Thursday, March 01, 2007

The Results of My 1000th Post Contest

In my 1000th post, I decided to give back all my ad earnings to my readers, as thanks for regularly reading and subscribing to my blog.

I introduced five games. Considering that I was simply giving away money, I got less participation than I expected. Either you're all are not a participatory bunch, or you didn't like the games, or you don't read during the week, or there aren't many of you, or you don't want to take my money. Or something else entirely.

Now that I've narrowed it down, here are the results:

Game 1: Applied Game Theory

Send me an email with the subject "Game 1" and an integer between 1 and 100. The player who sends me the second highest number wins.

The (non-disqualified) numbers submitted were: 7, 12, 96, 96, 97, 97, 98, 98, 99

This makes 98 the winner. And the winners are Mikko Saari and Tal Darom.

Game theory approaches this problem from a rational perspective: assume that you are rational, and so are the other players (and assume no collusion).

No one is going to choose 100, so 99 will be the highest number possibly submitted. But since 99 will be the highest number possible submitted, 99 can't possibly win, so 98 will be the highest number possibly submitted. This logic continues until the rational player realizes that all players will submit 0.

Since that is rather unlikely, a rational player then goes on to choose some arbitrarily low number.

However, a truly rational player should realize that most people are not rational. As a result, at least a couple of people will skim the question and submit 99 or 98 without thinking too much about it.

That makes it rational to submit a fairly high number such as 98 or 97, and assume that others will come to a similar decisions.

In the end, someone submitted 99 because they figured some dope will probably submit 100 just to throw everyone else off.

Game 2: Why Did The Chicken?

I asked for humorous answers to the following questions:

2a: What did the board game player say to the grocer?

2b: How is a board game player like a newspaper?

2c: What is the difference between a board game player and a bar of soap?

2d: How many board game players does it take to screw in a light bulb?

2e: What do you get if you cross a board game player with a rock band?


Only one person submitted any answers at all, and they only submitted an answer to one of the questions.

Duncan Munro submitted this as an answer to 2d: 2-6 Players, Ages 10 and up

OK, that made me smile, but not laugh aloud. As a result, I declare all of you losers. Duncan, if you want, I'll send you some GeekGold for the effort.

Game 3: Rock-Paper-Scissors 11 Variant Tournament

Playing with the rules from this variant of RPS, here are the results:

Round 1: Seth vs Olav
SethOlavResults
RockGunOlav
GunHumanSeth
DevilHumanSeth
WaterDevilSeth
AirRockSeth
PaperScissorsOlav
SpongeWolfOlav
WolfAirSeth
HumanAirSeth
ScissorsAirSeth
FireWaterOlav
FireHumanSeth
GunRockSeth
WaterDevilSeth
PaperGunSeth
WolfRockOlav
ScissorsPaperSeth
RockHumanSeth
DevilSpongeOlav
AirSpongeOlav
SpongeSponge---
Results Seth 13, Olav 7
Winner Seth

Round 2: David vs Gabriel
DavidGabrielResults
GunWaterGabriel
WaterPaperDavid
PaperAirDavid
AirWaterDavid
WaterWater---
WaterAirGabriel
AirWaterDavid
WaterAirGabriel
AirAir---
AirWaterDavid
WaterPaperGabriel
PaperWaterDavid
WaterWater---
WaterAirGabriel
AirWaterDavid
WaterPaperGabriel
PaperPaper---
PaperWaterDavid
WaterWater---
WaterWater---
WaterWater---
Results David 8, Gabriel 6
Winner David

Round 3: Mikko vs Antonni
MikkoAnttoniResults
DevilAirAnttoni
DevilHumanMikko
DevilRockMikko
DevilSpongeAntonni
DevilDevil---
WaterRockMikko
PaperWaterMikko
AirScissorsAnttoni
WolfFireAntonni
HumanWaterMikko
DevilHumanMikko
DevilDevil---
DevilGunMikko
DevilSpongeAntonni
FireAirAntonni
RockPaperAntonni
GunScissorsMikko
WaterWolfAntonni
AirDevilMikko
DevilGunMikko
DevilAirAntonni
Results Mikko 10, Antonni 9
Winner Mikko

Elimination Round 1: Seth vs David
SethDavidResults
RockGunDavid
GunRockSeth
DevilGunSeth
WaterDevilSeth
AirWaterSeth
PaperAirSeth
SpongePaperSeth
WolfSpongeSeth
HumanWolfSeth
ScissorsHumanSeth
FireRockDavid
FireGunDavid
GunGun---
WaterWater---
PaperPaper---
WolfWolf---
ScissorsScissors---
RockRock---
DevilDevil---
AirAir---
SpongeSponge---
Results Seth 9, David 3
Winner Seth

Elimination Round 2: Seth vs Mikko
SethMikkoResults
RockDevilMikko
GunDevilMikko
DevilDevil---
WaterDevilSeth
AirDevilSeth
PaperWaterSeth
SpongePaperSeth
WolfAirSeth
HumanWolfSeth
ScissorsHumanSeth
FireDevilMikko
FireDevilMikko
GunDevilMikko
WaterDevilSeth
PaperFireMikko
WolfRockMikko
ScissorsGunMikko
RockWaterMikko
DevilAirMikko
AirDevilSeth
SpongeDevilSeth
Results Seth 10, Mikko 10
Winner Tie

Elimination Round 3: David vs Mikko
DavidMikkoResults
GunDevilMikko
DevilDevil---
DevilDevil---
DevilDevil---
DevilDevil---
DevilWaterMikko
WaterPaperMikko
PaperAirMikko
AirWolfMikko
WolfHumanMikko
FireDevilMikko
AirDevilDavid
AirDevilDavid
AirDevilDavid
AirFireDavid
GunRockDavid
DevilGunDavid
WaterWater---
PaperAirDavid
SpongeDevilDavid
AirDevilDavid
Results David 9, Mikko 7
Winner David

The elimination results are: Seth 1.5, David 1, Mikko 0.5. This makes Seth the winner.

Game 4: Puerto Rico tournament

For game 4, I have a total of 5 participants.

My plan is as follows: I will start 5 simultaneous 4-player games, with one person out for each game. Your score for each game is your score minus the lowest score, plus 5 if you won.

Your total among all games determines the final results.

Good luck

Game 5: Site works

Unfortunately, no one entered this game. That leaves me with all of my money, Geek Gold, and games. What should I do with all of it? Hmmm...


Anyhoo, thanks to all of you who participated, and I may do this again.

Yehuda

4 comments:

Gabe said...

I was just looking over my RPS-11 results, and I found what I think is a mistake. On throw 2, David threw Water and I threw Paper - so I should have won that round, right? That would tie us at 7 each, so I'm not sure how we resolve that.

I am at least gratified that someone else (i.e., David) decided upon a strategy so similar to mine :)

Yehuda Berlinger said...

gabriel: what we have here is a classic pebkac on my end.

I will have to replace my brain with a new one that works properly.

Yehuda

Sheesh Kabeesh said...

Well done on your 1000th post. I enjoyed your analysis of the 2nd highest number game. You mentioned the 'non-disqualified' numbers but what were the disqualified ones? And why did people pick them?

chin chin!

Yehuda Berlinger said...

Mr Blister: When I first announced the game, I asked for "real" numbers. So some of the submissions were not integers.

I gave those people another chance to enter when I clarified for integers.

Yehuda