Wikipedia is one of the best information resources ever created, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun either. There are many variations of the “Wikipedia game” and “Wiki game” that turn the online encyclopedia into a competition.
The Basic Wiki Game
There are many different games based around the idea of browsing Wikipedia, but all generally involve navigating from one article to another in minimal time or clicks, using only the links in the article – no research . Sometimes the starting item is randomly selected and the destination is fixed, sometimes it is the opposite, and sometimes the start and end are randomly selected.
To start with the most basic version, visit Wikipedia in your language of choice and click on the “Random Article” link in the sidebar (here is the random article link in English). Now that you have your first random item, which can be used as a starting point, click the random item link again to set your destination. By the way, Wikipedia has a lot of articles on unsafe topics for work, so playing this game in a public setting on a big screen with completely random pages can be risky.
Double clicking on the random link gave me Daniela Calzetti, an astronomer, and Melanocorypha, a genus of birds. I couldn’t immediately think of a common link between the scientist and a type of bird, so I backtracked far enough to reach articles on taxonomic ranks, then simply descended the tree until I falls on Melanocorypha.
This attempt took 12 clicks, which isn’t great. I tried again, this time with the aim of reaching the birds page more quickly.
That time only took seven clicks, because the National Academy of Sciences was founded by Kentucky-born President Abraham Lincoln, who has an official state bird – the Northern Cardinal.
You can play with as strict or loose rules as you like, but there are a few generally accepted guidelines. You are limited to links within the article itself (no use of search or sidebar links), and scrolling back through your browser history is prohibited. Navigating to articles that are too general, such as articles beginning with “Category:” or those relating to a certain year, is also generally not allowed.
More variants
Even though this is the simplest version of the Wikipedia game, it’s perhaps the most frustrating – with two random dots you’re more likely to get stuck somewhere or have an end-to-end article. beginning. Fortunately, there are more versions with different rules that add fun. Here are some popular variations:
- Two-player challenge: One person chooses two topics and the other has to navigate from one to the other. Then the person who played first gives their two topics (different from the first pair) for the first player to complete. The person with the fewest clicks wins!
- Time Trial/Speed Wiki: A start and end article is set, and multiple people race to see who can get to the end article first. Time (and playback speed) is the most important factor here, rather than clicks.
- 5-Clicks-to-Jesus: Starting from a random article, your goal is to reach the article for Jesus in as few clicks as possible. There are other versions of this which replace Jesus with other major historical figures.
Some of these versions are available to play online. The Wiki game is a popular version, which automatically selects a start and end article and tracks your clicks. Your score is then displayed alongside other people in the same round, like a Wikipedia Battle Royale. The site also allows the creation of an account to save the winnings.
Whichever version you play, the Wiki game is a fun way to turn an encyclopedia into a game that tests your general knowledge. After all, the best way to find the fastest path between two articles is to already know the connection between them. Too bad I can’t play it on my Switch – thank you Nintendo for not giving the Switch a web browser.
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