Wikipedia:Wiki Game

The Wiki Game, also known as the Wikipedia race, Wikirace, Wikispeedia, WikiLadders, WikiClick, WikiGolf, WikiWhack, or Wikipedia Speedrunning, 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 a pre-selected target article solely by clicking links within each page. The objective is to reach the target article in the fewest clicks (articles) or in the least amount of time.

The starting and ending pages are chosen either by the players themselves or by an impartial overseer (referee). When playing for the fewest clicks, a precise tally must be kept of each click made by a player, with all selections accounted for. The player with the fewest clicks wins. The browser's history can be used to verify the number of articles visited.

A round of the Wiki Game can be played on a single computer terminal, with players taking turns, or on multiple computers simultaneously. In the latter case, a session begins immediately after everyone loads their randomized starting page and ends when the last participant reaches the designated "homing" page.

Alternatively, the game can be played as a race to reach the target page first, regardless of the number of clicks.

Afterwards, players may use the website Six Degrees of Wikipedia to check their solutions; most puzzles can be solved in less than six clicks.^{[citation needed]}

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 for fairness they should 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 if reaching a stub for someone who died in 1904, or Philosophy for the reasons laid out in WP:GTP). Each player can only use this option once though, so use it wisely.
• 'WikiHitler': Believed to be the original form of 'The Wikipedia Game',^{[by whom?]} 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': Wikipedia Maze was an online version of the Wiki Game that awarded points and badges for both creating and solving puzzles. Each time a user solved a puzzle, they received points based on the average number of clicks it took to complete it; harder puzzles yielded more points. Puzzles could be voted up or down by other players, and positive votes awarded additional points to the creator. Players could also earn badges for reaching specific milestones. The site is now defunct, and its original domain was later taken over and redirected 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.
• Players may edit the page to add links if it is appropriate, but they cannot be used.

External links

• Wikirace.org – The Wikipedia Racetrack – The first wikiracing website (archived).
• Wikispeedia – A research-oriented implementation of the game.
• The Wikipedia Game – Daily Wordle-like version of the game.
• Wikipedia Maze Archive – An archive of user-generated wikirace paths.
• The Wiki Game – A version outfitted with rankings and leaderboards.
• Wikibattle – An open-source multiplayer version hosted on GitHub Pages.
• Wikipedia Speedruns – Supports multiple languages and customizable start/end articles.
• Spaceface Wiki Tool – A tool to find the shortest path between two articles.
• WikiChain – A web-based daily puzzle game abstracted from wikiracing, focused on constructing article link paths.