> Why only 16 of the possible 18 tiles would ever have the Whammy, I have no speculation. They used slide projectors to change the board. Each projector advan

> Why only 16 of the possible 18 tiles would ever have the Whammy, I have no speculation. They used slide projectors to change the board. Each projector advanced at the same time. They only had three options in each projector. It's unclear why they only chose three options, probably for production simplicity. They would switch out the carousels on the projectors between rounds, with more whammys in subsequent rounds. So the best guess is that they wanted a certain whammy ratio and leaving two squares with only good stuff would achieve that. Also it made for good TV, when it was possible to earn an extra spin on every board configuration.