I have a jealously guarded secret. Well, me and a coupla thousand other people…
I have been visiting this site for something like 4 years or more, and up until now, I have only shared this link with about 5 people since, mad as it sounds, I feel reallyprotective of the site. There are people who would screw with it just because they can.
Everyone here seems pretty cool tho, so I think the time has come for me to lighten up The link is http://www.20q.net and is twenty questions played against an AI-database. Do not confuse this with the various dopey IM-Buddys doing the rounds at the moment (the cheap knock-offs of Eliza). This is a game that learns from your imput into it. The game went through a difficult patch a few years ago when some fools went in and deliberatly confused the poor AI, they told it that “Yes, and elefant is somthing you would use to carry clothes in” etc. Please play as anonymous for a few rounds until you get the hang of it, once you are a memeber you start impacting the knowledgebase
It didn’t get a city at all, in about 30 questions, but it was on the list of candidates when I was done.
However, based on that list of contradictions, some people have strange ideas about cities. Cities are NOT used for transportation, and cities ARE shiny?
It uses the out-of-left-field questions to check its own guesses as far as I have understood. Many of the questions arise from when, at the end of the game you got the chance to add a new object and give a question for it. One usually tried to give a question that would seriously narrow the field, prime example being “Would a cowboy use it?”.
Occams Razor was a good one! Kinda cruel though all the same Obviously 20q has a much easier time guessing non-abstract items, but the more an object has been played the quicker it can guess it. It will guess “desk items” in a heartbeat, computer stuff, office supplys etc since many people play something they can see the first time they play.
I would love if a moderator wanted to fix the last link in my OP and make it www.20q.net , I had a brainfart at the time, sorry!
Apparently a hobbit can swim but it cannot float. Sad news for Samwise.
Alas, hobbits cannot be elected to public office. I’ll have to remember that one come Tuesday.
The game is fun but I really don’t like a lot of the questions.
Can you bring it along? Bring it along where?
Can you paint it? Well…yes. You can paint damn near anything. Is the question you’re looking for: is it normally painted?
Can you stand/sit on it? Same thing. Yes, it is possible to do so. What are you asking me here?
Also, when I’m thinking of a specific type of person it never asks me if it is a person. I mean, half the time Pope and grizzly bear are right up at the top. I know they’re difficult to differentiate but still…
I don’t like the question “is there a song about it?”
This is, IMO, just a complete waste of a question. First, there’s a song about everything. Second, who is the computer to tell me I’m wrong about there being a song about something. Third, what does it narrow down?
It’s like asking “is this a concept or an object in the universe.” Um…probably?
It seems to be pretty good at common objects and broad categories, weaker on more specific or unusual objects, and much worse on abstract ideas. (I tried to do “Thursday”, but so few of the questions-and-answers made any sense that I didn’t do an update.)
I have no idea what to do with, for example, the cowboy question. Does a cowboy “use” pie?
Using the maybe, sometimes, probably and irrelevant buttons can help you out of the weird questions. A cowboy might eat pie, so maybe would be a good choice. However, with the common understanding of what a cowboy is, you could safely say a cowboy uses a horse, or a hat, or a gun. If you don’t know, click don’t know If you are lucky you will get some spontaneous knowledge that will tell you what 20q believes (as to whether or not a watermelon floats).
The link is http://www.20q.net and is twenty questions played against an AI-database. Do not confuse this with the various dopey IM-Buddys doing the rounds at the moment (the cheap knock-offs of Eliza). This is a game that learns from your imput into it. The game went through a difficult patch a few years ago when some fools went in and deliberatly confused the poor AI, they told it that “Yes, and elefant is somthing you would use to carry clothes in” etc. Please play as anonymous for a few rounds until you get the hang of it, once you are a memeber you start impacting the knowledgebase 
Obviously 20q has a much easier time guessing non-abstract items, but the more an object has been played the quicker it can guess it. It will guess “desk items” in a heartbeat, computer stuff, office supplys etc since many people play something they can see the first time they play.