Wheel of Fortune

It was an evening of fun with friends. I had selected a few videos to play the challenge of trying not to laugh. But how could we choose the order in which the videos would be viewed? We needed a gadget that would allow us to draw a number at random... And as Christmas is the perfect time to play with Lego, I decided to build a 'wheel of fortune' out of bricks.

 

Seeing my 2-year-old son whirling around in the middle of the electric train gave me the idea of using tracks to make a perfect circle. All that remained was to design a structure strong enough to support them all. This one is a combination of nostalgia for the Lego Technic of the 80s (aaah the good old Technic Brick 1 x 16!) and fascination with more recent Lego. Believe it or not: no hinges were used! The detail that makes me proud is the tangle of technic frames in the center of the wheel (see last picture).

 

The only part that I didn't manage to produce by computer is the elastic band that allows the part it holds to make that pleasing sound when the wheel is turned! Note that without this famous part, the wheel would almost never stop turning… The blue arrow indicates the number drawn.

 

Having built it with the parts I had, I can assure you that the whole thing is feasible, and strong enough: my son manages to turn the wheel without breaking it. In addition, the wheel is easy to transport, although quite bulky: around 77 cm high, 71 cm long and 28 cm wide.

You could easily replace the numbers with pictures, for example, by applying stickers to the many tiles around the edge.

 

So, who wants to play?

 

Parts count: 2996