Feb

22

Games again, from Big Al

February 22, 2024 |

I grew up playing lots of board games, and later, computer games. I see videos of college students not being able to do basic math, and I think, "They needed to play Monopoly when they were kids!" Here is an interesting Numberphile with Marcus du Sautoy about the game Risk:

The Game of Risk - Numberphile

du Sautoy has a book on games:

Around the World in Eighty Games
From Tarot to Tic-Tac-Toe, Catan to Chutes and Ladders, a Mathematician Unlocks the Secrets of the World's
Greatest Games

He is an interesting guy and has done a lot of popular math work.

Humbert H. writes:

I grew up in a house where cards were played all the time. We played everything from pinochle and canasta to spades and bridge. I was a degenerate rummy player in my teens, half a cent a point. Later on graduated to low ball, which is a truly sick game, only for the degens. Always managed to hold my own in all kinds of poker. Cards improved my memory and on the spot mental arithmetic. Learned a few hundred prop bets using cards and had a good measure of success with them. We still play all the time, and when grandbaby is a few years older, he can join.

James Goldcamp adds:

While Risk was always fun, it's Avalon Hill's Diplomacy that for me is the pinnacle of board games. It combines negotiation and cooperation useful in business, the bluffing and dissembling of poker, along with an element of pure calculation a la chess. While the board presents somewhat of a tight closed system (ask anyone who has played as Turkey!) I believe it teaches the best balance of grand strategy, pure tactics, and anticipation (and manipulation) of the intent and designs of the other players. In the initial days of the pandemic my gaming friends of decades prior reconvened using one of the free online diplomacy sites.

Honorable mention for baseball enthusiasts goes to another Avalon Hill great - Superstar Baseball. An excellent way for a kid to gain an appreciation for early 20th century players through Mays and Aaron.

Big Al wonders:

Was there a message here?

Thank you for your interest in the monetary policy game, Chair the Fed. The game has been a useful and fun tool to learn more about monetary policy. However, the Fed has updated its approach to monetary policy, and the changes are not readily accommodated within the existing structure of the game. As of June 1, 2021, the game is no longer available.

Asindu Drileba writes:

I came across this game from Jane Street.

Figgie is a card game that was invented at Jane Street in 2013. It was designed to simulate open-outcry commodities trading. Most of the skill in Figgie is in negotiating trades that benefit both the buyer and seller. Like in poker, your objective in Figgie is to make money over a series of hands.

Several financiers I have studied like to play games of chance outside the market - Warren Buffet (Bridge), Charlie Munger (Poker), Edward Thorpe (Blackjack), Vic (Checkers — I still don't know what to make of the checkers like board on the Daily Speculations homepage).


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