There can’t be many television networks worldwide that aren’t running some version of the ‘Wheel of Fortune’ game show. You know the one where contestants spin the wheel and then wait with growing excitement to find out if they have won a fortune or lost everything. The wheels are also popular at fund-raising events and fairs. This electronic version is a lot handier and hasn’t got any mechanical components to go wrong.
 
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The ‘Wheel of Fortune’ has been a popular game show format for many years, it introduces an element of chance and excitement as the wheel slows and we try to predict where it will stop. In case you have missed the program there are many variants on the theme, some use a big wheel divided into compartments with prizes or tokens inside and the contestant takes a turn at spinning the wheel, waiting in anticipation as it clatters to a halt with a pointer indicating which compartment to open to discover if they have won. This project shows how you can make an electronic equivalent of the wheel of fortune using a circle of 20 LEDs that light up one after another. Just like the original mechanical version the rotating light pulse is accompanied by a clattering sound which gradually slows until the rotating light chaser stops.