This is the least valuable cash wedge on the wheel. Contestants can continue spinning the wheel until they miss a letter or spin a Bankrupt or Lose a Turn.
Each consonant is worth the cash value of the wedge the wheel lands on. In the main game, contestants have three options: spin the wheel and call a consonant, buy a vowel for $250, or solve the puzzle. You have to be careful-'Wheel of Fortune' requires you to answer almost immediately after ringing in-but going a split second early ensures that you have first shot on what will (hopefully) be an obvious puzzle. Ringing in immediately following a letter-but before you actually know the answer-might be smart. Here, the interaction resembles what game theorists call a duel. However, occasionally the tossup reaches a point where almost all letters are on the board. The tossups tend to reward better puzzle solvers, not clever strategists.
The board automatically reveals letters one by one until a player rings in with the correct solution. Each episode of “Wheel of Fortune” has three tossup puzzles, worth $1,000, $2,000, and $3,000.
