# What was that one game Dopers found that had the computer guessing who they were? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [April 25, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627 "2011-04-25T06:53:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/1 "2011-04-25T06:53:45Z")
I cannot, for the life of me, find the topic that dopers were playing in where there was this site that could guess who they were after a series of questions. I’m NOT thinking of the 20 Questions site. This was a different and seemingly much better one. Anyone remember what site it was? ---
**Author:** ![Aghris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecccb3/32.png) [@Aghris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aghris)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/2 "2011-04-25T10:10:00Z")
You mean [Akinator’s Genie](http://us.akinator.com)? ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/3 "2011-04-25T10:50:20Z")
> [@Aghris](#): > > You mean [Akinator’s Genie](http://us.akinator.com)? HOLY CRAP!! This is nuts! It didn’t guess Rerun Van Pelt, but it DID guess, Rocket J. Squirrel, Hannibal Lecter, Kyser Soze, and Jack McCoy!! WHAT THE EFFF?? Let’s see if it guesses Calvin next. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/4 "2011-04-25T10:51:50Z")
HOLY SHIT! It guessed Calvin from Clavin and Hobbes too! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/5 "2011-04-25T11:21:01Z")
Be careful if you have ads on: There are two ads that have play buttons. He wants you to click the actual word play in his thought bubble. Don’t ask me why adblock was disabled: I have no idea. BTW, it knows Grumpy Bear, even though I wasn’t sure if he fought or not. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/6 "2011-04-25T12:09:16Z")
It missed Carl Showalter (Steve Buscemi’s character in Fargo) on the first try, but I gave it nine more questions and he got it. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/7 "2011-04-25T13:02:47Z")
20 guesses for John Sheridan (Babylon 5) and he got it wrong (came up with some dude from the Stargate tv show); 6 more guesses and he got it right. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/8 "2011-04-25T13:28:10Z")
There’s the dictator or sitcom star site… [http://www.smalltime.com/Dictator](http://www.smalltime.com/Dictator) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/9 "2011-04-25T13:45:53Z")
It just guessed Kelsier from Mistborn. Not the most famous character by a long shot. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/10 "2011-04-25T13:48:04Z")
14 questions for John Paul II, 20 questions for Michael Garibaldi (Babylon 5), 20 questions for Archbishop Rowan Williams. I thought I had him on the last one since the questions seemed to be leading nowhere, but he still got it. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/11 "2011-04-25T13:52:56Z")
It could not guess Smerdyakov from Brothers Karamazov, though. Odd. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/12 "2011-04-25T13:57:47Z")
12 guesses for Del Griffith from _Planes, Trains, and Automobiles_. Pretty impressive. ---
**Author:** ![fluiddruid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c2a13f/32.png) [@fluiddruid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fluiddruid)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/13 "2011-04-25T14:47:15Z")
It’s a fun site. Got Gene Parmesan just barely (after asking me a lot of questions about hair, for some reason). It’s annoying though that they redirect iPad browser inquiries to the iTunes store to buy their app. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/14 "2011-04-25T14:54:00Z")
Couldn’t come up with Julian Lloyd Wevver ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/15 "2011-04-25T14:57:17Z")
Hmmm. 19 or 20 questions for Paul Atreides. 22 questions and one wrong assumption for Michaelle Jean. Still not too bad. ETA, 30 questions and one wrong guess for Duncan Idaho. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/16 "2011-04-25T14:58:20Z")
Wow, since I last played it a few years ago, its database has been polluted by myriad minor characters from hundreds of fantasy series. Bloody geeks. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/17 "2011-04-25T14:59:44Z")
To be honest it’s not that impressive to me. It’s just a fancy face on a database that narrows it down. Most people will immediately go to popular shows and movies, making it all the likelier the game will narrow it down quickly. I’m shocked as hell it took 29 questions to get Carl Showalter but I tried it a few more times. First I tried a character with unusual characteristics from a very popular show; Sheldon Plankton from “Spongebob.” I figured this would take less than 20 questions. How many TV characters live in the ocean? Nailed it in 11 questions, and obviously knew the show in 7. If you think about it, given a lot of yes/no questions you can narrow this sort of thing down really fast. The remarkable thing is the size of the database, not the logic behind the questions. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/18 "2011-04-25T15:00:36Z")
It got Major Major Major Major after 30 questions. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/19 "2011-04-25T15:11:04Z")
Hah. Stumped him with [Randolph Henry Ash](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Possession_%28novel%29). ---
**Author:** ![Beniamino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@Beniamino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beniamino)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/20 "2011-04-25T15:42:51Z")
After 4 questions, the fifth question was: “Does your character have small breasts?” After a “no” response, it correctly guessed “Scarlett Johanssen”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627.md?page=2)