Hi Everyone,
Welcome to the Spectrumecons 7 Week Challenge. During the months of July and August, I will be running an economics challenge series. This series will consist of 7 challenges. Some of these challenges will be familiar to my followers, while others will be completely different to any previous challenges or contests I have run.
Each challenge will reward winners with as much as 60 Hive. The value of the prize will depend on the level of participation. For each new participant, the prize will increase by 5 Hive. This will continue until 60 Hive is reached (12 participants). The first 12 participants will also receive a 50% upvote from this account. In addition to the prize money, the top few participants will be given points. These points will be used to determine the overall challenge series winner. This winner may receive as much as 80 Hive. The value of the prize will equal the sum of the number of participants across all challenges. This will continue until 80 Hive is reached.
For more information on the challenge series and the upcoming challenges, read my post Spectrumecons Seven-Week Challenge (Coming Soon).
Other Challenges in the Series
- Challenge 1: Buying and Selling Game
- Challenge 2: Game Theory (Most or Least)
- Challenge 3: Cost Benefit Analysis
- Challenge 4: Make Me Happy
Welcome to Challenge 5: Auction
How to Play?
Auctions can be fun. They can be an opportunity to pick up a bargain or a unique item not available anywhere else. Auctions can be fun because of the element of competition and the feeling of outbidding other people. It is like winning a game. Auctions can have their downside for bidders, if the bidders end up paying more than what an item is worth to them. For the auction in this challenge, participants will be bidding on items that only have limited information available regarding their value. The participant who bids the highest wins the item (i.e. the value of the item). The challenge will reveal the range of values for each item. The actual values will be revealed in the results post.
All entries must be made in the comments section of this post.
Each account is only permitted one entry.
Objectives of the game
Participants should aim to win rounds in the auction while bidding below the value of the item. Therefore, making a profit on each item. The participant who makes the highest overall profit (sum of value of items won minus the value of winning bids) wins the challenge.
Game Assumptions
- The value of each item is the same for every participant. E.g., one participant will not value an item 1.5 times higher than another participant based on his or her own personal preferences. Imagine participants are acquiring these items for resale rather than personal use.
- Each participant has an unlimited amount of money.
- Each participant can only bid on a maximum of 6 items.
What information is provided?
- All items are provided but they are named as Items 1, 2, 3, etc.
- Exact values for each item are not provided. Instead, maximum and minimum values are provided. A model will be used to determine these values using a uniform distribution.
How are the results of the game determined?
A Microsoft Excel Model is used to determine the exact value of each item. The results post will contain a video of the generation of the values. The winner will be announced in both the video and written post.
Contest Prizes
The account with the winning entry may receive up to 60 Hive. The number of participants determines the value of the prize. For every entry, the prize is increased by 5 Hive until a value of 60 Hive is reached. The first 12 entries will be given upvotes. The winner of this challenge will be given 20 points, second place 10 points, and third place 5 points. These points will be tallied at the end of the challenge series to determine the overall winner.
Let the challenge begin
Participants can bid on up to 6 of the 12 items at the auction. These 12 items are as follows:
Auction Items
The exact values of these items are unknown to the bidders. Instead, the bidders have information regarding the minimum and maximum values for these items. Table 1 contains the minimum and maximum values for these items.
Table 1: Minimum and Maximum values of items
Entry format
For this challenge, I expect to see entries made in the following format:
Item:
Bid:
Item:
Bid:
Item:
Bid:
Item:
Bid:
Item:
Bid:
Item:
Bid:
Example of entry
Item: 1
Bid: 330
Item: 5
Bid: 240
Item: 6
Bid: 205
Item: 7
Bid: 250
Item: 9
Bid: 415
Item: 11
Bid: 160
The closing date and time for this challenge is 6PM coordinated universal time (UTC) 30/07/2021. Responses after this time will not be accepted. The winners will be announced in the results post along with the video containing the generation of values for each item.
I hope everyone has fun and enjoys this fifth challenge. I look forward to your participation in the sixth challenge.
More posts
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.
My CBA Udemy Course
The course contains over 10 hours of video, over 60 downloadable resources, over 40 multiple-choice questions, 2 sample case studies, 1 practice CBA, life time access and a certificate on completion. The course is priced at the Tier 1 price of £20. I believe it is frequently available at half-price.
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