Wheel contest spins to lower admission

The event is unlike any in the world. Invited contestants – who feature some of the world’s greatest pipers – have to be ready to deliver tunes spontaneously based on a spin of a big wheel, with players having only the benefit of the knowing the parameters and a few of the designated compositions beforehand.

As part of the competition pipers have to tell the audience a joke., which they are graded on, too, by both “secret” judges planted in the crowd and the audience itself, combining to determine the winner.

The 2016 Pipe-Majors’ Wheel of Fortune was won by 2014 double Gold Medallist Douglas Murray of Cupar, Scotland.

+ Game, set, match for Murray at Wheel

“The Wheel of Fortune always attracts a field of top-class pipers and we’re looking forward to welcoming them to Danderhall, where our band was formed in 1947,” said City of Edinburgh Pipe-Sergeant Mike Knott. “We practice in the Miners Club and we’re delighted to once again hold our competition in the community where it all began for us.”

About the reduced price, Knott said, “While our event is a fundraiser for the band, we want it to be affordable. The ticket price for next year’s competition is the same as it was in 2006, when the Wheel of Fortune was given its first spin.”

Contestants in the 2017 Wheel of Fortune will be announced early in the New Year.