Click here to watch the opening of the premiere of The Joker's Wild, on September 4, 1972!
Main Game
Two contestants spun a
giant slot machine. Before the game, Jack would reveal the five
categories 
to be used
during the game The players alternated turns and answered a question.
If the player who spun answered incorrectly, their opponent had a
chance to answer. Here were the possibilities of the
machine:
If three different categories came up, and answered a question correctly in that, the player would get $50.
If a pair came up and a single category, the player could answer the pair for $100, or the single for $50 with a correct answer.
If a triple came up, the player could answer a question for $150 (later $200) correctly.
"Joker" cards are "Wild" and could be substituted for any category.
If THREE Joker's came up, the player
automatically won the game right then and there. Later of course,
this was changed to an automatic win with a correct answer of any
category.
$500 (or more) won the game. The player
going second (the challenger first, later the champion)
always got a final spin however to possibly catch up. The winner 
of
the game went to the bonus round.
The Joker's Wild went through THREE different bonus games in the CBS days.
The first:
On the wheels were prizes. The player got
two spins, and could take the prizes on the first spin, or spin again
and take the ones that came up on the second spin. It was all or
nothing. Also, some of the prizes had circles on them. If all three
windows came up with circles on them, the player won a brand
new
car. After only TWO shows though, this was changed and the car (or
whatever the big prize was) was put on the wheel as a
prize.
As you can see, this contestant, Tex, won the car.
The Second:
A few weeks into the run, they decided that
the prize round wasn't good enough, so they scrapped it for a new
bonus round. On the wheels now were Joker's and Devil's. Each time
the contestant spun three Joker's, they won a prize (up to three
times.) Early on, the fourth spin was for a big prize, like a car
or
a trip, but that was eventually stopped. The player could stop 
and
take the prizes anytime, but if a Devil came up, everything
accumulated in the bonus game was lost.
The Third (and final):
The one most people are more familiar with.
On the wheels are 
money and devils. The player could take the money at
anytime. If a player got $1,000 or more without seeing a Devil, they
won a prize package. If a Devil came up all money 
accumulated was lost.
For the first two seasons, there was
something called "The Joker's Jackpot." There were many changes to
it. First, a player had to win 5 games in a row to win it. Later,
that was changed to three. The Jackpot started at $2,500 and every time a player lost their 
MAIN
game winnings were placed in the Jackpot (Their bonus winnings were
safe.) After a player won they had the choice to keep their winnings
and leave, or keep going and risk their winnings. Later on, a car was
also added as a bonus for winning the Jackpot. Originally, once a
player won the Joker's Jackpot, they were retired. Later, they were
allowed to win as many Jackpot's as they could
(Until they
reached the $25,000 winnings limit set by CBS.)
Page 2, The Joker's Wild: The Syndication Years