How To Play the Wheels VS Doors Game

What’s better than getting together as a family or a friend group and arguing, uh I mean debating, and betting it all? Winning the game! The Wheels VS Doors game is a clever game where teams have to place bet on what there are more of in the world.

I picked this game up for our family Christmas. Arguing, debating and betting? This game seemed perfect for our extended family. Every year I try to find a game to play that will bring us all together—not an easy task with the wide range and interests. Past favorites have been Blind Poker, Horse Racing, and Polish Poker.

In this post we’ll cover how to play, how to win and if you should make room on your Family Game Shelf for Wheels VS Doors. Let’s get to it.

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The Goal Of Wheels VS Doors

First, we found that playing in teams is the most fun. Part of the game is to debate which option you think has more. It’s great to have someone to talk to and get their opinion. You can play up to four teams with as many team members as you’d like. You don’t need to have equal teams.

The goal of Wheels VS Doors is to be the first team to earn either 10 door cards or 10 wheel cards.

Setting Up Wheels VS Doors

First, there are three types of cards in the game. First, you have the number cards. Second, there are the question cards. Last, there are door and wheel cards.

To start, you will shuffle the number cards and place them face down. Next, each team gets four betting chips and three cards off the wheels and door cards.

Last, you pick a team to be the first dealer.

Playing Wheels VD Doors

When it is your turn to be the dealer, you turn over two of the number cards. Now, you read the items that correspond to those numbers on the top question card. This could be movies starting the Rock or casinos on the Vegas strip.

Now, each team starting on the left of the deal, will choose to bet on either answer they think there are more of. For the first couple of rounds, a team can bet up to two tokens. The team to the left then chooses how many tokens to bet on which answer. The deal bets last.

Once all bets are in, you flip over the question card and read out how many of each there are. The players who bet on the item with the largest number win the round. They get the same amount of wheels or door cards as they bet.

On the other hand, when a team had bet on the option that has the smaller number, they must give back the same number of wheels or door cards as they bet. For example, if you bet two on the smaller item, then you must hand in two of your wheels or door cards. You can pick which of the cards you give. Meaning, if you have more wheel cards, you can hand in any door cards you have.

Play now moves on so that the team on the left of the dealer is now the dealer. This team will now shuffle the number cards and flip over two. They will then read the two options with those numbers. This could be the number of stairs in the statue of Liberty or airport lounges in the world. Again, teams debate among themselves and decide how many tokens they want to bet on which option.

Again, any team that bet on the option with the highest number wins wheel or door cards. Any team that didn’t bet on the correct option, has to hand in cards.

When each team has had the opportunity to be the deal, teams can then bet up to four tokens.

Winning Wheels VS Doors

When one team collects ten of either wheels or door cards they win!

What We Like

First, we love that teams can be any size with a mix of age ranges. We had three teams with three players each ranging from age 12 to 86. Everyone got to have their say and contribute to their team.

Next, we like that the number cards made the questions random. With six options on each card, this means that there will be lots of playability. In this game you can have 1 vs 5 and on the same card the next time it comes up you could have 2 vs 6 and so on.

We also liked the addition of the wheel and door cards. At first, we didn’t quite get why they were there but it made more sense as we played. First, the option of having to give back cards when you were wrong was fun. Next, it added an element on luck to the game. Instead of it just being about the amount of correct questions your team answered, you also have to be lucky enough to collect the same kind of card—and choose wisely when handing back in cards. When we played, there was one team that was at nine cards of one type but then didn’t get the same kind of card in their next wins and with some unfortunate bets, they didn’t win the game.

What We Didn’t Like

First, some of the questions were hard to read and or understand just what they meant. For example, are there more tonnes of chicken meat produced annually around the world or tonnes of eggs produced annually around the world? It’s a mouth full and a bit hard to wrap your head around what is actually being asked.

Next, some of the answer have really big answers. For example 102,000,000. Personally, it’s part of my learning disability that really large numbers are hard for me to say so it was a challenge. (We played where I was the dealer for the whole game so therefore had to read all the answers). Younger kids might also struggle with these large numbers. Plus the font they chose was a little hard to read sometimes, is that a 0 or an 8? We did like that when a answer was in the billions they gave the physical number and then “1.4 billion”. Thankfully there are answers with only double digit answers too!

Last, I found the wheel and door cards hard to shuffle. This is a small thing but it took me forever to “shuffle” them the first time. The cards are small squares and don’t slide together very well. I hope they get easier the more we play.

Should you Add Wheels VS Doors to your Family Game Shelf?

We really enjoyed playing this game and, honestly, it went over better with our family than I had hopes for. Everyone enjoyed themselves and there was a variety of strategy, luck and laughs. We ended up giving each team a name that added to the fun. Overall, I would recommend Wheels VS Doors for anyone who likes a good party game that is easy to play and can be won on strategy or a lot of luck!

Get your copy of Wheels VS Doors here; Canadians here.

For more group games check out Cheat, Chase the Ace, Hockey Dice and Chameleon. Be sure to visit our shop where you can get the games Whacky Putt, Sticks and Fish Bowl that are great for group play too!

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