Bitcoin Forum

So I came up with a game people can play with bitcoins, or any currency for that matter I call Musical Chairs.  This is how the game works:

The game works in rounds, a lot like musical chairs.  To start the game someone puts down an initial amount, like one bitcoin.  Everyone else who wants to get in has to put the exact same amount in.  Once the first round ends. One person is booted at random from the game.  The amount he put down stays in the pool.  So now the amount per person goes up.  This continues until there is only one person left, once that happens that person gets the pool.  To add a twist to the game people can jump into the game by putting bitcoins down no matter what round it is.  However the amount they put down has to be what ever the current bitcoins per person is in the game.  Even people who were previously booted from the game can buy back into the next round like this.

Let me give an example:

One person starts the game at one bitcoin.
Three other people join him in the first round, each has to put down one bitcoin.  The total number of bit coins in the pool is four and there are four people playing.
The next round one person get booted out at random.  So now there are only three people, but still four bit coins, so that's 1 and 1/3rd bit coins per person.
Some else decides to join/buy back into the game.  To do so he has to put in 1 and 1/3rd bitcoins.  So now there are four people again, but 5 and 1/3rd bit coins in the pool.
This cycle continues until the buy in amount gets too high and no one else wants to buy in anymore.  Then then one round at a time everyone except one is booted out till one person is left.
That person gets the pool.

To make the game more fun for more people the game can end in various ways besides elimination of all but one person.  Like limiting the game to a certain number of rounds.  Then the pool is split among the remaining people.  Also it could be limited to a certain value, like the game ends once the value gets to 10 bitcoins per person.  Another way it could end would be  the first round where no one buys in is automatically the last round.

If anyone is interested in this game let me know, and I'll moderate one.  If it becomes popular I can make a site where people can play it with bit coins.  Remember this is more of a strategy game than a gambling game since you can just keep buying back in.

the problem is it never becomes negative EV to buy back in. Essentially, after you are booted, it is always rational to buy back in. Which means that the two people with the deepest bankroll will always be doing an expensive coinflip at the end with everyone else just suckers on the way.

Could make it more interesting by adding some probability on each round that someone gets declared a winner with no further buy-ins possible. ie- an 80% chance someone will get eliminated and game will continue as usual, a 20% chance that someone in the game will scoop the pot. So if there are 4 people playing there is an 80% chance one will get eliminated and a 5% for each of them that they will be declared the outright winner that round.

I have thought of that.  That's why I came up with other ending scenarios like the game ending when the pool reaches a certain number of bitcoins per player, but your idea is pretty good.  Although it is possible that a guy who put in only one bit coin at the start could make it all the way to the end without getting booted once.  Another scenario that could be done is that there is a small chance every round that the game comes to and end and the pot is split up between the remaining players.

yes, or you could add something like "pay for decision making power"

before each round starts everyone can choose "end this round and distribute all money equally between players" or "end this round and choose one person to give all money to" or "game on" (or some similar combination of ending scenarios and attach money to that. If some decision has X% more money behind it than any other decision, that is what happens (with all the decision making money added to the pool). Could end up with some interesting power struggles between people that want to let it ride and people that are trying to get the game to end.

That's sounds too complicated.  Usually the more popular games aren't that complex.

eh, depends on whether you want a pure gambling game or whether you want to provide for the possibility of different strategies that have different expected values (and a level of metagaming - "she thinks I will do x so I will do y") etc

it's your game, run with it :)

Sounds interesting but the probability of winning it too low

Musical chairs.. Just the name turns me off