Sunday, June 12, 2011

Reform "Marco Polo"

Back when I was a lifegaurd, I spectated countless sessions of this game. And what a truly awful game it is. Nobody has fun, and the noise pollution is unabashed.

It's once again summer up here in the northern hemisphere, and as my base tan isn't going to improve itself, I have been putting in work by the pool. So this weekend I had to endure another few games of "Marco Polo."

Here's one easy improvement. Just add a finite limit to the number of times the person who is "it" can call "Marco." Say, 20. This will prevent him or her from spamming that ability and actually introduce some strategy.

More generally, the fact that people play so much Monopoly, Tic-Tac-Toe, and Marco Polo, despite their terribleness, is one of the strongest arguments I can think of against status quo bias.