20 Questions, Game 298

[JECE]

To be fair, that rule keeps getting changed, so it's not just a matter of forgetting. I still think that it makes perfect sense to ask two questions then use a free guess. Use my version of the rules if you win

Part of it, at least to me, is that the new option of 'passed' makes counting weird. If a question master can't answer a question then I don't think that it should be counted as a spent question.

Of course it shouldn't, BUT until the QM responds, it counts for how many questions you have consecutively asked...

You say that, but we just saw the question master in Game 297 refuse to answer a question in that specific scenario (refuse to answer a 'third' question after they had already passed on the 'second' question):

Male?

No.

Born 1798 or later?

Pass.

Hmm - died between 1852 and 1900?

Can't ask 3 in a row

[JECE]

There were some very impressive solves yesterday. Well done to each of Hominidae, Aristocrat, and DreamTrawler.

Since we're on the subject of rules: I've actually had a proposal for reforming the system of free and non-free guesses in the back of my mind for some time. Allowing non-free guesses sometimes causes other guessers to feel like questions are being "wasted", but banning non-free guesses means that, once a guesser uses a free guess, then that guesser has to wait patiently until after Q20. This can also have the effect of changing the two-questions-into-a-guess rule. Hence, I propose:

1. Each guesser is entitled to *two* guesses. There is no distinction between free and non-free guesses.

2. These guesses can be used at any time.

3. Once a guesser has made two incorrect guesses, that guesser cannot make any more guesses for the remainder of the game.

4. After the 20th question is answered, there is a period of 24 hours in which guessers can use their remaining guess(es).

So, I almost support this, but I don't like the idea of someone being locked out of making guesses for the entire game. Maybe have the number reset after the 20 questions are answered?

It's an interesting idea, but with only two guesses per player the game may die out. Not that many users play 20 questions. It could be a fun experiment for a one-off game, though.

The proposed tweak would just encourage players who think that they know the answer to ask dumb questions in an effort to reach the 20th question more quickly. So if the purpose of the rule change is to limited 'wasted' questions, I don't think that it would help.

In general, for both ideas, it would be hard to proceed if a player guessed correctly but wasn't allowed to claim victory. As a question master, I would want the player who actually figured out the puzzle to win.

[Hominidae]

I agree that as the QM, it seems wrong to not give people credit for correct guesses even if they technically break the rules. There should be a way to penalize incorrect guesses while still giving credit for correct guesses. Maybe once you've used up your two guesses and they're incorrect, you can't ask questions for a certain amount of time (I would say forever, but that might cause the game to lose steam), but you can still make guesses.