Spin the Wheel of Horror

---

Navigation:

Story

Next entry

Previous entry

---

"Spin the Wheel of Horror" is the second story in Goosebumps Triple Header: Book 1.

Plot

Tyler Banks, his younger sister Emmy, and their parents have recently won the opportunity to be contestants on their favorite show, The Wheel of Horror. A horror-themed game show where contestants spin a wheel and compete in whatever challenge the wheel lands on. If they can finish the game without screaming, they win the grand prize of one hundred thousand dollars. While lost trying to find the studio, the family get stopped by a policeman who turns out to be a three-eyed, green-scaled monster. They think it must be someone from the studio in costume and take the monster's directions. They keep driving until they make it to a strange old building. They assume it to be the studio and go inside. Upon entering, they get shooed by a skinny, almost skeletal monster to the stage of the game show. The audience are all monsters, but the family still think that they must all be in costume. The wolfman host asks the family if they would rather be baked or fried, which confuses the Banks' as that isn't a normal question from the game show. They pick "baked" and spin the wheel. 

The wheel lands on "Hotel for Ghouls" and the Banks family are led into a creepy hotel. They enter the lobby and ring the desk bell. Suddenly the room begins to fill up with snakes. Tyler and Emmy manage to free themselves, but their parents have suddenly disappeared. The kids are led to an elevator by a two-faced monster, who then vanishes as the elevator crashes to the basement floor. Tyler and Emmy exit the elevator and find a swimming pool filled with rotten green and black slime. Emmy almost falls in, but Tyler saves her. Their parents show up, mentioning that they had slipped through a trap door in the lobby.  As the Banks family try to leave, two giant monsters show up and try to push them into the pool. Suddenly, the room begins to tilt upward and the family fall into the pool.

Suddenly, the Banks family end up back on the game show stage. They ask the host if this is really The Wheel of Horror, to which the host tells them that it isn't. He says that this is actually a Monster Lodge banquet and the Banks are on the menu. When he asked if they wanted to be baked or fried, it was to find out how they preferred to be cooked alive. The challenges were intended to make them scared, as fear makes humans tastier. The Banks family try to run, but get caught by the monsters and led to a giant oven. As the family accept their fate, suddenly everything stops. The host reveals that they really were on The Wheel of Horror and because they didn't scream at any point during the game, they won the hundred thousand dollars.

The host asks the Banks family if they would like their hundred grand or come back next week for the challenge round. Mr. Banks says that they'll take the money and their lunch now. The Banks family then grow fangs and attack the host, eating him alive. 

Trivia

• The title itself is a reference to the game show "Wheel of Fortune".
• The twist ending of this story is similar to The Girl Who Cried Monster.
• The Banks family share the same last name as Greg and his family from Say Cheese and Die!
• The concept of a game show hosted by monsters was also used in the television adaptation of One Day at HorrorLand.
• At 41 pages, this is the shortest story in the Goosebumps Triple Header series.
• Mr. Banks is mentioned by name in the story: John Banks.