Wikipedia Game

Everyone has a computer and starts on the same wikipedia page, say, for example, "birthday" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday ).

Everyone then has to find their way as fast as possible to another specified page, say, for example, "giraffe" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe ) solely by clicking on links within wikipedia (no typing allowed, so you can't search for anything, and you can't "find" on the page by typing a word in). No opening other tabs or windows, and no clicking on "back" if you don't like where it took you. You can only keep clicking on links within wikipedia articles. It doesn't count if you find a picture of the thing you're looking for in another article - you need to end up on the page dedicated to the destination in question (e.g. it wasn't enough for us to find a photo of a giraffe on a page about Africa).

"Birthday to giraffe" was an actual round of the game as we played it tonight - our first time. Jason has played it at school with friends before, which is where we heard of it.

We also did "Carolus Linnaeus to Tropic of Cancer." And "credit card to spaghetti."

It seems impossible, but it actually only takes a few minutes. Especially if David is playing. Wow. I didn't win any rounds. But I found it very interesting. Everything is linked together somehow! 

And, of course, Wikipedia has an article all about this: The Wiki Game. Something I thought funny in the explanation of the rules: 

"DO NOT employ automated search tools to find a path for you.
DO NOT edit the start page to insert a link to the home page."

A very odd and intriguing note on a variation of the game mentioned in the wikipedia article:

"'5-Clicks-to-Jesus': A form of Wikiracing that mimics golf, the challenge in this version is to get from a Random Article to the Jesus entry in as few clicks as possible. Reaching the article in 5 clicks is considered 'par', with clicks over or under five being referred to as 'bogeys' and 'birdies' respectively."

Weird, eh? I do see the appeal in getting close to Jesus from wherever you are...and the fact that anyone can get to Him if they want to...

Posted via email from K's Café