They even offered it to Dennis James, who had originally been the favorite to land the host job for the upcoming Mark Goodson–Bill Todman Productions' game show The New Price Is Right.

By January 1973, with no complaints from the viewers or the network and good ratings, Barry signed a regular contract to host the program and continued in that role up to its cancellation in June 1975.

When Barry died of cardiac arrest in May 1984, Enright posthumously overruled his partner and selected Bill Cullen, who had just completed five months of hosting the cancelled NBC game show Hot Potato for the company, to take over the series.

The second syndicated season introduced a brand-new music package by Hal Hidey, including a re-recording of "The Savers" that was utilized as the opening theme.

In addition, beginning in 1974, spinning a natural triple awarded a bonus, which the contestant kept whether or not they answered the question correctly or won the game.

If the challenger reached or surpassed $500 on the first turn of the round, the champion had one last chance to spin either three jokers or a combination that would tie or beat that score.

As was common practice on Barry & Enright’s productions during this period, champions played until they were defeated and received a new automobile after every fifth victory.

In 1981, CBS became the network of record for The Joker’s Wild after striking an agreement with Barry & Enright Productions to carry the program on its group of owned and operated stations.

On his tenth and final appearance, Barry opened the program by explaining the rules set upon the show by CBS, including an agreed upon cap of $35,000 in winnings.

CBS agreed to allow Dunn to keep $50,000 of his total winnings, and he arranged to donate the $16,200 overage to United Cerebral Palsy.

If a contestant spun all three of these symbols in one turn, they won not only the prize package and the $1,000, but also a $3,000 cash bonus and a trip around the world worth approximately $7,000.

From 1977 until 1980, The Joker's Wild conducted an annual tournament of champions where contestants from the previous season returned to compete for an additional series of cash and prizes.

He also earned a spot in the 1978 tournament, with eight of the previous season's highest winners competing for the right to face him in the championship final; Dillon won for the second consecutive time and was rewarded with an additional $100,000 in winnings.

The 1980 tournament featured sixteen past champions playing for a prize pool of $1 million, the largest in television history to that point.

However, when NBC moved its panel game Celebrity Sweepstakes to 10:00/9:00 in January 1975, Joker went into steep decline, ending a nearly three-year run in the summer.

Additionally, repeats of the CBS era were also seen on KTLA in Los Angeles from March 6 to September 8, 1978, in a double-run with the concurrent first-run syndicated episodes, replacing another Barry & Enright series, Hollywood Connection.

Premiering on September 10, 1990, the new Joker ran into the same ratings trouble that the other four series did and was the third, following a revival of its sibling show Tic-Tac-Dough and The Quiz Kids Challenge, to be canceled before the end of the television season.

All three audience members kept whatever totals they spun; the high scorer went on to play "Face the Devil" for a bonus prize and cash, using the same rules and dollar amounts as the onstage contestants.

When Bill Cullen began hosting in fall 1984, two audience members were chosen along with a home viewer who played by pressing a key on their touch-tone telephone to spin the wheels.

A memorial plaque was placed on the slot machine as a tribute to Jack Barry, and the wheels were replaced by video monitors that simulated the appearance of spinning.

Each correct response awarded the total showing on the wheels, but a miss or a failure to respond within three seconds allowed either opponent a chance to buzz in and steal both the money and control of the next spin.

On January 7, 1991, the front game format was reworked to incorporate elements of the version hosted by Jack Barry and Bill Cullen.

Spinning three jokers immediately added $250 to the contestant's score, set the question value at $100, and revealed a category in each window for them to choose on that turn.

As in the Barry/Cullen version, the revival gave audience members a chance to win money, but only in situations where a game ended sooner than expected.

[12] On December 21, 2018, Broadus announced that the show would be moving to fellow WarnerMedia network TNT starting with its third season premiering in 2019.

Jokers may not be used to go off the board, but must be matched to a displayed category, and the game can end early if one contestant attains an insurmountable lead.

In season 2, the host occasionally offers extra cash in addition to the accumulated total as an incentive for the player to quit the round.

In 1994, Philips produced two editions for its CD-i platform based on The Joker's Wild, licensed by Sony Pictures Entertainment, who owned the franchise at that point.

[25] In 2006, Sony Pictures Television and King World attempted to develop a new version for syndication, paired with a new show called Combination Lock; however, neither project was picked up.

[26] On December 4, 2023, Wink Martindale uploaded a run-through for this version, hosted by producer Mark Maxwell-Smith and featuring Charlie O'Donnell as announcer, to his YouTube channel.