Was the Big Wheel's number pattern inspired by a dartboard?

[goldroadfanatic]

When I was playing darts at a bar a few nights ago, I noticed that the pattern of numbers looked very similar to the position of amounts on the Big Wheel.  If you multiply the values on a dartboard by five, you'd get the following layout:

100, 25, 60, 45, 70, 55, 40, 80, 35, 95, 15, 85, 10, 75, 50, 30, 65, 20, 90, 5

For comparison, here is what the Big Wheel has:

100, 15, 80, 35, 60, 20, 40, 75, 55, 95, 50, 85, 30, 65, 10, 45, 70, 25, 90, 5

The dollar, 40, 95, 85, 90, and 5 cents match the positions on the dartboard while the other amounts were moved around, to form the pattern we know today (notice how it alternates between amounts ending in five and zero, save for the 60-20-40 and 75-55-95 combinations).  I do wonder if the staff was inspired by a dartboard when they designed the amounts.

[DarkShockBro]

What an interesting question. Hey, you've got to admit, they are pretty similar and there had to be SOME sort of inspiration for number patterns that peculiar, so I'd say that the Big Wheel was inspired a little by a dartboard.

[Ted]

I suppose it's possible, but I always assumed they started with an alternating pattern of numbers ending in 5 and 0. The numbers ending in zero were in this order:

100, 80, 60, 40, 20, 10, 30, 50, 70, 90

The numbers ending in five were in this order:

15, 35, 55, 75, 95, 85, 65, 45, 25, 5

They intertwined the two sets:

100, 15, 80, 35, 60, 55, 40, 75, 20, 95, 10, 85, 30, 65, 50, 45, 70, 25, 90, 5

I assume then that somebody noticed that the 55 was next to the 60, and the 50 was next to the 45, so they swapped 55 with 20, and 50 with 10:

100, 15, 80, 35, 60, 20, 40, 75, 55, 95, 50, 85, 30, 65, 10, 45, 70, 25, 90, 5

Just my theory.

[Flerbert419]

Just my theory.

Frank's as well, though I guess it's still unclear who the original idea gets attributed to.

It remains the most logical and plausible explanation that I've seen to determine which numbers ended up where, and although the dartboard idea is interesting I don't think they are related except in trying not to put similar numbers near each other.

[PimpinJC]

Now that you mention it, if you view the Big Wheel from its side, you can see a dartboard-style design on the circular portion of the wheel, with alternating dark/light spaces.  Definitely could have been used as a basis.

[JT]

You don't need to put the wheel on its side.. Go back to the original wheel used in the test of hour-long shows back in fall 1975 (sorry don't how how to insert photo...)  I think the number pattern was exactly the same as the current wheel.  Kinda looks like a dart board to me...

[Teddy]

You don't need to put the wheel on its side.. Go back to the original wheel used in the test of hour-long shows back in fall 1975 (sorry don't how how to insert photo...)  I think the number pattern was exactly the same as the current wheel.  Kinda looks like a dart board to me...

Yes, it was. I too believe the producers were somehow attracted to the dartboard pattern that they ended up using it while designing the wheel for the Showcase Showdown.

0s appearing in this order: 80, 60, 20, 40, 50, 30, 10, 70, 90, 100

5s appearing in this order: 15, 35, 75, 55, 95, 85, 65, 45, 25, 5

If they wanted to keep the 5s and 0s in alternating order, they could've used something like this:

15, 80, 35, 60, 75, 20, 55, 40, 95, 50, 85, 30, 65, 10, 45, 70, 25, 90, 5, 100

While I'm only saying it, the current layout works even better.

All you have to do is click on the picture button (the one that looks like the Mona Lisa) and then write out the picture link. Another way would be to type the whole thing:

(omit the spaces in between the brackets when doing this!)

[Teddy]

What I meant was this:

[ img] Link to picture [ /img]

Again, ignore the spaces in the example above.

(Mods, please feel free to merge this post into the previous one.)

[tpirfan28]

Several of the numbers are 10 spaces away from a number that, added together, equal $1.00 ($1.00 and 50 are opposite).

[WilliamPorygon]

Now that you mention it, if you view the Big Wheel from its side, you can see a dartboard-style design on the circular portion of the wheel, with alternating dark/light spaces.  Definitely could have been used as a basis.

The pattern you're referring to is used by the mechanism that sounds the beeps as the wheel spins.  I doubt its similar look to the double/triple ring on a dartboard is anything more than coincidence.