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Activity 3.41

Activity 3.41
Spinners
Introduction: Game designers use probability to help them add randomness to game play.
One way to add randomness is by having each player use a spinner to determine the number
of spaces to move or which item to select. By varying the size and numbers of sections of a
spinner, the game designer can control the possible outcomes.
Materials:

MS Excel (or colored pencils)

Calculator

Spinner parts

Cardboard

Scissors

Glue

Background information: Spinners play an important role in board games. Many board
games have the players flick a spinner to determine the number of
spaces a player moves during a turn. Spinners are often used in place
of dice in games for young children because dice pose a danger of
choking. During World War II, the British version of Monopoly
replaced the traditional dice with a cardboard spinner due to
rationing. Spinner probability can be predicted based on the area within the circle each
section occupies. If you construct a spinner with only one choice, the
outcome will always be 100%. In a spinner with two equally sized
sections, the predicted outcome is 50:50. The values just stated are
the theoretical outcomes.
In the real world, theoretical values often do not match the actual or
empirical outcome. An actual outcome would be what you got when you actually spin the
spinner. There could be many different reasons why there are differences between the
theoretical and empirical values. Thus Empirical Probability of an event is an "estimate"
that the event will happen based on how often the event occurs after collecting data or
running an experiment (in a large number of trials). It is based specifically on direct
observations or experiences.

Formula for probability of event E:

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Activity 3.41

Theoretical Probability of an event is the number of ways that the event can occur,
divided by the total number of outcomes. It is finding the probability of events that come
from a sample space of known equally likely outcomes.
Formula for probability of event E (from sample space S):

Lesson:
Part 1:
With a partner, brainstorm two possible reasons to explain the difference between
theoretical and empirical outcomes of a spinner. As a game designer, you wish to include an
improved spinner in your next game with empirical values that more closely match its
theoretical. Take each problem from your brainstorming session and propose a possible
solution to improve your spinner.
Reason 1:

Solution:

Reason 2:

Solution:

Part 2:
Working in pairs, use MS Excel to produce two different Pie Chart spinner backgrounds.
One of the pie charts should be from four equally sized values (25% each).

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Activity 3.41

The other spinner background should contain between 5-8 sections of different sizes. The
total of the all of the values should still equal 100%. Use different values then those shown
here.

Print each pie chart spinner. Cut the spinner background out with scissors and glue to
cardboard. Use one of the spinner kits to connect the plastic spinner to each of your

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Activity 3.41

spinners. Spin each spinner 50 times and record the number of times the spinner lands on
each section (actual outcome value). Compare your actual values to the theoretical values
(from your Excel spreadsheet).
Spinner #1:
Blue
Red
Purple
Green

Theoretical
25%
25%
25%
25%

Actual

Theoretical:

Actual:

Spinner #2:
Blue
Red
Purple
Green
Cyan

Essay Question:
You have created a new 2D board game. Included in the game is a spinner that players will
use to determine bonus points. Bonus points are valuable and should be scarce. Design a
plan for the spinner and justify your design with evidence from the data collected in this
activity.