7 ms·

Thank you, I didn't really understand what they were talking about. Personally, I feel there is an easier approach: Take a regular 12-sided die, assign numbers

by yuye 13d ago

Thank you, I didn't really understand what they were talking about. Personally, I feel there is an easier approach: Take a regular 12-sided die, assign numbers modulo N (N being the amount of players). Now you assign the first turn fairly for 2, 3, 4, 6 or 12 players. Add a d20 and that covers 5 or 10 players, too.

geon 13d ago
You mean you roll a single die and use the value to index an array of players? That’s the pragmatic solution. The article is about an interesting mathematical puzzle, not actually solving a real problem. Also, an n-sided die is fair for 2 to n players if you discard rolls above the number of players.
- interroboink 13d ago
  The article states: > The golf-ball-sized dice are now available to buy ... So, not entirely just a math puzzle. But probably dice only math nerds will buy (: I agree the math problem does not map well to a real problem players are having.
  - nottorp 13d ago
    > But probably dice only math nerds will buy (: You don't have to buy them to use them. For example I own a baggie of D(4-20) dice but I don't and have never played tabletop RPGs. This set may end up too expensive for my "i know i'll never use it" budget, but other than that I'd get one.
consp 13d ago
That would preclude everyone from having a throw. Which is likely more fair but doesn't feel fair.
Lvl999Noob 13d ago
This made me think of a hypothetical game where the players roll dice to determine their order of turns. The rolling will continue until every player is assigned a turn. If some other player rolls multiple times in the middle then that player gets multiple turns. So for example with a 6 sided die and 2 players, faces 1, 3, 5 correspond to player 1 and 2, 4, 6 to player 2. They roll dice and the rolls come out as 1, 1, 5, 3, 5, 2. That means player 1 will get a turn 5 times per round while player 2 gets 1 turn. To make it fairer, player 2 would receive some sort of advantage corresponding to the lack of turns compared to player 1. The game would be designed in such a way that novices would prefer getting multiple turns in a round while experts would prefer to get a single turn for themselves and maximizing the total number of turns per round.
Miraltar 13d ago
But how do you choose who gets to throw that die? /s

by yuye 13d ago

geon 13d ago

You mean you roll a single die and use the value to index an array of players? That’s the pragmatic solution. The article is about an interesting mathematical puzzle, not actually solving a real problem. Also, an n-sided die is fair for 2 to n players if you discard rolls above the number of players.

interroboink 13d ago
The article states: > The golf-ball-sized dice are now available to buy ... So, not entirely just a math puzzle. But probably dice only math nerds will buy (: I agree the math problem does not map well to a real problem players are having.
- nottorp 13d ago
  > But probably dice only math nerds will buy (: You don't have to buy them to use them. For example I own a baggie of D(4-20) dice but I don't and have never played tabletop RPGs. This set may end up too expensive for my "i know i'll never use it" budget, but other than that I'd get one.

consp 13d ago

That would preclude everyone from having a throw. Which is likely more fair but doesn't feel fair.

Lvl999Noob 13d ago

This made me think of a hypothetical game where the players roll dice to determine their order of turns. The rolling will continue until every player is assigned a turn. If some other player rolls multiple times in the middle then that player gets multiple turns. So for example with a 6 sided die and 2 players, faces 1, 3, 5 correspond to player 1 and 2, 4, 6 to player 2. They roll dice and the rolls come out as 1, 1, 5, 3, 5, 2. That means player 1 will get a turn 5 times per round while player 2 gets 1 turn. To make it fairer, player 2 would receive some sort of advantage corresponding to the lack of turns compared to player 1. The game would be designed in such a way that novices would prefer getting multiple turns in a round while experts would prefer to get a single turn for themselves and maximizing the total number of turns per round.

Miraltar 13d ago

But how do you choose who gets to throw that die? /s