If you are a 20 Questions fanatic you will love this article I found all about 20Q.
Rules
The game of 20 Questions can be played with two people or with a group of people. At the start of the game one person is designated the answerer and rest questioners. The answerer chooses an object for the questioners to determine and the questioners take turns asking the answerer questions in order to determine it. Traditionally, questioners may only ask questions that can be answered with a yes or no and the answerer may only answer yes or no to questions asked. The answerer must be truthful when answering questions and not try and mislead the questioners. After hearing the answer to a question questioners can take turns guessing the object. If a questioner correctly guesses the object that questioner becomes the answerer for the next round. If none of the questioners are able to correctly guess the object another question is asked. Traditionally, questioners have up to 20 chances to ask questions, hence the name "20 Questions." If none of the questioners are able to determine the object after 20 questions the answerer remains the answerer for the next round.
During play there may arise questions that the answerer is unable to answer either because the answer is not known or because the question does not have a definitive yes or no answer. If the answer is not known the answerer should answer "I don't know." It is important that the answerer not try and guess the answer, which could end up misleading the questioners. If a question does not have a definitive yes or no answer the answerer should answer "I can't answer." Consider this example: The object the answerer has chosen is a baseball and a questioner asks the question "Is it bigger than a baseball?" While the answer to this question is technically no, a baseball is not bigger than a baseball, such an answer would be misleading.
When playing with novice questioners it may be desirable to allow the answerer to answer questions with additional answers such as "Irrelevant," "Sometimes," "Maybe," "Probably," "Doubtful," "Usually," "Depends," "Rarely" or "Partly". Allowing additional answers reduces the penalty on questioners for asking bad questions.
The game of 20 Questions is about having fun, the rules are not written in stone, whichever rules you choose to use everyone should agree to them before the start of the game.
Strategy
While the role of the answerer might seem easy, there are some factors that an answerer should consider before choosing an object. It is important that an answerer be able to answer yes or no to as many questions as possible. For this reason an answerer should take into consideration his level of knowledge when choosing an object. An answerer should also consider whether the object should be a class of objects or a specific object. Consider this example: An answerer is considering choosing a car as his object. The answerer must decide whether the object should be cars in general or a specific model of car. It is important that an answerer have a clear picture of the object in mind at the start of the game so as to avoid changing it during play.
The goal of the questioners is to reduce the trillions of possible objects to the one that the answerer has chosen. Therefore, the best strategy for questioners is to ask questions that eliminate as many of the remaining objects as possible each time. Consider this example: Questioners have learned that the object the answerer has chosen is a living human that is famous. Knowing this, the next best question for a questioner to ask would be whether the living famous human is male or female.
Variations
Due to its worldwide popularity and timelessness, the game of 20 Questions has spawned many variations. One such popular variation is "Animal, Vegetable or Mineral?" In this variation a questioner is able to ask the answerer at the start of the game whether his chosen object is an animal, vegetable or mineral. This is the only time during the game that a questioner can ask a none yes or no question. After the question has been answered the rules are the same as the traditional game. When playing this variation it is helpful beforehand to define the terms "animal," "vegetable" and "mineral," as not everyone may have the same opinions as to what objects belong in which category. A similar popular variation is one in which the answerer chooses an object from a category agreed upon before the start of the game. Popular categories include Music, TV & Movies and Sports. The rules for this variation are the same as the traditional game, the only difference being that objects must be chosen from the agreed upon category.
20 Questions in the 21st Century
In 2004 the toy company Radica Games introduced the 20Q, a electronic handheld version of 20 Questions. The 20Q takes the role of the questioner and you the answerer. Once you have chosen an object and started the game the 20Q will first ask you whether your object is an Animal, Vegetable, Mineral or Other. The 20Q will then ask you a series of 20 questions which you can answer with the Yes, No, Unknown and Sometimes buttons. After the 20th question the 20Q will attempt to guess your object. An artificial intelligence powered by an advanced neural-network (a electronic version of human brain) gives the 20Q an uncanny ability to correctly guess almost any object you can think of. The 20Q has won numerous awards including the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Toy of the Year.
Since it's introduction in 2004, Radica has released three new versions of the 20Q: The 20Q Deluxe, 20Q Big Screen and 20Q Challenge. The 20Q Deluxe has the same functionality as the classic 20Q, but has been redesigned to be more ergonomic, with larger buttons and a larger and brighter LCD screen. The 20Q Big Screen has both an improved design and additional functionality. The Big Screen sports a more "pocketable" design, an even larger scrolling LCD screen for easy reading, a grip for more comfortable playing and a color changing body that changes colors as it gets closer to guessing your object. The Big Screen's functionality additions include an even larger database of objects, an additional "Rarely" answer button and an "Undo" button. The Big Screen also does not wait until the 20th question to attempt a guess if it thinks of one earlier. The 20Q Challenge is a multi-player table top version of the 20Q. The Challenge's 360 degree spiral dome display and large buttons insure everyone can see and play. The Challenge has the same additional functionality as the Big Screen. Full article at http://www.20questions.com/
Comments