Happy Trivia Tidbit Tuesday!
Oh, it’s Friday, you say? I knew that, I was just anticipating that you’d think that so I changed things up to catch you by surprise!
Haha! Surprise!
That’s in theme of this week’s topic of ‘yomi’ (which if you don’t know yet, you’ll learn in the next section). So get ready to learn you some good old fashioned game theory (boiled down to a manageable tidbit).
Yomi Layer: MAXIMUM
Like many things I like to write about on this blog, the word ‘yomi‘ is Japanese. It means ‘to read‘ (like a book), though the meaning we’re concerning ourselves with is in ‘reading’ an opponent in a game of some kind.
Let’s start simple: Rock, Paper, Scissors. If you don’t know it, google it. By virtue of ‘me’ being a digitally preserved version of Matt’s words I have no concept of having to wait for you.
Back from your hypothetical research already? That felt instantaneous.
You should now know that in RPS each of the three options beats one, loses to another, and ties to itself. It’s perfectly symmetrical. So why do people seem to prefer it over just flipping coins when deciding things? The answer is yomi.
When you play the game, you’re not playing against a random opponent¹, but an intelligent mind capable of strategy. If you can predict how that opponent is going to act, you can get a real advantage.
For instance, in RPS people will usually throw rock on their first move. So maybe you both follow this strategy and tie with rock-rock. But why wait? If you know Opponent is going to throw rock, you can open with paper and win on that first throw.
Welcome to yomi layer 1.
Yomi 0 was the naive strategy of just playing rock, the one that seems correct in a vacuum². Yomi 1 is making an overall ‘worse’ move to beat that layer-0 opponent. But wait, what if Opponent knows this isn’t your first rodeo? What if they’ve watched you play and notice you’ll often open with paper to beat rock? Opponent will jump to yomi-2 and throw out scissors!
This thought rattles around your head as you stare into Opponent’s beady eyes during the opening sequence of the game of RPS. The words “Rock… Paper… Scissors… shoot!” play out in slow motion as you pound one hand into the other and do the mental calculus. Is Opponent putting you on yomi-1? Are they going to throw scissors and yomi-2 your ass? Maybe you should jump to yomi-3 and play rock. But if you guess wrong, and they’re on simple yomi-1 you just next-leveled yourself. That’s because yomi-3 looks the same as yomi-0. Rock is rock is rock.
Do his abs seem transparent to you too because of that vague horizontal line across them right at the horizon?
Y-O-M-I, You Ain’t Got No Alibi
But this yomi cycling is a real part of not only RPS, but almost any good, competitive game. For a game to have real depth to it, real replay-ability, there can’t be an objectively ‘best’ move with no counter-move. Otherwise everyone just plays that move and there’s no decision-making and no challenge and that gets boring, fast.
Yomi levels add excitement to a game for every level of play. Let’s take that example of RPS from earlier. Time’s slowed down and you’re rounding the yomi clock, fearing this paper-slinging demon. Yomi-4, -5, -6, you go around in your head until you settle on yomi-8 (effectively yomi-2, scissors). Opponent throws rock and you lose! Opponent mutters something like “Huh, this Rock Paper Scissors game is pretty cool,” and it hits you:
Opponent is a total newbie.
You, the expert of RPS yomi, have been agonizing over strategy while Opponent was oblivious. But this newb play will only catch you off guard once and you quickly correct your mental model of Opponent and settle into yomi-1 to beat them.
That right there, what just happened, that was part of the phenomenon we call “beginner’s luck”. Sometimes experts can out-level themselves when they’re used to stronger opponents and will anticipate further around the yomi clock than they should, allowing beginners to edge in some victories.
Ultimately though, most good games will not only have depth of strategy but other aspects (like game knowledge, physical skill, mental fortitude, luck, teamwork, etc) that will keep the game fair (the better player will win more often) and fresh and entertaining for years to come.
Fresh and entertaining? Sounds like some kind of weekly trivia blog or something.
Until next week, be like a carpenter working on a staircase and always be thinking one step ahead.
¹ Unless your opponent is Katy, t3h P3NgU1n oF d00m.
² Though to be fair, the game is truly symmetrical, so rock is only ‘better’ insofar as the human psyche seems to consider it strong and stable.
Fun Fact Friday 