Even to Win Contest Results

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the first economics contest results post for 2023. We kicked off the year with the first ever first ‘Even-to-Win’ game. Every month there will be a new type of contest. The ‘Even-to-Win’ Game will return later this year as part of the Economics Challenge Series.

What is the Even-to-Win Game?

The ‘Even to Win’ Game requires participants to select a certain number of boxes (e.g. 6 out of 11 boxes). Each box has been assigned a value. The participant obtains that value if an even number of participants have selected that box. If only one participant selects the box, it does not award that value. If two participants select it, it offers the value stated in the question. If three participants select the box, it does not award that value. Some boxes have limits to the number of participants that can select them. For example, a box might have a limit of three participants. Once the third participant has selected the box, new participants can no longer select that box. Any new selections of the boxes once they have reached their limit will not be considered in determining the participant’s total value. However, their remaining selections will still be considered.

The objective of the game is to obtain the highest combined value from the boxes selected. If two participants obtain the same value, the participant who entered first wins. If nobody obtains a positive value (e.g. all boxes are selected by an odd number of participants), the prize will be rolled over to the next contest.

Responses to the contest are made in the comments section of the post. The account with the winning entry will receive 30 Hive Power and the first 12 entries will be given upvotes.

The format of the required entry is explained in detail in the contest itself. For a more detailed explanation, you should read the contest post or watch the contest series introduction video, which also explains the other upcoming contests for this series.

Results of the ‘Even-to-Win’ Contest

Table 1 contains the boxes selected by each participant. The black boxes represent the selected boxes, red boxes have been selected after the limit, and white boxes were not selected.

Table 1: Boxes selected by participants

Table 2 contains the value of each box based on the number of selections made by participants (value stated if even and zero if odd). Table 2 also contains the total number of selections for each box. Boxes are coloured green for an even number of selections, white for an odd number of selections, and red for the reached limit with an odd number of selections.

Table 2: Value of Boxes

Table 3 contains the value each participant obtained from each box as well as the combined value of the boxes they selected.

Table 3: Combined value of boxes selected by each participant

Congratulations to @seki1 for winning the ‘Even-to-Win’ Game and a prize of 30 Hive Power.

@seki1 selected boxes 1, 2, 3, 6, 9, and 10. All of these boxes were selected by an even number of participants. The value of these boxes was 111. There were no other boxes with positive values.

Tips for future ‘Even-to-Win’ games

Winning this contest largely relies on luck but participants can do a number of things to improve their chances of winning. Box selection and timing of entry can play an important role in increasing these chances. Selecting earlier offers an advantage to players as they can win tie-breakers and have a wider choice of boxes; the boxes with a limit on the number of selections are available. Entering later enables participants to analyse earlier participant’s selections. However, the entrance of another participant could completely change the game as boxes switch between even and odd number of selections; thus, any previous analysis is no longer relevant. The last participant to enter (not known until the game has closed) has an advantage if few participants have entered before him or her but has a disadvantage if many have entered before him or her as there may not be any possible path to victory (i.e. lost before even entering).

Selecting a box with a limit on the number of participants may or may not be a good decision. For this game, the limits for all boxes were set as odd numbers. Once the limit has been reached, the box will permanently have a zero value. Therefore, boxes with odd participation limits should be avoided under most circumstances. If the limit is very high and the value of the box is very high, a box with an odd limit could still be a good selection as the limit might not be reached. Boxes with an even limit are normally a good selection. Once the limit has been reached, the box will permanently retain its value. The only risk is that it might not reach its limit if the limit is set high and the number of participants are low. There are no certainties in this game.

If you want to read any of my other posts, you can click on the links below. These links will lead you to posts containing my collection of works. These 'Collection of Works' posts have been updated to contain links to the Hive versions of my posts.