Balderdash EV Quiz

[wonkadaddy]

who woulda thunk-- Poker and Balderdash-- Peas in a Pod

(Ignore this part if you've played Balderdash) Balderdash is a game where people are given an uncommon word and asked to make up a definition for it. each round one person reads off all the choices for players to guess at the correct definition. the reader does not get to make up their own fake definition and can only score points if no one guesses correctly. points are scored thus

2 points-- guessing correctly
1 point -- for every person that guesses your definition
4 points-- for writing down the correct definition
3 points-- for being the reader and having no one guess the correct definiton for the round

**if you write out the correct definition, your answer is removed and you can't gain additional points for that round.

SITUATION
so in a 5-handed (shorthanded balderdash -HA!) game, the word is "rudyard". luckily you know that the correct definition is "a rude old woman". do you write down the correct definiiton or make up up one of your own? why?

[KJL]

I never actually played the game, but it sounds like you need 3 of four people to guess at your made up definition, in order for making up a definition to be correct. nd this would have to occur 2/3 of the time to be +EV. If i understand the rules correctly.

[Amerzel]

It completly depends on who your playing with, what kind of fake definition you can come up with, how likly you think they are to choose your definition over the real definition, and how likly people are to follow your choice when choosing the correct definition. Its a great game, but the people I've always played with can't keep a straight face and sometimes read anwsers incorrectly. We have a lot of fun though. If I was in this situation, I'd choose to write down the correct definition and get the 4 points.

Assuming every answer has an equal chance to be picked except a player's own fake answer, that only three people (besides you) are guessing, and that if you write a fake answer you choose the real one anyway...

EV for writing the correct answer ~2.78
EV for writing a phony answer ~1.64

Note that EV is measured as the point gain over the average of what the other players gain.

Posting the math would be quite messy but basically I had nothing to do and this kind of intrigued me for some reason. I could be multiplying the spreadsheet out wrong, but either way its clear that you should take the four points.

[sully4321]

depends on how good you are at making up definitions