I had an idea for a version of 20 Questions that I thought we could play on Stacker News. Let's try it out, maybe it will suck but I want to see how it goes!
I've tried to design this "multiplayer" version of the game to incentivize teamwork and critical thinking as best I could think of. Please leave feedback as well. 1

Rules

  • You must have a Cowboy Hat to participate.
  • Each stacker may ask one Yes-or-No question. Discussion is welcome, but precede your official question with [?]
    • Guesses count as questions and invalid questions will be ignored.
  • If the movie I'm thinking of is guessed correctly within 21 questions, all participants that had their questions answered by me will get some sats!
  • I will update what questions have been asked in the pinned comment.

Reward

  • The reward is based on the total amount of questions asked. This is to incentivize thinking carefully about your question and trying to solve early.
  • Reward per stacker scales down as follows:
    • 10th Question: 400 sats each
    • 11th Question: 353 sats each
    • 12th Question: 311 sats each
    • 13th Question: 274 sats each
    • 14th Question: 242 sats each
    • 15th Question: 214 sats each
    • 16th Question: 190 sats each
    • 17th Question: 169 sats each
    • 18th Question: 150 sats each
    • 19th Question: 134 sats each
    • 20th Question: 120 sats each
    • 21st Question: 100 sats each
    • 22nd and beyond:
Read the questions on the pinned comment before you ask!
Ask good questions to help the stackers after you so you can win more sats!

I'm thinking of a movie...

Footnotes

  1. I may change the "One question per stacker" rule if the post doesn't receive enough attention but the idea is for this to be a community game.

QUESTIONS SO FAR:

  1. Is it newer than the year 2000? - YES
  2. Is it newer than the year 2012? - NO
  3. Did it win any academy awards (Oscars)? - NO
  4. Is it newer than 2006? - NO
  5. Does the movie start with one of the letters A-M? - NO
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl 3h
@VictorVonVodka What question can you think to ask that would further refine what we know so far?
We are looking for a movie from 2000 to 2006 (inclusive) that starts with a letter A-M and it has never won an Oscar award.
  • I have suggested that we ask "Does your movie have a sub-title?"
    Here's an example of a movie with a sub title "Indiana Jones Raiders Of the Lost Ark" vs. a movie without a subtitle "Black Hawk Down".
  • I have suggested "Does the title of your movie contain 3 or more words?" If yes, then it's a longer title. If no, then it's only 1 or 2 words. We can hone in on the actual movie name of we know how long it is.
  • "Does the title of your movie contain 2 or more words?" If yes, then we only eliminate one word films. If no, then we are 100% sure that it is a one word title.
Thoughts?
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Is the movie part of a franchise or series?
Is the movie animated?
Does the movie belong to a specific genre (Action/Documentary/etc?
Is it ?
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I will continue answering about 10 hours from this comment!
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Look forward to more answers
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Roll 57m
Is it a comedy ?
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[?]
Does the movie you have in mind have its own Wikipedia entry?
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does the movie's title contain a person's name?
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Does the movie start with one of the following letters A-m?
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No!
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Thanks. Can some ask how many words 3 or more or something like that
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22 sats \ 3 replies \ @Jon_Hodl 8h
My proposals for new questions. I have already asked my official question so someone else will have to officially ask with their one guess.
We are looking for a movie released 2000-2006 (inclusive) with no oscars.
  • "Does your movie start with a letter A-M?". If yes, then we have letters to start with. If now, we have the other half letters to start with.
  • "Does the title of your movie contain 3 or more words?" If yes, then it's a longer title. If no, then it's only 1 or 2 words.
  • Does your movie have a sub-title? Here's an example of a movie with a sub title "Indiana Jones Raiders Of the Lost Ark" vs a movie without a subtitle "Black Hawk Down". This might be better to ask before the above question.
  • Still thinking of other ways to narrow it down.
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Title length will help
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0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl 6h
Agreed. If we can narrow it down to the number of words in the title, we can reduce it down to a reasonably small number of mainstream titles.
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Yes someone help us! Ask the question!
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[?]
Is it newer than 2006?
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[?] Did it win any academy awards (Oscars)?
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22 sats \ 7 replies \ @Jon_Hodl 9h
Ok. So the movie is newer than 2000 but NOT newer than 2012.
Let's see if we can find the studio that produced your movie.
Is the movie produced by Universal Studios?
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With no Oscars.
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It's one question per stacker right?
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11 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl 9h
The movie is newer than 2000 but NOT newer than 2012.
Do you think we should narrow it down by studio? Is your movie produced by Universal?
Actor? "Is Nicholas Cage or Michael Cain starring in your movie?"
Maybe alphabetically? "Does your movie start with a letter A-M?
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl 9h
You're totally right. My bad.
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But you have good suggestions. Discussion is allowed.
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Yessss hehe, maybe someone will ask that!
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This could be tweaked going forward, like after a certain amount of time, people can ask another etc.
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22 sats \ 2 replies \ @Jon_Hodl 9h
Is it newer than 2012?
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No! is that your final answer [?]
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That's the second question.
I just asked the third.
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This seems fun.
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15 sats \ 8 replies \ @Jon_Hodl 9h
I already asked my question.
The movie is newer than 2000 but NOT newer than 2012.
Do you think we should narrow it down by studio? Actor? Genre?
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Whatever we do, we want to cut the set of remaining options in half. If Universal didn't produce half of the movies from 2001-2012, then we should ask if it was made by the top two or three studios.
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I just asked the academy awards question.
I guess next might be to go by (broad swaths of) genre. Actor seems too specific.
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Actor might work if it's framed the right way: i.e. "Has the lead actor/actress ever won an Academy Award?"
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53 sats \ 4 replies \ @Jon_Hodl 9h
I think figuring out how many words and then what letter it starts with are going to be the next best options.
"Does the title of your movie contain 3 or more words?" If yes, then it's a longer title. If no, then it's 1 or 2 words.
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This is what the AI focused a lot of questions on
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That's good.
Another approach would be to lock in the release date. A binary search will get there with a few more questions.
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46 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl 9h
Even and odd numbers?
High/low: 2007-2012 or 2000-2006?
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I'll take high.
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[?]
Is it newer than the year 2000?
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11 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl 9h
Great starting point. I just asked if it's newer than 2012.
That gives us a 12-year window either way he answers.
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Seems like a good way to narrow it down.
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Yes!
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Good opener!
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Thanks. Seems like a fun game. I like how it is cooperative. Not much incentive to ask the first few I guess.
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Maybe the first few get a default small amount for being trailblazers
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Yeah I could do that manually, or maybe something like the first few people get a free guess of the movie whenever they want, without using up a question.
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Good idea anyways. I am sure it will evolve.
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lol 200 AD
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