Losing It All On The Wheel of Extravagance

BUT I KEEP SPINNING!

Why? Simple reason really: I want the avatar, and I really want to be rich.

Correct! There is a rare avatar you can achieve by landing on one of the spaces on this wheel. But it is an incredibly rare occurrence, or at least rare for me. I frequent the Neoboards, hanging out in the Avatar Chat, and I see posts about people who get the avatar on their first or second spin!! It makes me wonder: what am I doing wrong?

The answer: nothing. I'm just incredibly unlucky. Ugh!!

Those who are as unlucky as I am, this article is for you! There is hope, there is support, and we are in this together..even if we end up having to stay at the Cockroach Towers, at least we'll be staying there together (probably will have to split the cost of a room between us though)...unless we're able to land on that rare Scorchstone spot, then we'll OWN the Cockroach Towers!!

Now, the wheel honestly has a fairly low chance of rewarding absolutely nothing, so that at least gives us a shot to get our money back. There are twelve different spaces your pointer can land on, each with a different type of reward, and each having a different value to it. Some will bring riches, some will bring a tiny reimbursement to help offset your original gamble, and then there is the X...

-Small Bag of NP:

This is a teeny tiny bag of Neopoints and will award you 25,000 NP. It's better than losing it all but still seems like a punch to the gut.

-Paint Brush:

Congratulations, you just won a paint brush! Hopefully it was a rare one and not just a cheap old Christmas Paint Brush uselessly awarded in the middle of summer.

-Nerkmid:

This is a pretty nice spot to land on, you could get a nerkmid, secret laboratory map piece, or a job coupon. Many of the job coupons are worth more than the cost of the wheel and could help pay for your spins for the rest of the week!

-Medium Bag of NP:

Oooo-weee, you just won 50,000 NP! That's half of what you gambled. While not bad, you still lost 50,000 NP...

-Avatar Square:

The highly sought after avatar! Once this is awarded you can give up on spinning this rip-off of a daily...unless you like the gamble and want to go for one of the other prizes (which might be worth it).

-Background:

Why not relive the memory of all the money you've lost spinning this wheel by customizing your pet with a Wheel Of Extravagance Background? This seems like a shady way for the wheel to advertise itself to get more money...

-Muscles:

Your active pet will gain 5 points in a random statistic! This is great if your Neopet is in one of the more expensive training schools, but it can also increase the mostly useless stats of movement or intelligence as well...maybe it'll give you enough intelligence to stop throwing money away on this wheel though.

-Big Bag of NP:

Oh my Sloth!! YOU DID IT! YOU STRUCK GOLD!! Oh..wait..what...you won 100,001 NP...all that effort and anxiety and you came out 1 Neopoint richer than you were before spinning...great.

-Stamp:

Hitting this spot and you get a special stamp to commemorate that you love throwing your money away, but if you are maintaining a stamp album you are already used to seeing your bank account total drop right in front of your eyes.

-Double Muscles:

You'll gain 10 points in a random statistic for your active pet. This is an amazing one to land on and really will save you a fair chunk of change and time when it comes to training your pet.

-Scorchstone:

This is it. This is the spot you'll spin for long after you win the avatar. If you land on the Scorchstone spot you'll be awarded a random Rarity 100 item. These items could be gourmet food or even a 50-million Neopoint booktastic book. If you land on this spot, your Neopian career is made and you can officially retire. Alternatively, it just gave you a lot more money to gamble away on this wheel, so invest carefully!

-X:

A big fat X. You won absolutely nothing. This is the spot I personally seem to land on more than any other and drives my blood pressure through the roof. Yet I keep coming back, I always get my hopes up that it'll click one more to the side and I'll be awarded with that Rarity 100 item and never have to worry about anything again. Nope, instead I get NOTHING.

You get to spin this wheel once daily, but if you are truly sadistic and do well in the Battleground of the Obelisk, you can choose the boon "Right Round Round Round" which will allow you to spin twice daily. Why you'd want to lose 200,000 NP every day for a week is beyond me, but if you really believe you'll hit that Rarity 100 jackpot, go for it!

So really, spin at your own risk. This wheel is a huge gamble and 100,000 NP is a lot. The avatar isn't worth throwing away your last pennies on, wait until you have a good stockpile in the bank before you start chasing it. On the other hand, it takes money to make money and spending your last 100,000 NP could result in a super lucky spin and drop a book worth tens of millions right into your lap...this is the kind of thinking that has me coming back to this wheel day in, day out, and I'm sure you'll be hooked after your first spin too.

I'd encourage you to spin responsibly, because you still have Neopets you'll need to feed at the end of the day, but thankfully the Soup Faerie is out there to help people just like me who have gambled away their last pennies.

Good luck (but not too much luck, I need to keep some for myself)!