Let's play 21 Questions, Cowboy Version!

641 sats \ 57 comments \ @OneOneSeven 10h movies

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...

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. ↩

2 replies \ @OneOneSeven OP 7h

QUESTIONS SO FAR:

Is it newer than the year 2000? - YES
Is it newer than the year 2012? - NO
Did it win any academy awards (Oscars)? - NO
Is it newer than 2006? - NO
Does the movie start with one of the letters A-M? - NO

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?

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @VictorVonVodka 56m

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 ?

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1650062/

1 reply \ @OneOneSeven OP 5h

I will continue answering about 10 hours from this comment!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @User21000000 4h

Look forward to more answers

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Roll 57m

Is it a comedy ?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei 1h

[?]

Does the movie you have in mind have its own Wikipedia entry?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @zapsammy 2h

does the movie's title contain a person's name?

42 sats \ 2 replies \ @User21000000 7h

Does the movie start with one of the following letters A-m?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @OneOneSeven OP 7h

No!

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @User21000000 7h

Thanks. Can some ask how many words 3 or more or something like that

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.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @User21000000 7h

Title length will help

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.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @User21000000 6h

Yes someone help us! Ask the question!

45 sats \ 1 reply \ @Undisciplined 9h

[?]

Is it newer than 2006?

40 sats \ 0 replies \ @OneOneSeven OP 8h

No!

23 sats \ 1 reply \ @SimpleStacker 9h

[?] Did it win any academy awards (Oscars)?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OneOneSeven OP 9h

No!

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?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave 9h

With no Oscars.

21 sats \ 5 replies \ @DesertDave 9h

It's one question per stacker right?

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?

11 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl 9h

You're totally right. My bad.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave 9h

But you have good suggestions. Discussion is allowed.

11 sats \ 1 reply \ @OneOneSeven OP 9h

Yessss hehe, maybe someone will ask that!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OneOneSeven OP 9h

This could be tweaked going forward, like after a certain amount of time, people can ask another etc.

22 sats \ 2 replies \ @Jon_Hodl 9h

Is it newer than 2012?

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @OneOneSeven OP 9h

No! is that your final answer [?]

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Jon_Hodl 9h

That's the second question.

I just asked the third.

26 sats \ 9 replies \ @Undisciplined 10h

This seems fun.

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?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 9h

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.

43 sats \ 6 replies \ @SimpleStacker 9h

I just asked the academy awards question.

I guess next might be to go by (broad swaths of) genre. Actor seems too specific.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 9h

Actor might work if it's framed the right way: i.e. "Has the lead actor/actress ever won an Academy Award?"

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.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @OneOneSeven OP 8h

This is what the AI focused a lot of questions on

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @Undisciplined 9h

That's good.

Another approach would be to lock in the release date. A binary search will get there with a few more questions.

46 sats \ 1 reply \ @Jon_Hodl 9h

Even and odd numbers?

High/low: 2007-2012 or 2000-2006?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 9h

I'll take high.

42 sats \ 9 replies \ @DesertDave 10h

[?]

Is it newer than the year 2000?

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.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @DesertDave 9h

Seems like a good way to narrow it down.

11 sats \ 6 replies \ @OneOneSeven OP 10h

Yes!

11 sats \ 5 replies \ @OneOneSeven OP 10h

Good opener!

21 sats \ 4 replies \ @DesertDave 10h

Thanks. Seems like a fun game. I like how it is cooperative. Not much incentive to ask the first few I guess.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @DesertDave 9h

Maybe the first few get a default small amount for being trailblazers

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @OneOneSeven OP 9h

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.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @DesertDave 9h

Good idea anyways. I am sure it will evolve.

32 sats \ 0 replies \ @OneOneSeven OP 9h

Rules

Reward

I'm thinking of a movie...

Footnotes

QUESTIONS SO FAR: