Price Troche has fulfilled his life-long dream. A hint as to what his dream was: “I would like to solve the puzzle.”

Troche, 20, a theater major at SF State, appeared on his favorite game show, Wheel of Fortune, on Oct.15. He won four rounds, including the bonus round, winning a grand total of $64,800 in cash and prizes.

“This has been a dream of mine to appear on Wheel of Fortune since I was three,” said Troche. “I practically learned the alphabet from watching the show.”

Troche, originally from Brentwood, has been auditioning for the show since he was 16 years old. He first hoped to get on the show’s Teenage Week or Best Friends’ week but was never called back. He auditioned again when he turned 18 to no avail.

Finally, Troche got his break in May, when Wheel of Fortune held auditions in San Francisco. Out of 350 hopefuls, Troche made it to the final cut of 16 contestants to participate in the show’s college week theme.

“We had group play where each contestant got to call out a letter on the puzzle board that was shown on a projector. The judges wanted to see how loud we projected our voice. It was like a first impression of us,” Troche said.

A written exam was given to the possible future contestants of the show. The exam included 25 puzzles in which five minutes were given to complete the test.

After the audition, Troche waited a week and half later to find out if he had succeeded in becoming a contestant on Wheel of Fortune.

“I got the letter and found out I was going to be on [the] show,” Troche said. “I called my mom and she was crying.”

Troche grew up watching the show with his mom, who attended the taping of the show with his father, grandmother and two friends.

“When Price could walk, and Wheel of Fortune was on, he would stand on the side of the TV and pretend to turn the letters like Vanna,” said his mother Tamara Troche. “He just loved the show, and got excited when the show came on.”

In late August he received a call that he would be appearing during the college week theme. His show was taped on Sep. 7.

“I had to be there at the studio at 7 a.m. I filled out papers and from then, I filmed promo’s, practiced spinning the wheel and getting my make-up done.”

Although the actual wheel appears small on TV, it weighs 4,000 lbs, according to the official show Web site. To no surprise, the 5’3” Troche had a problem spinning the wheel.

“During the practicing of the spinning the wheel, one of my spins only went half way. I was just hoping that would not happen to me during the taping,” Troche said.

He had some help though from a hydraulic lift that keeps all contestants waist-level with the wheel, enabling them to spin it easier.

Troche played against a student from Harvard and another from College of Charleston, South Carolina. He won each round, but lost on the puzzles between each round called “toss ups.” Troche hit “bankrupt” once on a turn, but was able to use a “free spin,” garnering him another chance to solve the puzzle.

In the bonus round, the category was “Thing.” As with every bonus round, “R,S,T,L,N,E,” the most commonly used letters, are automatically given to the contestant. The puzzle revealed that it contained, “R” and “E.” Troche choose three consonants and vowel: B, C, M, A. After Pat Sajak told Troche he had 10 seconds to solve the puzzle, he quickly said “Dream Job.” He won an additional $35,000 to the money he had already won in the previous rounds.

Troche plans to use the money to a buy a new car and invest some of the money. “I want this money to last and just not blow it,” Troche said.