Wikiracing

{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}

{{short description|Game of traversing Wikipedia pages}}{{Redirect|Wiki Wars|rounds of conflicting editing on Wikipedia|List of edit wars on Wikipedia}}

Wikiracing is a game in which players compete to navigate from one Wikipedia page to another using only internal links.{{cite news |first=Aubrey |last=Whelan |url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/living/20100721__Wikiracing__picking_up_speed_among_college_students.html |title='Wikiracing' picking up speed among college students |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=2010-07-21}}{{cite news |first=Ben |last=Jones |url=https://www.post-gazette.com/business/tech-news/2010/07/11/Latest-game-for-bored-students-Wikiracing/stories/201007110177 |title=Latest game for bored students? Wikiracing |work=Star Tribune |date=2010-06-20}}Colin Hepke (2008). [https://spider.eecs.umich.edu/tbp/Newsletters/F08/F08Second_Actives.pdf "On Your Mark, Get Set, Wikipedia"!] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120403222940/http://spider.eecs.umich.edu/tbp/Newsletters/F08/F08Second_Actives.pdf|date=2012-04-03}} Cornerstone 2(3), 8. It has many different variations and names, including The Wikipedia Game, Wikipedia Maze, Wikispeedia, Wikiwars, Wikipedia Ball, Wikipedia Racing, and Wikipedia Speedrunning.Stefan Thaler, Katharina Siorpaes, Elena Simperl and Christian Hofe (2011). [http://www.sti-innsbruck.at/fileadmin/documents/technical_report/A-survey-on-games-for-knowledge-acquisition.pdf "A Survey on Games for Knowledge Acquisition".] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525053548/http://www.sti-innsbruck.at/fileadmin/documents/technical_report/A-survey-on-games-for-knowledge-acquisition.pdf |date=25 May 2012 }} Semantic Technology Institute International. pgs 14-17. External websites have been created to facilitate the game.{{cite news |last=Walker |first=John |date=2010-06-10 |title=Searching For Fun: Wikipedia Game |url=https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2010/06/10/searching-for-fun-wikipedia-game/ |work=Rock, Paper, Shotgun}}

Wikiracing requires speed, accuracy, and luck. Players must start on a random or chosen page and navigate to another page using only internal links.

The Seattle Times has recommended it as a good educational pastime for children{{cite news |first=Heidi |last=Stevens |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/life/lifestyle/zero-in-on-your-childs-lack-of-focus/ |title=Zero in on your child's lack of focus |work=The Seattle Times |date=2011-08-14}} and the Larchmont Gazette has said, "While I don't know any teenagers who would curl up with an encyclopedia for a good read, I hear that a lot are reading it in the process of playing the Wikipedia Game".{{cite news |last=Plumez |first=Jacqueline Hornor |date=2008-09-25 |title=The Career Doctor |url=https://www.larchmontgazette.com/2008/careerdoctor/20080925careerdoccteen.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304093833/https://www.larchmontgazette.com/2008/careerdoctor/20080925careerdoccteen.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=16 November 2011 |work=Larchmont Gazette}}

The Amazing Wiki Race has been an event at the TechOlympics.Denise Smith Amos. "500 teens converge for TechOlympics". Cincinnati Enquirer, 3/5/2010

The average number of links separating any English-language Wikipedia page from the United Kingdom page is 3.67. Thus, it has been occasionally banned in the game. Other common rules such as not using the United States page increase the game's difficulty.{{cite news |last=Read |first=Brock |date=2008-05-28 |title=6 Degrees of Wikipedia |url=https://chronicle.com/blogs/wiredcampus/6-degrees-of-wikipedia/3973 |work=The Chronicle of Higher Education}}

The rules of Wikiracing can be used as a method for studying aspects of Wikipedia.{{YouTube|JheGL6uSF-4|"I Made a Graph of Wikipedia... This Is What I Found"}}