Distraction sought
Feb. 19th, 2015 03:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livI am doing a job that's both fiddly and intimidating, and I'm forcing myself to concentrate in very small chunks. So I would be most grateful if you'd join me in playing a silly game. I believe ceb invented this, and titled it
I'm thinking of something. In order to find out what it is, instead of asking yes/no questions as in traditional twenty questions, you are only allowed to ask me what my something is like. I will answer either: yes, it's a bit like what you guessed, or: no, it's more like French toast. I have to be honest, but I don't have to tell you in what way my thing is more like your thing or more like French toast. If you get a yes, your guess replaces French toast as the comparison object.
Like this:
Me: I'm thinking of something
Player: Is it like Guess1?
Me: No, it's more like French toast
Player: Is it like Guess2?
Me: Yes, it's a bit like Guess2.
Player: Is it like Guess3?
Me: No, it's more like Guess2.
Player: Is it like Guess4?
Me: Yes, it's more like Guess4 than Guess2.
Guesses should in general be specific things rather than categories of things. Eg "Is it like a tiger?" or "Is it like Cate Blanchett?" are legitimate questions, but "Is it like an animal?" or "Is it like a celebrity?" belong in trad twenty questions, not in the pessimized analogy version. And if you ask "Is it like [the thing I originally thought of]" then you win and you can think of something and lead the next round.
(I'm wondering if we can take advantage of threaded comments to make triangulating on the answer non-linear, but that's probably too complicated.)
I'll start the first round in the first comment, to make it easier to read if the game works and we want to try further rounds.
ceb invented this, and titled it pessimized twenty questions.
I'm thinking of something. In order to find out what it is, instead of asking yes/no questions as in traditional twenty questions, you are only allowed to ask me what my something is like. I will answer either: yes, it's a bit like what you guessed, or: no, it's more like French toast. I have to be honest, but I don't have to tell you in what way my thing is more like your thing or more like French toast. If you get a yes, your guess replaces French toast as the comparison object.
Like this:
Me: I'm thinking of something
Player: Is it like Guess1?
Me: No, it's more like French toast
Player: Is it like Guess2?
Me: Yes, it's a bit like Guess2.
Player: Is it like Guess3?
Me: No, it's more like Guess2.
Player: Is it like Guess4?
Me: Yes, it's more like Guess4 than Guess2.
Guesses should in general be specific things rather than categories of things. Eg "Is it like a tiger?" or "Is it like Cate Blanchett?" are legitimate questions, but "Is it like an animal?" or "Is it like a celebrity?" belong in trad twenty questions, not in the pessimized analogy version. And if you ask "Is it like [the thing I originally thought of]" then you win and you can think of something and lead the next round.
(I'm wondering if we can take advantage of threaded comments to make triangulating on the answer non-linear, but that's probably too complicated.)
I'll start the first round in the first comment, to make it easier to read if the game works and we want to try further rounds.
Re: Round 2
Date: 2015-03-02 05:34 pm (UTC)Re: Round 2
Date: 2015-03-02 08:13 pm (UTC)Re: Round 2
Date: 2015-03-02 09:33 pm (UTC)Re: Round 2
Date: 2015-03-03 05:05 pm (UTC)Re: Round 2
Date: 2015-03-03 09:09 pm (UTC)