Welcome back to Game On.
Today it is magician versus game designer, or more accurately,
magician versus person who doesn't really like magic.
I'm Tom Scott.
I'm David Bodycombe.
It is Steven Bridges vs Hannah Nicklin,
and they are playing Weighted War.
They've got cards from 1 to 11 in their hands
and there are cards from 1 to 11 on the table.
The table cards are going to get turned up one at a time,
they're going to have a number of points on them,
and they bid by playing a card from their hand.
Whoever has the highest bid gets those points
and those cards go away.
So it's reading your opponent, it's hand management.
Yep, and you can't think too far ahead
because we've actually taken away one of those yellow cards.
So it doesn't even help if you can memorise everything down there.
You're not going to have perfect knowledge.
Not quite.
All right, let's see how they do!
All right. Cool.
Okay. So this is a number 9. Cheeky number 9.
It's a high card to start off the game.
Early psyching out!
It's what he does. He's a magician and mentalist.
I'm good. I picked a really high number.
'Cos it's a 9.
You're really... I mean...
So if I were you I'd either waste this on a two...
If you think I'm going to believe a single thing that you tell me!
Okay. It's a really low number(!)
They've done mathematical analysis on this
and they've found that the correct card to play at any point
was the same as the number that you're bidding for.
But once you've done that a couple of times
your opponent's going to notice
and they're going to bid one higher.
Obviously there is a counter-strategy to that,
but that's what they say.
-- Happy? -- Yeah.
3, 2, 1...
Wow.
-- He was telling the truth! -- Yeah.
Number 3. Serious business.
What you want to do here is lose by as much as possible
when you give away a card. -- That's it.
Okay, I think I'm just going to go with this.
'Cos if you spend all those points then don't get it,
you're in a much worse position.
Yeah. I mean, some people prefer to play their low cards at the start of the game
so they know how much work they've got to do.
-- Right, so that's a perfect play by Hannah there. -- Yep.
A 5! Cheeky number, that.
That's the second number he's called cheeky.
-- Hmm. For a 5. -- I'm struggling.
-- I think I've got it. -- Okay.
Here we go.
Six.
He keeps going for one above, which is great,
but he's going to run out of higher numbers later.
So twice you've played one higher than the value of the card.
Yep. That's a pattern!
And she's spotted it.
So is he going to do 7 this time?
3, 2, 1!
-- No. -- Interesting!
No he's not. She went with 8.
She thought he was going to do 7.
That was a solid win.
Despite the fact he'd just pointed that out as a strategy!
He's good at psychology.
Keep it nice and low, yeah?
Don't want to waste a high number on a 2.
I mean, he's right...
I do actually want to swear at you right now!
Happy days. Enjoy.
Oh! Gave it to me.
Notice that we've given the contestants 11 cards
but because there's only 10 yellow cards
one of them is never going to get used.
So there's no point in playing the 1.
There's no point using the 1.
And now the 11!
Oh! Oh, she's playing for the 11.
Oh, this is what she's going for.
So do you bid as high as possible on this?
I think if you've already played some of your high cards
then you haven't got the firepower to keep going,
so maybe bid low.
If we both, say, put down an 11,
would that just be like, oh, no-one wins it?
Yep. And then we roll it over.
But you've played your 10, and I haven't,
so I would definitely win.
Oh, so then we go again for the 11--
Don't give away your strategy!
--so at this point I've definitely won both cards.
Don't say that!
Oh, okay. Really?
Emma's exactly right. She should not have said that!
Hannah's right, she's definitely won it
but she's now said that out loud, so...
Yep, we're good.
Okay. That was the best play you could do
and I probably shouldn't have told you.
I was aware!
He wasn't aware, there's no way he was aware of that.
-- You're winning now! -- Yeah, I know.
I think a little trick was missed there.
I think Hannah could have got away with a lower number.
It's even, isn't it?
So we've got 20 plays 20 at the minute.
It's very close.
I mean, this could theoretically go to a tie,
depending on what number's removed.
Did he just magician her a bit?
He didn't need to do that!
He knew exactly what he was doing.
I'm actually, genuinely immune to magic(!)
Darn, my wizard spells aren't working!
All right.
Congrats.
That's a perfect play. That's exactly right.
He's wasted all those points, and got nothing for them.
But they've both used their 1, so...
...and he's wasted points again!
-- Is this the last one? -- Mm-hm.
Oh, 'cos we've got... ah.
Damn it. Didn't think this through at all. Excuse me?
This has gone to a tie!
Yes, that's 28 each!
They drew!
That was fun! What was your last card?
-- Er, 6. -- I had a 9.
So I just played that wrong there,
because I forgot there was one less.
I was like, oh, save that.
We go to a shootout, basically!
We go to a five-card version of this
with five random numbers between 1 and 7
and we see who takes this.
-- Okay, well... -- It's good.
He's thrown away the card but he's not spent much on it.
No.
There's a way that this could play which is amusing.
I'm not going to tell you how it could play, because...
Just in case you educate me. Yeah. Figured that would happen.
There we go, she's learned!
Oh! Okay. That's a tie. So that means we're going to roll over than 5
into the next round, so we're now playing for 5 and a 2.
This could go interesting.
I've got the edge here.
And they've both just used their 5.
They've only got 1 through 5 here in their hands.
Ooh, a 1.
Has he got the edge? I'm not sure he has.
He's spent a 5 and a 4 to win 7 points.
I mean, there might be a 7 in the deck later on, so...
That's true, he's got rid of both of his high cards, hasn't he?
Yeah, I don't think that was wise.
If the 7 isn't in the deck, that's great,
but that's a risky strategy.
Awww, a cheeky 2.
There it is!
Do you have above a 3?
Yep, she's got it!
She only needed 2 cards, because the 7's in there!
-- Oh, no! -- Yep, 11 vs 10, so she's won it!
One point ahead, well done! Defeated. Absolutely defeated.
I didn't see that coming.
So that's it, Hannah is through to the final,
but this wasn't an elimination match.
Steven is going to be playing Emma in the playoff
to see who's going through to the final. What's the game?
It's a game I've invented called Quiz Buzz.
So this is general knowledge and...
Mental dexterity.
I bet Katie's going to be annoyed she's not in this one.
We'll see you next time.
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