Wikipedia talk:Wiki-Link Game

Record Wiki-link walks
Below are some examples of the longest Wiki-Link games for any given value of N, recorded by various Wikipedians. In practice older games may not be directly reproducable &mdash; as Wikipedia develops and grows, links may be added, removed or altered, changing the direction of a particular Wiki-Link game. Also, given that the rules allow some lee-way in deciding which links count and which don't, it is difficult to assign any absolute record for the longest run. -- Solipsist 09:08, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

5 - Kremlin -> Moscow Kremlin -> Neglinnaya River -> Moscow River -> Voskresensk, short page ending, 5 steps.

7 - Technological singularity -> Jesus Christ -> Hebrew language -> Biblical Hebrew language -> Mishnaic Hebrew language -> Tiberian vocalization -> Niqqud -> Tiberian vocalization, infinite loop ending, 8 steps. Paranoid 23:06, 11 Nov 2004 (UTC)

5 - Bayesian -> Bayesian probability -> Frequency probability -> John Venn -> United Kingdom -> Scots language -> Republic of Ireland -> Northern Ireland -> Square kilometre -> Square (geometry) -> Quadrilateral -> Complex polygon -> Find or fix a stub -> Candidates for speedy deletion -> Votes for deletion -> Images and media for deletion -> Copyright problems -> Images and media for deletion, infinite loop ending, 18 steps. (Note: redlinks and external links were ignored, but Image: links were counted. (That explains the Complex polygon link.)) Beat that, if you can! JesseW 10:24, 3 Dec 2004 (UTC)

3 - Resolution (law) -> Deliberative body -> society -> network -> television network -> television programs = (redir, count as one.) Television program -> broadcast = broadcasting -> audio -> electronic -> electronic music -> amplifier -> gain -> ratio -> benzene -> phenyl -> aromatic -> electron -> proton -> subatomic particle -> electron infinite loop, 20 steps. I did!! (excluding red links and redir's) \Mikez 10:59, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

4 - Sanchuniathon - Philo of Byblos - Zoroaster - Avestas - Alexander the Great - 323 BC - 3rd century BC - 2nd millennium BC - Babylon - Iraq - Mesopotamia - Greek language - Modern Greek - Cyprus - Turkey - Europe - Eurasia - supercontinent - Eurasia infinite loop, only 19:) \M

4, blue links only: Mondeville - Essonne - Ile-de-France - Paris - Right Bank - Seine - 1_E5_m - Orders of magnitude (length) - Yoctometre - Metre - Length - Alpha Centauri - Centaurus - Celestial sphere - Rotation - Scissors - Cardboard - Packaging material (redirect to Packaging and labelling) - Material - Steel - Carbon - Nonmetal - Ionization (Ion (physics)) - Cathode - Electrolytic cell - Ion (Ion (physics)); loop, game over, 25 points Jonpin 17:56, Dec 8, 2004 (UTC)

4, Cat Priest -> Dave Lister -> Curry -> Tamil language -> Tamil alphabet -> Consonant -> Latin -> Language -> Reasoning -> Induction (disambiguation) (Link was Inductive) -> Mathematics -> Formalist -> Formal system -> Formal grammar -> Infinity -> Immanuel Kant -> 1804 -> France -> Europe -> Atlantic Ocean -> Sea -> Caspian Sea -> Dagestan -> Republics of Russia -> Kalmykia -> Russia -> Asia -> Africa-Eurasia -> Africa -> Asia; infinite loop 29 Steps :D ingore disambg, TOC, and Infoboxes Dhuss 20:12, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

6, Literature- Corporation- Oxford English Dictionary- British English- Received Pronunciation- 1965- State of the Union Address- Speech from the Throne- Commonwealth Realm- Governor-General- 1950- People's Republic of China- Country- Law- Relationships- Relation (mathematics)- N-tuple- Ordered pair- Binary relation- Subset- Rational number- zero- redirected to 0 (number)- void- redirected to Vacuum- Pascal- Blaise Pascal- Mathematician- Mental calculator- Mathematician infinite loop ,30 steps KRS 07:04, 8 Jan 2005 (UTC)

'8' Red links avoided. Portable Document Format -> Resolution ->Injective module -> Reinhold Baer -> Berlin -> 2005 -> Baghdad Governorate -> Baghdad -> Iraq -> Kuwait -> Arabian Peninsula -> Arabian Sea -> Persian Gulf -> River delta -> Sand -> Grain size -> Colloid -> Asphalt -> Fractional distillation -> Water -> Life-> Biosphere -> Hydrosphere -> Earth's atmosphere -> Night -> Horizon -> Horizontal -> Spirit level -> Christiaan Huygens -> Netherlands -> Europe -> Mediterranean Sea -> Mediterranean sea -> Oxygen -> Bacterium -> Water infinite loop 36 articles. MicroFeet 07:54, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

3, Toyota Prius - Japan - Empire of Japan - Meiji Constitution - 1889 - Herman Hollerith - November 17 - Greece - Balkans - 1 E11 m² - Square kilometre - Unit - fraction - Vulgar fraction - Division - Multiplication - Fortran - Programming language - Semantics - Syntax - Dionysius Thrax - Ancient Greece - Cyprus - Mediterranean Sea - Africa - Area - Object (philosophy) - Relation - Binary relation - Geometry - Theaetetus (Plato) - Irrational - Irrational exuberance - Stock market - Corporation - Legal entity - Duty - Customs - Tariff - Effective rate of protection - Import duty - effective rate of protection infinite loop ,42 steps. Pretty good ride, started from the Prius, went through Greece, then off to Programming Languages, then back to Ancient Greece, narrowly avoiding an infinite loop, and ended in the strange place of effective rate of protection :) --Mihai 02:16, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

10: Centauri (disambiguation) -> Centauri -> Race (fantasy) -> Role-playing game -> Novel -> Plot -> Graph of a function -> Real number -> Rational number -> Irrational number -> Transcendental number -> Normal number -> 1909 -> NAACP -> Georgia -> 1788 -> United States Constitution -> Articles of Confederation -> November 17 -> Elizabethan era -> Roman Catholic Church -> Bishop -> King James Version of the Bible -> English literature -> Caedmon -> Alliterative verse -> Heliand -> 840 -> Ethelred of Wessex -> April 23 -> 1014 -> Basil II -> Romanus II -> 961 -> Umayyad -> Syria -> Aram -> Tiberian Hebrew -> Middle Ages -> 15th century -> History of science and technology -> Soviet Union -> Communist state -> Democracy -> Hypothesis -> Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica -> Calculus -> Ancient Egypt -> List of Pharaohs -> Upper Egypt -> Ptah -> Chthonic -> Heracles -> Tinia -> Jupiter (god) -> Dyeus -> Dyaus Pita -> Greek mythology -> Apollo -> Selene -> Zeus -> Tyr -> Old High German -> back to Heliand. 63 unique pages. Because this wonderful run lasted so long, I'm not sure if I followed all the rules or not... --Idont Havaname 22:35, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

4: Unified Socialist Party (France) -> France -> Overseas departments and territories of France -> Parliament of France -> Government of France -> Laïcité -> Society -> Social solidarity -> Social sciences -> Human geography -> Human -> Binomial nomenclature -> Biologist -> Discover -> DisCover (album) -> Cover version -> Perjorative -> Contempt -> Resentment -> Robert C. Solomon -> 2007 -> 21st century -> Soviet Union -> Russian language -> First language -> Statistics Canada -> The Economist -> Paper -> Printing -> China -> Pinyin -> People's Republic of China -> Country -> Rural -> Suburb -> Commuting -> Industrial Revolution -> Kingdom of Great Britain -> Kingdom of England -> England and Wales -> Countries of the United Kingdom -> Wales -> United Kingdom -> Archipelago -> Italian language -> San Marino -> Enclave and exclave -> English language -> United States -> Federal district -> Washington, D.C. -> Potomac River -> River -> Lake -> Basin -> Endorheic basin -> Permeability (earth sciences) -> Petroleum -> Hydrocarbon -> Carbon -> Carbon group -> Silicon -> Atomic number -> Atomic nucleus -> Neutron -> Proton -> Atom -> Electric charge -> Electromagnetic force -> Proton (infinite loop), 69 different pages. No headers or captions used. Pronunciations were skipped, except for the language tags (as in the China -> Pinyin example). Palladmial (talk) 01:47, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

6 (only article namespace, to different articles, not skipping over red links, including small side boxes) - Franz Schubert -> Symphony No. 8 (Schubert) -> Rosamunde -> Soprano -> Choir -> Mass (music) -> Catholic Church -> Latin Church -> Eparchy -> Province -> Old French -> Old Gallo-Romance -> Vulgar Latin -> Colloquialism -> Wanna -> Relaxed pronunciation -> Loglan -> Lojban -> Mandarin Chinese -> Traditional Chinese -> Han Dynasty -> Qin Dynasty -> History of China -> Oracle bone -> Shang Dynasty -> China proper -> William Winterbotham -> Minories -> Poor Clares -> Fransiscan -> Ecumenism -> Interfaith dialog -> Hans Küng -> Towards a Global Ethic: An Initial Declaration (short page ending) This is a record due to its utter weirdness (what did Schubert ever have to do with China?). Lanthanum-138 (talk) 11:01, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

7 32 different pages is my highest for 7. Note: did not use side boxes. Vassilis Papazachos - Geophysics - Earth's magnetic field - Convection - Diffusion - Finance - Financial instrument - Forward contract - Security (finance) - Stock - Equity issuance - Secondary market offering - Public offering - Underwriting (specifically, Securities underwriting) - Investment banking - Issuer - Debenture - Financial statement - Income - Net income - Amortization (business) - Sinking fund - Robert Walpole - Walpole ministry - Secretary of State for the Southern Department - Ireland - Irish Sea - Cornish language - Cornish language revival - Celtic Revival - Great Britain - List of islands by population - Back to Great Britain. Just so everybody knows, Vassilis Papazachos is not from great britain... Ghinga7 (talk) 02:02, 19 February 2020 (UTC)

Best starting N
The Wiki-Link game currently recommends first time players start with N=5. However, it is a bit of a trade off, with small N's you are more likely to end up in an infinite loop, with large N's you are more likely to hit a short page ending. However, Wikipedia is growing &mdash; not just with over 500,000 (Now over 1,150,000 pages! JoshuaArgent 06:30, 2 June 2006 (UTC)) pages, but also many pages are getting longer and include more links. As such, it might now be time to recommend a slightly larger value of N for first-timers. -- Solipsist 09:15, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)
 * I've just increase the suggested starting N to 8 (somewhat arbitrarily). The average En wiki article seems to be much larger and more linked than in the past. -- Solipsist 14:37, 20 December 2005 (UTC)
 * Sorry if this is WP:FORUM, but I attempted to play, using the value 8, and ended up at Stolzembourg, on which the 8th link is the edit link in the stub notice. Would this count as a short page ending? NotAnonymous0 did I err?|Contribs 05:14, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

Wiki Game merge?
Looking at the page histories, Wiki-Link and Wiki Game were both created around the same time. The games are very similar, with only minor rule differences (like being able to use the Find/Search tool on one page). Why not join our two parties together? --J. J. 17:36, 15 May 2006 (UTC)
 * Whilst superficially the two might look similar, from a Game theory perspective they are actually rather different. The Wiki Game is played by groups of people who have to be in the same room or otherwise in contact with each other, the Wiki-Link Game is solitary. The Wiki Game is competitive, whilst the Wiki-Link Game is unwinable purely a diversion. -- Solipsist 08:01, 2 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Good call. Thanks! --J. J. 15:04, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

link
dominance

Section links
If you get a section link, do you then click the nth link from the top of the article, or just from the start of that section? I once ended up in Romansh_language and apparently the 4th link in the Romansh article is back to that section, but the 4th from the start of that section is to Romansh people (which itself loops back to Romansh). RedPanda25 19:37, 2 February 2021 (UTC)


 * I myself just came here to find or ask the same question. For now I am simply going to make a choice and stick to that choice, which is probably what the expectation would be. ShortTimeNoSee  —  Message  ⸻ 07:07, 19 June 2022 (UTC)

Personal Best
N=7 Alike (film), Goya Awards, Academy Awards, Art Deco, Paris, List of cities proper by population density, Urban area, City, Public utility, Petroleum industry, Downstream (petroleum industry), Petroleum, Sedimentary basin analysis, Petroleum geologist, Geologist, Physics, Force, Euclidean vector, Orientation (geometry), Rotation, Orientation (geometry) (END, infinite loop ending) - Dents (talk 🖂) 02:13, 29 December 2023 (UTC)