[s-d] Proto: Bit Flipper (game / contest)

[Jamie Dallaire <bad.leprechaun@xxxxxxxxx>]

I'll be away for a couple weeks so will not likely get to do anything at all
on B. Just wanted to get this idea out there before going though, as a
potential game or contest:

The game revolves around a single byte. The byte starts out randomized with
4 1s and 4 0s as its digits. The game ends when all bits in the byte have
the same value at the end of a day. Players may submit secret bids of
currency to the Contestmaster, specifying whether they think the game will
be resolved with all 1s or with all 0s forming the byte, and will reap some
proportional reward if they turn out to be right.

Once per day each Player can Flip any given bit (from 0 to 1 or vice versa)
by notifying the Contestmaster. Flips need not be performed in Public,
though it's entirely acceptable to cc another Player or the whole list in a
Flip message. The Contestmaster updates the byte by notifying everyone of
its current value at the end of each day.

Flipping cannot be conditional on anything, e.g. it's impossible to flip a
byte "only if its value is currently 1" or anything of the sort. Therefore
if 2 (or any even number of) Players Flip the same bit in a single day, its
value ends up unchanged at the next byte update.


The basic point of the game is that because bids and flips can be performed
secretly, success requires scheming with other players who may or may not
actually be on the same "team" as you are. Deceit should feature heavily in
the game as I envision it.


The game could optionally be played with varying levels of disclosure of a
day's events by the Contestmaster, e.g. as shown in escalating order below:
- Contestmaster only reveals the new value of the byte.
- Contestmaster reveals value of the byte and the total number of flips
performed.
- Contestmaster reveals value of the byte and the number of flips of each
individual bit performed.
- Contestmaster reveals value of the byte and which Player flipped which
bit.


Comments? Ideas? Oh, and it needs a better name too!

Billy Pilgrim
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