Wikipedia:Wiki Game

See also: Wikipedia:Wikipedia games

The Wiki Game, also known as the Wikipedia race, Wikirace, Wikispeedia, WikiLadders, WikiClick, or WikiWhack, is a race between any number of participants, using wikilinks to travel from one Wikipedia page to another. The first person to reach the destination page, or the person that reaches the destination using the fewest links, wins the race.

Objective

Players start on the same randomly selected article, and must navigate to another pre-selected target article, solely by clicking links within each article. The goal is to arrive at the target article in the fewest clicks (articles), or the least time.

Players or an impartial overseer (i.e. referee) choose the start and end pages. If you are playing for number of clicks, a close tally must be kept of the number of clicks used by a player; all selections must be accounted for. Whoever has the fewest clicks wins. The browser history can be used to determine number of articles / clicks. A round in the Wiki Game can be played at one computer terminal, where players take turns, or at multiple computers simultaneously. In the latter option, a "session" begins immediately after everyone loads their randomized Starting Page and ends when the last person returns to their Homing Page. The game can also be played by seeing who can get to the designated page first, regardless of the number of clicks.

Variations

• '2-player Challenge': The form of the Wikipedia game where two people take it in turns to ask the other to navigate between two pages of their choosing, e.g. from Teletubbies to noodles. The number of clicks taken is counted, and the first player to complete the challenge chooses a challenge to give the other player. The winner is the person who completes the game in the fewest clicks.
• '5-Clicks-to-Jesus': A form of Wikiracing that mimics golf, the challenge in this version is to get from a Random Article to the Jesus entry in as few clicks as possible. Reaching the article in five clicks is considered 'par', with clicks over or under five being referred to as 'bogeys' and 'birdies' respectively. Players can either play the course (aiming for 'par' or better) or as a competition. In the latter case, players start from the same Random Articles and add their score between rounds. Lowest score wins.
• Time Trials: Rather than using the click rules, the winner can be determined by whoever reaches the "Homing Page" in the shortest amount of time. This is easier with two parallel machines, although it should be noted that they ought to have equivalent Internet connections.
• 'One-Can't-Go' rule: Essentially, if you find yourself in a doomed-scenario (i.e. stumbled into a stub with no wiki-links) you are allowed to use one of the Category links at the bottom of an entry (e.g. 1904 deaths or Philosophy). Each player can only use this option once though, so use it wisely.
• 'Clicks to Hitler' Believed to be the original form of 'The Wikipedia Game,' the objective is to begin by selecting the 'Random Article' link. From there you look at the selected article and click the links in the main body of the article that are believed to lead to the Adolf Hitler article. Two players or more can play and they count the number of articles it takes to get to Adolf Hitler. The person who gets there with the fewest articles wins.
• 'Wiki Grand Tour': Instead of going from the start article to the destination article, users must visit every article on a predetermined list in order before reaching their end destination, e.g. starting from Tsuen Wan Environmental Resource Centre to Siemens SD660 to NFPA 704 to Gatwick Airport to Ray-Ban to Lauryldimethylamine oxide to ending at Eminem. The person who gets through all the articles in order first wins.

Wikipedia Maze was a version of the game that awarded points and badges for both creating and solving puzzles. Every time a user solved a puzzle, they were awarded points based on the average number of clicks it took to solve the puzzle. The harder the puzzle was, the greater the points that were awarded. Each puzzle could be voted up or down by other players, based on whether or not they liked it, which awarded points to the creator. Players were also awarded badges for reaching certain milestones. The site is now defunct and its domain URL was taken over and turned into a redirect to a malware site.

Optional rules

• Players may not be allowed to use a browser's "Find" (ctrl-F) or (ctrl-G) function.
• Players may not be allowed to use the "Back" button or any other feature of their browser which would allow them to view a Wikipedia article and then back-track to the previous page if they don't find the link they were hoping for. Some games allow the use of the "Back" button but count this as a link clicked.
• Players may be restricted in the extent to which they are allowed to read the text of the destination page. Of course, the game would be virtually impossible without some reading of the destination, but it can be made more challenging by, for example, disallowing reading beyond the opening paragraph.
• Use of the "Categories" bar may be disallowed.
• The "United States" page or similar massive portals (e.g. geographical locations) may be disallowed for additional challenge.
• If a player feels they are at a dead-end, they may be allowed to return to the start page and start over without following the links that they used previously.
• If the player stumbles upon a musical artist, using the discography section may be forbidden.
• Articles like lists may be forbidden.
• Players may not click on dates e.g. 2001.

External links

• Wikispeedia - An implementation for research purposes.
• The Wikipedia Game - a version of the game in which a new challenge is released daily (inspired by Wordle).
• WikiRace WikiRace is a multiplayer Wikipedia racer supporting multiple languages and providing an original Wikipedia experience
• Wikipedia Maze Archive. Wikipedia Maze was once another version of the game, but the abandoned domain url now redirects to a malware site.
• The Wiki Game. A version outfitted with ranking and leaderboards.
• Wikibattle. An open source implementation hosted on Github Pages. Supports playing against a friend or a random opponent.
• Wikipedia Speedrun - Game with the goal to navigate from a starting wikipedia article to another one, in the least amount of clicks and time.
• Wikipedia Speedruns - Wikipedia Speedruns enable you to select starting and ending articles in all the languages supported by Wikipedia.
• WikiParty A game that will take you on a journey through the world of Wikipedia!
• Wiki Wars Reloaded An app for iPhone and Android - with a multiplayer option for free.
• Wikipedia Game Online, multi-player game with free, no-login-needed playing. Time-based races.
• WikiPaths Wikipaths is a defunct Greasemonkey Firefox extension allowing users to start a new game while directly browsing Wikipedia.
• Wiki Game An Android version for Wiki Game.
• WikiRacer.io Race your friends in a unique version of this classic game.