Wheels vs Doors: Which Do You Think There Are More Of?

Are there more wheels in the world, or are there more doors? Debate the question with your teammate and bet on the answer!

Published by Format Games, Wheels vs Doors is a party game for 2-20 players, with a roughly 30-minute playtime.

Gameplay

Players divide into teams (or players can compete on their own). Each round, a different team takes on the role of dealer. The VS cards are shuffled and two are revealed. Each one has a number 1-6, which tells you which two items on the question card will be going head-to-head. The dealer then draws a question card and reads aloud the two items indicated by the VS cards, such as ‘casinos on the Vegas strip’ and ‘US presidents’.

Teams take turns betting on the one they believe there are more of, with the dealer team betting last. Each team has several chips. They use the chips to indicate how much they are betting. After all the bets are placed, the answer is revealed. If a team guessed correctly, they draw one score card for each chip they bet. The score cards are then revealed. Score cards either have a door or a wheel on them. If a team guesses wrong, they must discard one score card for each chip that they bet, but they can choose which cards to discard. The first team to earn ten wheel cards or ten door cards wins the game.

Review

Wheels vs Doors is a fun trivia party game where you don’t actually need to know the answer, you just have to be able to guess. In fact, talking through what you think, is part of the fun. The conversations that emerge can be interesting and engaging. Some of the questions players will know the answer to and some will have probably already have changed since the game came out, but the core idea is engaging, and there’s a really nice range of questions included in the game.

There is an issue that players might not want to talk too freely since everyone takes turns betting. Players could accidentally give something away to the opposing teams. We played it with a lot of open discussion, because that was where the fun of the game was for us, and party games are usually less about winning and more about those elements that keep people engaged. However, it appears to be a design flaw in this game that, mechanically, open discussion between all players goes a little against self-interest.

The scoring system sets this one a little apart, though. There is some strategy in choosing how many chips to bet and when. The fact that there’s luck involved in which type of card a team draws also means that even going all-in on an answer doesn’t necessarily ensure victory. But the more cards a team collects, the more wiggle room a team has without setting back their shot at victory, since they get to choose which ones to discard.

We found the scoring system quite clever and we liked that it also gave some room for a team to pull ahead when behind. There’s definitely some luck involved in it, with what score cards are drawn, but that worked well with this type of party game.

The component quality is also quite nice, with the chips being particularly nice and weighty, and fun to play with.

Wheels vs Doors is a fun mix of elements. The questions posed are interesting, and the scoring system is clever. The luck of the points isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but for us it worked well! This leaves us wondering: do you think there are more cups of tea in the world or more cups of coffee?

Pros: Interesting scoring system that felt unique, great components, some fun questions to debate

Cons: Discussing questions publicly goes against self-interest, there is some luck in the points system that not everyone will enjoy, some of the answers will get outdated quickly

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.