By Staff Writer Maddie Kenn.

On Tuesday October 23, UMassD held an event in the setup similar to a game show. Students in the audience retired their notebooks to become contestants for the night. Competing head to head, audience members battled to be picked as the most enthusiastic for a chance to spin the wheel.

Each contestant was given one question, and if answered correctly, they had the opportunity to spin the wheel. On the wheel were numbers, as low as three to as high as thirty five.

Those numbers represented values in cash prizes that could be won. Eyes lit up as the first spin landed on thirty five dollars.

The hollering and laughing as contestants completed various “challenges” sparked the attentions of people passing by. If the contestant was to get an answer incorrect, they had the option of completing a task, or challenge. These included embarrassing activities that had to be completed in front of the audience or under a time limit.

Some of the activities were based on skill and technique, building a paper airplane and getting it to fly over a certain boundary for example, and some on speed, such as unraveling an entire roll of toilet paper in thirty seconds or less. One challenge included dressing in oversized pants filled with balloons that had to be popped without the use of hands in a certain amount of time.

After the challenges are complete, the contestant earns one spin. As the game progressed, more deals were offered. Winners had the choice of trading in either all of the money they won from spinning the wheel, or a set amount for a better prize.

However, like most game shows, there was a catch. If chosen to trade the money, there was a possibility of winning something better, but no guarantee.

There was a box, and nobody knew what was in the box, until chosen to trade for a chance of something as awesome as a one hundred dollars speaker and strobe light, or something unpleasant, such as a can of sausages.

As the game went on, there was an option of selecting between keeping the money that was previously won from one spin of the wheel, choosing the box, or selecting an envelope.

In the envelope was a piece of paper revealing a value that was either higher than the original winnings, less, or an option along the lines of “box or another spin.”

Those who were not chosen to play had the chance of spinning, but if they were to land on the “box” option, everyone standing in line behind them would sit down, and the contestant with the highest number spun competed in a round of several questions, where one remained the winner.

The most money earned by one singular player was forty-seven dollars.

Every player left with a t-shirt, more money than when they entered the event with, and smiles on their faces.

From what seemed to start out as a small crowd, ended as a successful night.

PHOTO COURTESY: MADDIE KENN