Do you know any game (video or board game, singleplayer or multiplayer, for adults or kids, I’m interested in all) that makes good use of rationality skills, and train them ?
For example, we could imagine a “Trivial Pursuit” game in which you give your answer, and how confident you’re in it. If you’re confident in it, you earn more if you’re right, but you lose more if you’re wrong.
Role-playing games do teach quite some on probabilities, it helps “feel” what is a 1% chance, or what it means to have higher expectancy but higher deviation. Card games like poker probably do too, even if I never played much poker.
The board game “Wits and Wagers” might qualify for what you are looking for. Game play is roughly as follows: A trivia question is asked and the answer is always a number (e.g., “How many cups of coffee does the average American drink each year?”, “How wide, in feet, is an American football field?”). All the players write their estimate on a slip of paper and then then they are arranged in numerical order on the board. Everybody then places a bet on the estimate they like the best (it doesn’t have to be your own). The estimates near the middle have a low payback (1:1, 2:1) and the estimates near the outside have a larger payback (4:1). If your estimate is closest to the actual number or if you bet on that one, will get a payback on your bet.
Settlers of Catan isn’t a rationality game, but it’s great for teaching economics. I play Catan with my little brothers and it has helped them understand concepts like comparative advantage, supply and demand, cartels, opportunity cost, time value of money, and derivatives markets. Just make sure you play with everyone showing what resource cards they have, instead of keeping their resource cards hidden. More interesting trades that way.
Do you know any game (video or board game, singleplayer or multiplayer, for adults or kids, I’m interested in all) that makes good use of rationality skills, and train them ?
For example, we could imagine a “Trivial Pursuit” game in which you give your answer, and how confident you’re in it. If you’re confident in it, you earn more if you’re right, but you lose more if you’re wrong.
Role-playing games do teach quite some on probabilities, it helps “feel” what is a 1% chance, or what it means to have higher expectancy but higher deviation. Card games like poker probably do too, even if I never played much poker.
The board game “Wits and Wagers” might qualify for what you are looking for. Game play is roughly as follows: A trivia question is asked and the answer is always a number (e.g., “How many cups of coffee does the average American drink each year?”, “How wide, in feet, is an American football field?”). All the players write their estimate on a slip of paper and then then they are arranged in numerical order on the board. Everybody then places a bet on the estimate they like the best (it doesn’t have to be your own). The estimates near the middle have a low payback (1:1, 2:1) and the estimates near the outside have a larger payback (4:1). If your estimate is closest to the actual number or if you bet on that one, will get a payback on your bet.
I’ll second Wits and Wagers.Great for learning how to calibrate yourself.
Zendo, Nomic, Eleusis, Master Mind … and yeah, probably Poker for probability.
Petals around the rose: http://www.borrett.id.au/computing/petals-j.htm
I asked a similarish question here: http://stats.stackexchange.com/questions/28925/good-games-for-learning-statistical-thinking—for example, these games for simple stats.
Settlers of Catan isn’t a rationality game, but it’s great for teaching economics. I play Catan with my little brothers and it has helped them understand concepts like comparative advantage, supply and demand, cartels, opportunity cost, time value of money, and derivatives markets. Just make sure you play with everyone showing what resource cards they have, instead of keeping their resource cards hidden. More interesting trades that way.