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SPINNING WHEEL
Vanna White and IGT celebrate 25 years of Wheel of Fortune slots
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BY C. MOON REED
henever Vanna White visits Las Vegas, the glamorous television game show host moonlights as a surprise good luck charm. “When I see people playing Wheel of Fortune slots, I go up to them, I rub my hand on the slot machine and I say, ‘This is for good luck. Hi, I’m Vanna.’ And then I walk off,” White tells the Weekly. “They just freak out. Because there they are, minding their own business, playing their game, and then I show up.” White was in town recently to celebrate the 25th anniversary of IGT’s Wheel of Fortune slot franchise at this year’s Global Gaming Expo (G2E). “It’s incredible,” White says. “I can’t believe that it’s been 25 years, and it’s still going strong. It’s still just as fun as it was on day one.” The anniversary isn’t just an achievement for gaming company IGT or for a game show that has been on air since 1975; it’s a piece of Las Vegas
history. Wheel of Fortune was the first-ever licensed, branded game on the casino floor, according to Boris Hallerbach, director of premium content for IGT. Countless TV shows, movies and celebrity brands have since followed suit. And unlike, say, a sitcom-branded slot machine, Wheel of Fortune has a natural connection to gaming. “I think the biggest draw for Wheel of Fortune slot players is spinning the wheel,” Hallerbach says. “If they’re a fan of the TV show, [they] dream of spinning the wheel on TV, and this gets them close to that.” White sees even more reasons for players to connect. “When you think of Wheel of Fortune, you
think of winning money and having fun, and it’s the same with the slot machines,” White says. “It’s almost like it’s one big, happy family. You feel like you’re part of Wheel of Fortune when you’re playing that. I was playing it yesterday and just the music, it’s like, oh my gosh, I feel like I’m at work.” Wheel of Fortune is now in its 39th season on television, and Hallerbach says parent company Sony keeps the show fresh by evolving with the times: “They’ve kept their style guide up-to-date. … The puzzles are relevant and current.” IGT has done the same. “We’ve taken that style guide, we’ve applied it to slot mechanics that we know work for players,” Hallerbach says. “As slot
