Monday, August 16, 2010

Wiki-hunt


I was recently horsing around on Facebook and a friend of mine (let’s call him, Ivory) posted that he was able to connect “Mario Tennis” and “Chiropractor” in 9 steps in a “Wiki-hunt”. He went on to challenge the rest of his sphere of FB friends to take up that challenge and to try to beat his score. Hey, Wikipedia is my favorite second brain so I had to give this a try. I got it down to 5 linkable steps – so did my wife, Mother Hen. I tell you this, Gentle Reader, not to gloat or to say “HA!” in any way, shape or form but to let you know that I had a blast and a half doing this search!

“Really, Evil Chicken; Really?”

Yes really. …Don’t be snarky.

The Wiki-hunt is like a puzzle that unravels as you find the connections – sort of like “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” without having to go to the movies. Well Ivory’s Wiki-hunt is just such an animal to a Wiki-head. Here is the progression that I found… Mother Hen and then Ivory found it too...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Tennis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelot_Software_Planning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acupuncture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiropractic_treatment_techniques


Now there is the very real and present possibility that you could find a connection between “Mario Tennis” and “Chiropractor” in fewer steps than we did; if so please let us know – we would love to see the progression!

Now that you’ve seen how it’s done give it a try. Test your Mad Wiki Skillz, Gentle Reader but be warned… once you start connecting Point A to Point B with the fewest Wiki links you may find the puzzle can become quite the quest. That being said…

Paperclip / Cream Cheese

Mongoose / Jack Kerouac

Star Wars / Tesla

Happy hunting, Gentle Reader, and Good Luck!




Wikipedia, Wik-ihunt, Wikihunt, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, Facebook, Ebony and Ivory, Ivory,

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I am not quite certain the parameters of this hunt. Does the link have to be included on the preceding link? If so, here is mongoose to Kerouac.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongoose
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Road_%28Donovan_album%29
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Kerouac

Would it have been valid to go from Rikki Tikki Tavi to "book" and then to Kerouac since he was an author?

Evil Chicken said...

Awesome Connections, RD! You beat me with the Donovan! I had a total of 7.

As for the parameters, yes, you connect the dots with Wiki-links. Skipping stones in the world of fingertip information ~ Man, I dig this game.

Going from “Rikki Tikki Tavi” to “Book” and then “Kerouac” would be fine as long as all the links are verifiable.

Too cool! I’ve gotta tell Ivory!

mommanator said...

well I may have to try this but not whenI am this sleepy!