations. You still have all the vowel info.
I mean, I guess you could argue that I said in my second puzzle I may have used free play for a vowel when there were 3 vowel possibilities left, because there were only 2 letter spaces left on the board, and I was at a loss, and I needed whatever info I could grab onto.
But in general, I think vowels are a bad strategy on Free Play, overall. And yet, Wheel of Fortune very, very much encourages you to use Free Play for vowels.
Anyway, his other things are like pay attention to the category, which I totally agree with, and to be willing to take gambles and how frustrating it is if someone doesn’t pick up the mystery wedge when they only have like $1,000. I also super wholeheartedly agree with that. Like he says if you don’t really wanna play, “why are you here?”
And he says pay attention to the scores… Like if someone built up a ton of money and got lose a turn, and the next person called a wrong letter, and then you’re in control, if the game is close between the two of you, you may want to try to block them from getting the puzzle and not just spin hoping to rack up a little more, as you may get bankrupt and hand their windfall back to them.
And I think that’s fair.
I mean, he knows the game better than nearly anybody. So, of course I agree with most of his sounds tips, but that Free Play thing! It gets me every time!
And this is where I’ll pick up tomorrow!