A backyard clothesline becomes a roulette wheel
Known as Goon of Fortune, the game turns a rotary clothesline—the umbrella-shaped backyard dryer common in Australia—into a spinning selector. Bags of inexpensive wine, often called “goon,” are hung from its arms. Players gather around the line, give it a spin, and the bag that comes to rest pointing toward someone decides who drinks.
The clothesline does the work of a wheel: its arms carry the bags around the circle, while the person who spins it cannot reliably control where it stops. That makes the selection feel like chance rather than a turn chosen by the group. The rules can vary, but the central gag is simple: an everyday household fixture picks the next drinker.
The object is part of the joke
A purpose-built game wheel would do the same job, but the rotary line gives this one its distinctly Australian backyard character. The wine bags swing past familiar garden scenery, and the slow, uneven spin builds a little suspense before one points at a player. A clothesline meant to keep laundry in motion becomes, briefly, a giant party spinner.
