I only needed the game for one or two meetings, and I wasn’t willing to invest a lot of time building a full-fledged gaming platform, so building the app as a web page that I could load locally and screenshare with others was fine. The rules and various elements of the game have been tweaked over the years, and you can certainly adapt your own version to the needs of your players.įor me, the first order of business was to decide how we physically (virtually) would play the game. The puzzle is solved when a contestant successfully guesses the word or phrase.

Correct guesses earn the contestant another chance to spin and guess, while incorrect guesses advance game play to the next contestant. A contestant spins the wheel, guesses a letter, and any instances of said letter in the puzzle are revealed. Prize amounts for each correct letter is determined by spinning a large roulette-style wheel bearing dollar amounts - and the dreaded Bankrupt spots. (Even if you’re not in the United States, you’re probably familiar with some variant of the show, as it’s been adapted and aired in over 40 international markets.) The game is essentially Hangman: contestants try to solve a hidden word or phrase by guessing its letters. If you’re from the United States, you’re probably already familiar with Wheel of Fortune, as it’s the longest-running American game show in history. I’ll discuss some of the trade-offs I made along the way, as well as highlight some possibilities for improvement and things I should have done differently in hindsight. Of course, SitePoint is a tech blog, so I’ll be presenting an overview of what went into building a rudimentary version of the game to screenshare in our online meetings. Our new Wheel of Fortune game was well received. Previously, I could add watching a film, or even a stroll through the park, to our mix of activities in an effort to avoid fatigue (constant grammar drills don’t encourage repeat attendance). And as the group’s organizer, I’ve had to to re-think many of our activities because of the coronavirus. Our local Esperanto group, for example, now meets online (instead of in person) for our monthly language study meetups. The current pandemic has forced many social activities to go virtual.

Electronic wheel of fortune board game