Talk:Spoof (game)

The two-player game
Removed: Intriguingly, when n ≥ 2 the first player (guesser) has a unique mixed strategy, this being to always hold n coins in hand, and to then guess a number from n, n + 1, n + 2, ..., 2n uniformly at random. However, the second player has more than one possible mixed strategy that guarantees an expected payoff of at most zero to his opponent.

Were this the case, between two players playing optimally, the first player would win only 1/(n+1) times. The first player would win only when he guesses correctly, and lose in any other case (as the second player knows the first is holding n coins).

More likely the correct strategy for the first player is to hold a random number of coins (from 0 to n) in hand and always guess n. Unlike any other guess, a guess of n reveals no information about the number of coins held in hand.

67.161.75.199 (talk) 04:43, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

The Word "Spoof" (and a card game?)
I find it very interesting that the /word/ "Spoof" comes from this game, which was invented by "comedian Arthur Roberts (1852-1933). Earliest documented use: 1884." according to WordSmith, which is a word-of-the-day newsletter. Don't know how accurate this etymology is, because it seems to refer to a card game, not this coin game. Just contributing a bit of unverified information Mathmitch7 (talk) 13:15, 27 March 2014 (UTC)