# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Anticounterrevolutionary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Anticounterrevolutionary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anticounterrevolutionary)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/81 "2011-04-27T05:07:51Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > Hmmm. 19 or 20 questions for Paul Atreides. It’s getting better, maybe. Before I read your post it guessed Paul Atreides in about 10. ---
**Author:** ![Anticounterrevolutionary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f04885/32.png) [@Anticounterrevolutionary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anticounterrevolutionary)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/82 "2011-04-27T05:27:26Z")
It’s just creepy. I’m thinking Mr. Bean and on question 9, “Is your character mostly silent?” Also guessed Clippy from MS Word really quickly and Case from Neuromancer on a second chance. ---
**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 27, 2011, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/83 "2011-04-27T07:34:34Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I stumped it with Cecil Adams!😃 It definitely improves/learns over time. It got Cecil Adams on a second guess this time (after about 27 questions) ---
**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 27, 2011, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/84 "2011-04-27T07:36:44Z")
It got both Frogger (video game character) and Q-Bert (another video game character) fairly quickly. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chockfullofheadygoodness/32/511_2.png) [@ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChockFullOfHeadyGoodness)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/85 "2011-04-27T07:37:46Z")
It took 40 questions and 3 tries to guess John Holmes. The first 2 guesses were Jeff Goldblum and Harvey Milk.:dubious: ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/86 "2011-04-27T07:55:42Z")
Hmmm…it didn’t get Peter Jackson, but then it gave me a list to pick from and he was in it, but there wasn’t any submit button, anyone else had that? ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/87 "2011-04-27T12:38:25Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > Hmmm…it didn’t get Peter Jackson, but then it gave me a list to pick from and he was in it, but there wasn’t any submit button, anyone else had that? I was confused too. You click the checkbox next to the name, and then click the name itself. A bit of crummy UI. ---
**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 27, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/88 "2011-04-27T13:10:56Z")
The game will make a guess after 20, 30, and 40 questions, even if it isn’t sure. If it makes a guess at some other interval, you can be sure it’s narrowed in pretty closely. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/89 "2011-04-27T13:13:11Z")
Sachin Tendulkar and Ravi Shankar both on the first guess. Couldn’t guess “the sceptical environmentalist” [Bjørn Lomborg](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bj%C3%B8rn_Lomborg) (though his name was on the list to click afterwards), and missed 8-time Le Mans winner [Tom Kristensen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Kristensen) as well. ---
**Author:** ![CapnPitt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/edb3f5/32.png) [@CapnPitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CapnPitt)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/90 "2011-04-27T13:50:23Z")
It didn’t get Rae Dawn Chong It got Peter North pretty darn quickly ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/91 "2011-04-27T14:52:45Z")
I got the Android app since it wouldn’t let me go to the website, but it’s still pretty awesome. It took 30 questions to get Abu from Aladdin. (It guessed Bambi’s dad and the Caterpillar in James and the Giant Peach.) Then it got Abu in 17 asking a few different questions. It got Caractacus Pott in 20, Chunk from Goonies in about 15, and Slimey the Worm (Sesame Street) in 18. Holy Cow! ---
**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 27, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/92 "2011-04-27T17:29:28Z")
I can’t believe it. It actually got the spinning dancer/ballerina from the ad that was beside it (in about 8 questions). ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/93 "2011-04-27T17:52:15Z")
Hah, stumped it with Akira Takasaki, the guitar player from Loudness. It kept asking “is your guitar player from Sweden?”…😃 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/94 "2011-04-27T17:58:35Z")
And stumped it again with Bob Castellini, owner of the Cincinnati Reds. ---
**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 27, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/95 "2011-04-27T18:18:25Z")
Couldn’y get Andrew Vachss or Burke, but did get Kinky Friedman in 17 guesses. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/96 "2011-04-27T18:50:46Z")
Quoth **spark240** : > [@](#): > > The system seems to start breaking when you get too deep in–when user-entered questions come into play, perhaps? I was asked, for example, if my character had children, several questions after I’d answered that yes, he did have grandchildren. > [@](#): > > And again, questions whose answers should have been understood to be contained within previous answers–“has he been dead more than 20 years” after an affirmative answer that he had participated in the American Civil War. Again, the only way it has of knowing the relationships between questions is by actually asking them. That’s not the system being broken; that’s the system working exactly as it’s designed to. Quoth **Tengu** : > [@](#): > > I got both ‘Does the character live in America?’ and ‘Is the character a citizen of the US?’ in one. The answers were, respectively, yes, and no. Because I was doing Raj Koothrepalli (lives in Sacramento, is still an Indian citizen). Not getting both of those points covered wouldn’t be insurmountable for guessing him, but it would sure make the confidence lower. Certainly, there will be cases where the answers to those questions will be different, but when you’ve already said “yes” to “does the character live in the US”, then the answer to “is the character an American citizen” will almost always also be “yes”, and so there will usually be better questions to choose from. Even if, say, it had narrowed it down to the cast of _The Big Bang Theory_ (where the citizenship question would tell you whether it was Raj), it could have gotten just as much mileage from asking something like “does your character have difficulties with speaking”, which could apply to a lot of other folks, or even just guessing “I am thinking of Raj Koothrapali”. And it could have gotten more information from “Are you the main character of your show”, which would have separated Leonard and Shelden from Raj and Howard. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/97 "2011-04-27T19:09:06Z")
I stumped it with Ugarte from _Casablanca_ (Peter Lorre’s character), but it got Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, despite not asking any questions that I thought narrowed down the choices much at all. ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/98 "2011-04-27T19:10:47Z")
Got Hodor on the 2nd guess. HODOR HODOR HODOR. ---
**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 27, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/99 "2011-04-27T19:11:49Z")
Fo those who haven’t noticed it the “Details” section after a right answer is very interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Roland\_Orzabal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c2a13f/32.png) [@Roland\_Orzabal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roland_Orzabal)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2011, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627/100 "2011-04-27T19:49:54Z")
I tossed obscure comic villains at it until I stumped it with Killer Frost (what, nobody reads Firestorm?), then stumped it twice in a row with Wavy the Crocodile and William Charles Macready. Interestingly, of the three, Wavy was the only one it had previously seen. I wouldn’t be surprised if it has quite a few different answer sets for him, given that you could answer based on his fictional life in the swamps of Louisiana, or his actual existence as a piece of cloth on Craig Ferguson’s hand. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-that-one-game-dopers-found-that-had-the-computer-guessing-who-they-were/579627.md?page=4) [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=6)