I’ll come right out and admit it: I was never a big fan of the Wheel of Fortune game show. That’s probably why it took me longer than everyone else in the world to see just how good the Wheel of Fortune slots can be. Luckily, I really have my choice of US casinos that have Wheel of Fortune slots, whether I’m at my new home in Vegas or back home in Chicago!

At first, I thought they were a bit of a gimmick — especially since they first started appearing on top of my favorite classic slots, like Red White & Blue and Double Diamond. One of the things I’d always liked best about these slots was how simple and dependable they are — how dare the casinos mess them up with a game show gimmick tacked on, right?

My current wife, on the other hand, has been a Wheel of Fortune fan from way back (I think she wanted to grow up to be Vanna White). She’s better at the “compare and contrast”, and assures me that the slots really don’t have much to do with the game show, expect that infectious “Wheel…of…Fortune!” chant and the various sounds taken from the game show.

Her idea of a good slot is a progressive with lots of flashing lights and musical animations, so obviously her favorites are the networked progressive Wheel of Fortune slots — especially the casino front door/center floor ‘show’ slots with the huge wheel that you can see a mile away!

Me, I’m more than happy with the classics. What they really do is add a nice random progressive on top of some of my familiar favorites — without losing much of the payback potential that I love best about them!