Where to get it

2010 · Indie · Platformer

Happy Wheels

Try to get to the finish line in this twisted game's user-created tracks. Having your limbs still attached is optional.

Released: 4 June 2010
Platforms: Android Browser Linux Windows iOS
Genres: Indie Platformer Racing
Developers: —
Publishers: —
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action Horror Comedy
Country: United States
Age ratings: ESRB M CLASS_IND 16
Languages: English
Time to beat: 110hmain story200hwith extras

About

Happy Wheels is a side-scrolling ragdoll physics-based platform browser game developed and published by Fancy Force. Created in 2010 by video game designer Jim Bonacci, the game features several player characters using various and often atypical vehicles to traverse the game's many user-generated levels. The game is best known for its graphic violence and the amount of user-generated content its players produce on a regular basis, with game maps shared on a public server.

The game was first released in 2010 as a browser game, later ported to iOS in 2015 and Android in 2020. Standalone Windows and Linux versions were released in 2026. According to Bonacci, a sequel, which he has been working on since at least 2013, is still in development as of December 2020.

Players say

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Happy Wheels' tagline is "Choose your inadequately prepared racer, and ignore severe consequences in your desperate search for victory!" The actual mechanics of gameplay vary because of character choice and level design; the game includes characters such as a dad and his son riding a bike, a businessman on a Segway, a homeless man in a rocket-powered wheelchair, and Santa Claus in a flying elf-pulled sleigh.

The goal of the game also differs depending on the level. In most levels, the goal is to reach a finish line or to collect tokens. Many levels feature alternate or nonexistent goals for the player. Reviewers have noted Happy Wheels' graphic violence.

Development

Indie game developer Jim Bonacci, the game's main programmer and artist, began work on the game in 2006. Bonacci has said that his inspiration for the game came from other ragdoll physics-based games in the browser games community, as his friend and former boss, Alec Cove, had made a Verlet physics engine for Adobe Flash. Per Bonacci, "I was messing around with it, and eventually created a guy in a wheelchair that would endlessly fall down a random hill. I thought it was funny and stupid, so I kept expanding on it.

It was only meant to be a very small game, but eventually it became my main focus." The hyper-violent nature of the game was a reaction to Bonacci's frustration with how the consequences of certain actions were not treated realistically in other game titles. Bonacci stated that "it always bothered me when... you'd fall off your vehicle and harmlessly bounce around.

Reception

Happy Wheels has received generally positive reviews. It was recommended by GameSetWatch and considered one of the "Best Free Games" by IGN. Its level editor and amount of user-generated content have received praise from reviewers. The over-the-top nature of the violence is a central theme of the game, and some reviewers have considered it humorous; one review stated that "It is so genuinely difficult to play Happy Wheels and not just laugh and laugh at the ridiculous ways in which your character can be torn into pieces."