6 Degrees of Michael Jordan on Wiki

A colleague of mine pointed out that you can get to Michael Jordan from any page on Wikipedia in 6 clicks, assuming that page has links. The 6 clicks do not count “internal” page clicks in Wiki that take you from the table of contents down.

One must find their own way. I tried “Kama sutra”:

  1. University of Chicago
  2. NCAA
  3. NBA
  4. Michael Jordan

Then I tried “Frank Sinatra”:

  1. Los Angeles
  2. NBA
  3. Michael Jordan

This may be a repetition of the “6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game in which nearly everything routes through either “A Few Good Men” and “JFK” (e.g., a city that has a basketball team or a University), but I got a kick out of it.

So, post your challenges…

I got close, but couldn’t do it.

  1. Accretion disc
  2. Nikolai Shakura
  3. Lomonosov Moscow State University
  4. University
  5. List of universities and colleges by country
  6. List of colleges and universities in North Carolina
  7. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  8. Michael Jordan

I searched for “NBA” on the NCAA page and it didn’t come up. It must’ve been edited since you did yours.

I think I got it in six clicks:

  1. Accretion disk
    CLICK 1
  2. black holes
    CLICK 2
  3. Stephen Hawking
    CLICK 3
  4. The Simpsons
    CLICK 4
  5. List of Guest Stars on The Simpsons
    CLICK 5
  6. Magic Johnson
    CLICK 6
  7. Michael Jordan

Ok, I misunderstood where the first click is counted.

Mantis Shimp

  1. United States
  2. Basketball
  3. Michael Jordan

This is almost too easy. Wikipedia hyperlinks too many terms for this game.

(Can’t do links from work):

Arminianism
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Barton College
North Carolina
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Michael Jordan

ETA: the United States -> Basketball -> Michael Jordan linkage is going to make it hard to get a good long chain going.

Octave Chanute
Wright Brothers
Kitty Hawk
North Carolina
UNC Chapel Hill
Michael Jordan!

Kevin Bacon
L.A.
National Basketball Association
Michael Jordan

This is almost too easy.

Adolf Hitler
United States
Basketball
Michael Jordan

We need something a bit more obscure. Anyone for Six Wiki Degrees of Simeon Stylites?

Seasick Steve

  1. Music Genre
  2. Gospel
  3. Christianity
  4. Saint
  5. List of Saints
  6. Simeon Stylites

MAD Magazine was really ahead of their time with their “6 Degrees of Separation between Anyone and Anything” article when I was a kid.

Lepton
Standard Model
Science
Poetry
Lyrics
Record Label
List of Record Labels
List of Record Labels (A-H)
Epic Records
Modest Mouse
Seasick Steve.

10 degrees. Anyone want to try and improve on that?

Not sure if you’re playing the same game the OP is suggesting but…

Lepton
Carl D. Anderson
New York
NBA
Michael Jordon

4 clicks

MUSCOIDEA
Superfamily_(biology)
Human
Sport [[an amazingly short article]]
Regulation_of_Sport
Broadcasting_of_sports_events
Madison_Square_Garden
Michael Jordon

7 clicks, although the end game there could probably be cleaned up

Sexually transmitted disease
Public health
Sara Josephine Baker
U.S.
Washington, D.C.
Washington Wizards
Michael Jordan!

I always played this with two random non-stub, non-disambiguation articles, which is significantly harder.

I’ve seen this game with Hitler. You can get to anyone famous from any page in six clicks. It doesn’t have to be MJ. It can be anyone.

BTW, the best way to play is to use the Wiki random page function and go from that page to your target.

Barney and Friends

  1. Texas
  2. Southwestern United States
  3. Arizona
  4. Bill Hicks
  5. Preacher
  6. Garth Ennis

Barney to Garth Ennis in 6 clicks: proof that this game is way too easy.

perhaps this is too easy…

I tried clicking random link and got this:

then clicked random link again, and got this:

so, the goal is Malibeyli to Sellafield:

  1. Azerbaijan - Wikipedia
  2. United Nations - Wikipedia
  3. United Kingdom - Wikipedia
  4. England - Wikipedia
  5. Irish Sea - Wikipedia
  6. Sellafield - Wikipedia

6 degrees…

I’m trying to figure out which links you guys are clicking on. Are they the random reference links scattered throughout the main information page, or are they the links at the bottom of the wiki page?

I tried “Tibet” and got nowhere.

Tibet

  1. Asia
  2. Europe
  3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
  4. New York
  5. Basketball
  6. Michael Jordon

I was using the reference links scattered throughout the article. That should keep it within Wiki.

Gisela (singer)
Autonomous University of Barcelona
Public university
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Michael Jordan

I clicked on the Random Article line in the upper left box of the Wiki homepage. It gave me Stanislawa Zawadzha (1890-1988), a noted Polish soprano who I’d never heard of before. From there:

Poland
Polonia
United States
Basketball
Michael Jordan

Pretty easy once you’ve got a country’s name, which will appear in most articles.