Hi everyone,

I was hoping for some feedback on an original game and whether you would play it. You may also have some tweaks to get the balance right between luck and skill. Any comments, good or bad are most appreciated!

"And X The"

Two players, online, receive a random book (or magazine or wikipedia page). Player A is given John Grisham’s – The Pelican Brief and Player B receives ‘Pride and Prejudice’. Both players then have a page selected e.g. page 76. Neither player knows the book read by the other player.

Player A then counts the number of ‘And’s’ multiplied by ‘The’s’ on his/her page. For instance, on page 76, there are 12 And’s and 10 The’s = 120
Player B does the same and he/she counts 8 And’s and 2 The’s (as it is a shortened page) = 16

Now, Player A and B must write how many the total of Player A’s total multiplied by Player B’s total only knowing their own number. Player A has 120 and so will likely select a figure of around 120 * 120 = 14,400 but is free to go far higher or far lower if he/she feels their number is above or below average. Player B only has a total of 16 but must assume theirs is on the low side, so may increase the estimate to say 16 * 100 = 1600.

The final figure is 120x16 = 1920 which means player B wins.

The provider takes a commission (rake) of up to 5% from every game, depending on the amount won.

The game can be played two-way (heads-up) or multiplayer (up to five players).

I selected the multiplying method rather than addition so that a big or small total has a greater importance. However, due to this, one can only play up to five way as the numbers become too large. Then again, you don't want more than five as it is then just flipping coins.

The format for betting can be any of the following:

Matchbet (i.e. a headsup bet) for a predetermined stake
Ante, bet after you've seen your book (poker style)
Multiplayer tournament with points
Sitngo with points
Spreadbetting (if player A is high, they buy; if Player B is low, they sell). This method has huge variance.
The books are known to each player, but not the page number

So that's it. Simple, but with just enough skill. What do you think?

Thanks!

I really can't find anything interesting about the game, so I can't think of any changes that would make me want to pay 5% rake (or any) for the right to play.

Haha, a tad extreme, but thanks. The rake can be lower. I would have thought there is some interest/value especially if the book/magazine/wikipedia page was sent via official api feed. I've played the game in the 'spreadbetting style' and it is pretty fun!

How is there any skill at all in this?

There are many games that people enjoy that I find uninteresting, and there are many games I enjoy that other people find completely uninteresting. So maybe you'll find people who like it.

I don't know from your description if I have to read the page and count the number, or if the number is just displayed for me. If I have to count them, then it seems a tedious task; and if it is just displayed for me then I don't see it any different from you just giving us each a secret random number and we estimate the product of the two.

More often than not odd pages contain a lesser amount of and's and the's than even pages, but such symmetrical information is known by each part playing the game.

So why skills should play a role?

Purely chance games work fine as is.

However, in terms of skill, knowing/calculating the average "and x the" on a random page would be a large advantage.

Second, there would be an option where you could see the book given.

There is chat for some bluffing/games

With the ante/bet option, there is some extra skill/options.

I'm not married to the idea!

The "skill" is in writing a computer program to calculate the answer for you. I don't think it would be terribly hard for a hobbyist programmer, and easy for a professional.

A skill game should have a strategy that is difficult to approximate once known. This game would be trivial to play nearly perfectly once the optimal strategy is known. The skill gap is between players who know the strategy and those who don't.