Wheel of Fortune: Family Edition is one of a series of NES games based on the famous TV game show. The goal is to solve a word puzzle by guessing letters. The players take turns spinning a wheel that has designated money amounts in most spaces, but can also bankrupt the player in the wheel lands on the wrong space. A player can guess a letter and if that letter is in the puzzle, those spaces are flipped to reveal the letter and the player earns the cash amount specified by the wheel spin, multiplied by the number of occurrences of the letter. Only English consonants can be guessed-- the 5 English vowels can be purchased using a player's earnings.

This NES edition of the game allows 1, 2, or 3 human players to play against each other. Human players can also elect to play against computer players and at 3 difficulty levels.