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Finding the Perfect Family Game
kowalski1971 writes "Some poor soul with far too much time on his hands has decided - in an attempt to increase sales at his toyshop - to calculate the formula for the perfect family game. Apparently it is, 0.22a + 0.17f + 0.153n + (0.12c - 0.1g) + 0.1s + 0.09e + 0.06d + 0.054l + 0.05m + 0.011c = pfg ...and which game came out top? Cards. So much for the increased sales then."
I'm pretty sure it's Vice City and Carmegeddon. It's nice watching my 5 year old kill cops with his grandfather.
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
I notice that most of those factors are vaguely defined at best... "Fun factor?" Get real! As long as we're pulling qualitative numbers out of the air, why not design a simpler system? Perfect Family Game = 1.0g, where "g" is the "goodness level." Practical, huh?
"Cards" is not a game
a game is poker, bridge, blackjack etc.
which card game are they talking about?
Thankfully, his calculations are much LESS complicated than the formulae used to compute the bowl championship series rankings.
Oddly enough, they are also more accurate, and I would be willing to bet that his formula could easily be converted over verbatim, applied to college football, and STILL come out with a better ranking system for college teams than the BCS.
Given that his factors include:
N = number of people
S = stimulation
E = engagement
D = duration
L = longevity
I think we may at last have found the source of all those dastardly penis enlargement spams and viagra...
Best selling game != best game. Admittedly, the point of this exercise was probably to increase sales, so on that front, it's failed... Also note that his formula reuses symbols ("C" is both competitive factor, and complexity), and he parenthesizes items for no apparently good reason when the operators are commutative. Is he just trying to come up with an impressive looking formula to get a newsworthy story and bring his store some publicity? On that front, he's succeeded...
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
An infinite number of monkeys will eventually come up with the complete works of
which card game are they talking about?
Clearly, strip poker.
Marge: Why don't you kids play one of your old board games? When was the last time you played "Citizenship"?
Bart: [looking through games] "Energy Shortage"?
Lisa: "Hippo in the House"?
Marge: Ooh, "The Game of Lent"!
Bart: Ohh, can't we just go to bed?
Marge: It's only five-thirty.
Lisa: Fine, we'll play "Hippo in the House".
Marge: Oh, the hippo's missing.
Ep: Wild Barts Can't Be Broken
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
Good for everybody and therefore probably good for nobody. And if anybody hopes complicated equations will help him pick the best Christmas gift for his nephew he's mistaken. It will be easier to ask.
While I was growing up, my parents thought playing cards were poisonous. We were forbidden to play (or even learn) any card games because they thought it was the first step towards becoming a gambling addict. This was extremely embarassing for me later on in school because in math class, concepts in probability and combinatorics were very often taught using ordinary playing cards. Of course, I had no idea what was going on at first, which bewildered my classmates who had gotten the idea that I was pretty sharp in math. Not a big deal, but it is a minor iritation I hold my parents responsible for.
Stay sentient. Don't drink bad milk.
Human factors cannot be reduced to mathematical equations.
(Sit down Hari Seldon)
Attempting to do so only results in making you look stupid (like this guy)
a good game of "Twister" will enable you to start your *own* family!
C|N>K
... is because they forgot the ever popular "Cardboard and plastic pieces" game.
"Cards" is not a game
But it is game equipment. Toy stores do not deal in "games" as such but rather game equipment. A pair of decks of 52 cards can be used for 100 plus well-known games, which may figure into the decision that cards are nearly optimal game equipment.
Actually, the correct formula for the perfect game is:
1 Swedish Bikini Team, sans bikinis + Me = The Perfect Game.
Cards and monopoly are great. The have no noise making annoyances, involve lots of manipulative that occupy the child, and rounds proceed quickly while occupying all players attention. More importantly, these games do minimum damage when the playing pieces enter the inevitable tantrum driven projectile phase.
But Bop It? It is noisy, and hurts like hell when used as a club. Jenga? The point is to frustrate your opponents. This game is great at developing necessary skills, but when the pieces fall, the loser has a great desire to test the aerodynamics of the blocks.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Clue has to be the best game, since it teaches you the best household objects you can use to kill people, as well as helping young children to realize that you should never ask the police for help when solving a murder.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
"For best results, do not begin game with original family"
**Posted as AC to cleanse myself of that 'icky' feeling**
Sure beats the old-time family classic... "come sit on grandpa's lap"!
. SLASHDOT: Home of the vicious nerd.
Also, this formula should really include variables for different people. I know monopoly with my grandfather is a blast, because he's old and cheap and sits on all his money and kicks butt at the end, but monopoly with my youngest cousins can be hellish, because they cry when anyone plays rough.
This should really be more of a function, where you supply 5 or 10 bits of information, and the top 10 list is customized to you.
FWIW, my wife teaches college math and uses playing card explanations for a number of concepts. I was surprised and she was astonished (her family is obsessed with games) at how many students were unfamiliar with playing cards. It's a heavily international group of students, but still...
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...