what is this used for?

Question

I found a wheel similar to this which appears to be related to a old computer game, anyone know whats it used for?

 

Answer 1

In a lot of older games, the method of anti piracy involved a code wheel, or a sheet of paper with a chart, or even a word out of the instruction manual.

 

In the case you show here, it would give you 2 symbols on the screen, and ask you for the letter corresponding to one in the holes.  Say #3.

Symbol 1 + Symbol 2 and #3 and you would get a letter in the hole.  If you were right, the game would continue.  If you were wrong, it might ask again...or freeze the game. (And some horrible game companies of the time even deleted the save files if you answered wrong a certain number of times.)