Urgent! Homework problem - need helps! Pleeeesszzz!
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It's not my homework and it's nothing to do with computers. I just need an idea and I need it in the next four hours! My eldest daughter is making a game for a school project. We've done most of it (actually I did the layout for her and she coloured it in). We've made lots of pretty counters and we know how the game will work. Even my three year old monster-angel (tm) understands. Now for the problem... We've been using dice, but (i) I'm not overly happy about it and (ii) I don't want her take the few dice we have to school and loose them. I thought I could find a few dice in one of the shops. Not on your Aunt Nelly's Life! So any ideas guys? Something a six year-old can make and use that will allow a bit of chance in travelling around what is basically a simple maze.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
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Cut a hexagon out of a cereal box, number each side and push a pencil through the centre. Spin it and it will land on a number from one to six. You need a Games Workshop for a die or two, although I'm sure Woolies are probably giving them away.
"If you reward everyone, there will not be enough to go around, so you offer a reward to one in order to encourage everyone." Mei Yaochen in the 'Doing Battle' section of Sun Tzu's: Art of War. .
[ftw]melvin wrote:
Games Workshop
Only boxes of 25 in a single colour. I actually need three different colours so that would require 75 dice, slightly OTT.
[ftw]melvin wrote:
I'm sure Woolies are probably giving them away
Woolies said:
*sniff* not really mate *sniff* ow bout a game wiv some dices init? *sniff*
Can't understand why they're going out of business myself.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
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How about a "spinner"? a hexagonal peice of card with something along the lines of a toothpick or small pencil through the middle (taking appropriate health and safety precautions!), each side represents a number 1-6, give it a spin and whichever side it comes to rest on dictates the next move. It will give her a bit more colouring in to do too!
;-]
Thanks, and the others, for the spinner sugestion. That was my plan B-II for v2.11.17 of the game. :-D
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
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Ah, another Donald Trump in the making :)
But fortunately we have the nanny-state politicians who can step in to protect us poor stupid consumers, most of whom would not know a JVM from a frozen chicken. Bruce Pierson
Because programming is an art, not a science. Marc Clifton
I gave up when I couldn't spell "egg". Justine Allen -
It's not my homework and it's nothing to do with computers. I just need an idea and I need it in the next four hours! My eldest daughter is making a game for a school project. We've done most of it (actually I did the layout for her and she coloured it in). We've made lots of pretty counters and we know how the game will work. Even my three year old monster-angel (tm) understands. Now for the problem... We've been using dice, but (i) I'm not overly happy about it and (ii) I don't want her take the few dice we have to school and loose them. I thought I could find a few dice in one of the shops. Not on your Aunt Nelly's Life! So any ideas guys? Something a six year-old can make and use that will allow a bit of chance in travelling around what is basically a simple maze.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
Use 6 pennies. Have the kids shake them in a cup, and pour them on a table. Count the number of heads.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
How about a "spinner"? a hexagonal peice of card with something along the lines of a toothpick or small pencil through the middle (taking appropriate health and safety precautions!), each side represents a number 1-6, give it a spin and whichever side it comes to rest on dictates the next move. It will give her a bit more colouring in to do too!
;-]
How did you come up with that idea I wonder?
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Use 6 pennies. Have the kids shake them in a cup, and pour them on a table. Count the number of heads.
Software Zen:
delete this;Now that I like!
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
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How did you come up with that idea I wonder?
Hah! Yes I see we suggested the same thing, I didn't refresh before I posted my reply. Great minds and all that! ;-]
;-]
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It's not my homework and it's nothing to do with computers. I just need an idea and I need it in the next four hours! My eldest daughter is making a game for a school project. We've done most of it (actually I did the layout for her and she coloured it in). We've made lots of pretty counters and we know how the game will work. Even my three year old monster-angel (tm) understands. Now for the problem... We've been using dice, but (i) I'm not overly happy about it and (ii) I don't want her take the few dice we have to school and loose them. I thought I could find a few dice in one of the shops. Not on your Aunt Nelly's Life! So any ideas guys? Something a six year-old can make and use that will allow a bit of chance in travelling around what is basically a simple maze.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
Here's a youtube vid on making them out of folded paper, but the pennies idea is good too. Hope there aren't any other greedy kids... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWAIFCraUvo I'm sure you could find other die types if your game required, say, a dodecahedron (12 sided die, but that's only used for rolling damage on a Greataxe). By the way, you don't have to make excuses for needing a D&D fix, and your wife threw out all your dice. I came "out of the dungeon" some years ago. It's liberating to say out loud "I'm a Dungeon Master and I'm fine with that!" or "I enjoy playing my level 16 half-elf ranger!" Wait... I think my wife is coming upstairs... gotta go. Hope that helps! Scott P
"Simplicity carried to the extreme becomes elegance."
-Jon Franklin -
Use 6 pennies. Have the kids shake them in a cup, and pour them on a table. Count the number of heads.
Software Zen:
delete this;It's been a while since I did any statistics, but does 6 pennies in a cup provide an even distribution? :^) I thought it would lean more heavily towards the middle numbers (3 and 4 or whatever). Of course, this is a kids' game, so it might not matter...
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It's been a while since I did any statistics, but does 6 pennies in a cup provide an even distribution? :^) I thought it would lean more heavily towards the middle numbers (3 and 4 or whatever). Of course, this is a kids' game, so it might not matter...
There are more solutions in the problem space that provide a central result (e.g. only one zero and one 6 - hhhhhh and tttttt) whereas you'll have around 1/3 of your distribution around '3' and about 1/4 for each of '2' and '4'.
It definitely isn't definatley
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It's been a while since I did any statistics, but does 6 pennies in a cup provide an even distribution? :^) I thought it would lean more heavily towards the middle numbers (3 and 4 or whatever). Of course, this is a kids' game, so it might not matter...
I believe 6 pennies matches the behavior of a single die, at least sufficiently for the purposes of a kid's game.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
It's not my homework and it's nothing to do with computers. I just need an idea and I need it in the next four hours! My eldest daughter is making a game for a school project. We've done most of it (actually I did the layout for her and she coloured it in). We've made lots of pretty counters and we know how the game will work. Even my three year old monster-angel (tm) understands. Now for the problem... We've been using dice, but (i) I'm not overly happy about it and (ii) I don't want her take the few dice we have to school and loose them. I thought I could find a few dice in one of the shops. Not on your Aunt Nelly's Life! So any ideas guys? Something a six year-old can make and use that will allow a bit of chance in travelling around what is basically a simple maze.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
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Use 6 pennies. Have the kids shake them in a cup, and pour them on a table. Count the number of heads.
Software Zen:
delete this;I understand the problem right, we need to find a substitute for throwing a dice. Probability of getting each one number on a dice is 1/6 ... one out of six ... something like 16.6% But when you throw six pennies, you have to use different formula for probability. That is: P(x) = (n above x) × p^x × (1-p)^(n-x), where n is number of pennies ... in our case 6, x is number of favorable events ... heads in our case, and p is probability of one favorable event ... in our case, heads or tails, 0.5 long story short :) Probability of getting 1 is 0,09375 Probability of getting 2 is 0,234375 Probability of getting 3 is 0,3125 Probability of getting 4 is 0,234375 Probability of getting 5 is 0,09375 Probability of getting 6 is 0,015625 Plus, there is probability of 0.015625 of getting 0
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I believe 6 pennies matches the behavior of a single die, at least sufficiently for the purposes of a kid's game.
Software Zen:
delete this;Not even close to a regular die.
Odds: 0 = 1/64 1 = 6/64 2 = 15/64 3 = 20/64 4 = 15/64 5 = 6/64 6 = 1/64 -
It's not my homework and it's nothing to do with computers. I just need an idea and I need it in the next four hours! My eldest daughter is making a game for a school project. We've done most of it (actually I did the layout for her and she coloured it in). We've made lots of pretty counters and we know how the game will work. Even my three year old monster-angel (tm) understands. Now for the problem... We've been using dice, but (i) I'm not overly happy about it and (ii) I don't want her take the few dice we have to school and loose them. I thought I could find a few dice in one of the shops. Not on your Aunt Nelly's Life! So any ideas guys? Something a six year-old can make and use that will allow a bit of chance in travelling around what is basically a simple maze.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
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Just use a pencil. I don't know about your area, but where I'm from, most of the pencils are hexagonal. So you just write numbers 1 - 6 on each side and throw the pencil.
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Not even close to a regular die.
Odds: 0 = 1/64 1 = 6/64 2 = 15/64 3 = 20/64 4 = 15/64 5 = 6/64 6 = 1/64You've got to consider the audience here. This is for a kid's game. That means you've got to be able to explain how it works and the rules to a kid. KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. I doubt it matters that the distribution is not the same as with a regular die. Come to think of it, it does not matter. As long as the probability of each player getting the value of a particular 'roll' is the same as every other player's probability of getting that same roll, then the gameplay is fair.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
You've got to consider the audience here. This is for a kid's game. That means you've got to be able to explain how it works and the rules to a kid. KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid. I doubt it matters that the distribution is not the same as with a regular die. Come to think of it, it does not matter. As long as the probability of each player getting the value of a particular 'roll' is the same as every other player's probability of getting that same roll, then the gameplay is fair.
Software Zen:
delete this;I did consider the audience. I didn't discount the fact that it was close enough for a kids game. I don't know any 6 year olds that read this forum. I discounted the fact that YOU mentioned that 6 coins in a cup closely modeled a standard die. ;P
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It's not my homework and it's nothing to do with computers. I just need an idea and I need it in the next four hours! My eldest daughter is making a game for a school project. We've done most of it (actually I did the layout for her and she coloured it in). We've made lots of pretty counters and we know how the game will work. Even my three year old monster-angel (tm) understands. Now for the problem... We've been using dice, but (i) I'm not overly happy about it and (ii) I don't want her take the few dice we have to school and loose them. I thought I could find a few dice in one of the shops. Not on your Aunt Nelly's Life! So any ideas guys? Something a six year-old can make and use that will allow a bit of chance in travelling around what is basically a simple maze.
Panic, Chaos, Destruction. My work here is done.
You're kidding, right? You can get a box of dice at your local discount store for almost nothing--certainly for less than the effort it would take to come up with some lame work around.
Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of what's good for people than people do is a swine. - P.J. O'Rourke