As reported from the Licensing Expo last week, Radica Games (a division of Mattel) is working on a Star Trek version of their popular hand-held “mind reading” game 20Q. But you don’t have to wait until the game is in stores. You can play a version of the game online at a new website launched today, and you will help make the programed AI for the hand held version even smarter.
A Different Kind of Star Trek Q…20Q
The object of the game is for the player to think of a sentient being, place, or thing from Star Trek. Then, 20Q starts asking questions to which the player responds with “Yes” “No” “Maybe” “Irrelevant” “Don’t Know” and other answers. 20Q wins if it guesses your selection at 20 questions or less. The player wins after 20 questions, although the game tries to keep guessing after that.
It is adapting Captain
To help design the game, and to teach the Artificial Intelligence engine that runs the device more about Star Trek, 20Q is inviting fans to visit and play the online version of the game at 20q.net/startrek By playing, you are helping teach the AI about Star Trek which will eventually make the hand held game better. The folks at Radica/Mattel tell TrekMovie that they want to get 1 million games played online before they feel the AI has learned enough to be ready for the hand held version. So, like the Borg, M-5 and V’Ger, it is evolving, adapting and getting smarter. The online AI is actually pretty smart already. When my family and I played, 20Q was able to guess our answer and win 80% of the games played. It is amazing how good the game is already at guessing even the most obscure references. However, it does have some learning to do and that is where you come in.
20Q takes 16 questions to get to Captain Kirk
and 19 questions to get to bio-neural gel packs (a pretty obscure item)
Trek joins the 20Q Phenomenon
Started as a website game in the early 2000 and then becoming a hand held device in 2004, 20Q is now a genuine phenomena, selling nearly 15 million hand held versions during 2004 and 2006, and nearly 64 million online games played. 20Q has won the 2006 Toy Industry Association Electronic Entertainment Toy of the Year and many other awards. The licensed 20Q games include The Simpsons, Harry Potter, Disney, and now Star Trek. They hand held versions retail for $14.99. 20Q games are available at nearly every large retailer in America and Canada, and their Star Trek game is another example of how the next year is going to be the year of Star Trek.
Harry Potter and Simpsons 20Q games
Play Star Trek 20Q NOW: at 20Q.net/Star Trek and try to stump the newest version of the all-powerful neural-net of 20Q™
SOUNDS LIKE FUN!
Thats cool, I don’t have one of these but have played around with them at work…will have to get this one! I played a couple of times just now and it did offer the answer I was looking for but not first, I guess I answered a few differently than others… I picked “Exocomps” and a “Horga’hn”. Will have to try some others later, still kinda cool!
In the online version I’ll have to be less obscure than Jouret IV I guess (though maybe not anymore as it let me submit it).
I beat it. It didn’t have an entry for the Denebian Slime Devil.
i beat it. The Guardian
It gave up on Roga Danar.
It won on Naomi Wilder, Miri and Lt Barclay and Planet Riza. It lost on Leeta the Dabo Girl from DS9. Fun little game.
Bartender on TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES beat it.
It’s broken. I thought a planet, and it asked me whether it is cunning and whether it does fit in a cargo bay… :-/
Otherwise a bit of fun, though. :-)
It failed to guess Comm Badges, the U.S.S. Reliant and Kirk’s command locker combination. Okay, I’m kidding about the last one–But if I had tried it I bet it wouldn’t get it.
I beat it twice, and I have to wonder about the others who played and the answers they gave. For example, for Rura Penthe, it said that others said “no” to knows many complex languages, and “no” to being one of a kind. Really? There’s more than one planet known as the Alien’s Graveyard throughout the quadrant? And with all of those aliens, wouldn’t there be many languages? And a lot of the answers given by others must be from fanon or their imaginations – it said the USS Potemkin contributed many great things to exploration, when all we really know about it is that it got killed by M-5 – how do we know it didn’t just get launched the week before?
Okay, I’m being a geek, but still, garbage in and garbage out, I guess…
It has no clue when it comes to the Mirror Universe – I gave up on the game before it gave up on me.
11. Well I guess it’s all subjective and open to semantic debate anyway. I tried with U.S.S. Grissom and it asked if it had been in a standoff. I decided no because it was really a lopsided battle that happened with no warning and no attempt on the part of Esteban at all to retaliate. I could see how most might interpret standoff to mean any battle, but I think a standoff would more accurately be described as the battle the Enterprise has with Kruge later in the film. There the two sides are waiting, watching each other for the next move each captain with their finger on the trigger. There’s tension and suspense felt by both crews. Grissom’s crew didn’t even know Kruge was there until it was too late.
I beat it with both Cheron and Bele…it didn’t even have Bele in its database yet. Sad.
Also, I did Christine Chapel, and for the question “Is it human?” apparently others thought that the answer was “Doubtful.” Hmmm…. do they know something I don’t? :)
I beat it thinking of a hyper spanner.
Still pretty cool though.
I stumped it with Capt. John Christopher (It didn’t have him listed) and with Lt. Leslie, though it tried to tell me I was the doofus who didn’t know much about Leslie, my favorite all-around utility player on the Enterprise!
The 20 Q handheld was all the rage in our household a couple of Christmases ago. It’s amazing how well it did with general questions.
I guess the Trek universe is just too deep and complex to be parsed in 20 questions! No wonder people get aggravated with “canon!” There’s too dang much of it! :-)
Scott B. out.
I beat it 3 times. One time with type 1 phaser. It had 2 and 3 but not 1. Also phasic cloak.
I beat it with the Calamarain!! Whoo hoo
:( The 20 questions page crashed my computer. This old comp just can’t handle anything anymore.
I tried the 20Q game, and it’s a lot of fun trying to stump the game, which I managed to do only once out of five games.
Be assimilated so someone else can get rich? Count me in.
seems to need a lot more training
I beat the sucker. I don’t think I lied to it, but you decide:
You are Ben Finney.
1. Does it have an interesting name? You said No, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is Probably.
2. Is it cooperative? You said No, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is Probably.
3. Is it always getting into trouble? You said Sometimes, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No
I wonder what it would do with Mr. Kyle versus (Shatner’s preferred) Kowl?
Damn. It got me on Trelane after 14 questions. Once more unto the breach……TALLY HO!
did not get the Columbia NX-02 , lol
Ha. Opened up a can o’ whoop-ass with ‘Joachim’ from ‘Space Seed’ and ST:II.
Stumped it with Tongo Radd.
Don’t try the Doomsday Machine. I got spanked. Don’t even go there. *SIGH*
It did not know of the trill homeworld. Captain Rachel Garrett, or The steamrunner class.
Weirdly, it guessed hard ones like Warp coils, Nacelles and Deflector.
Also stumped it with the “Mirror Universe”
Damn…..damn….damn! I had it by it’s nose all the way down the garden path, and it sussed out Hugh in the last three questions. LOL
It missed on Archer IV.
Was Archer IV in a war in either timeline? I don’t think so, but I could be wrong. Seems like it needs some ability to deal with idiots like me.
I played a few rounds and stumped it every time!
It couldn’t even get “Klingon Battlecruiser,” which I thought would be easy.
The questions aren’t very good, “Does it stand out in a crowd?” WTF is that going to tell you? And is the crowd Klingon or Vulcan?
And the last time I played 20 questions it was a Yes or No game.
#33: Archer IV was in a war in the Yesterday’s Enterprise universe–the Enterprise-D had just come from winning the Battle of Archer IV. Which is why the use of the planet in “Strange New World” was so bloody brilliant.
The database is still missing a -lot- of the lesser bits (IKS Amar, the Mirror Universe), but I found it fairly solid on the Sentient Beings category. The problem is that its success is only as perfect as the user’s knowledge of canon! :)
I loved the use of Starcraft sound effects, btw. :P
I stumped it with Ruk the android…when it started guessing the Horta I gave up, weeping with laughter.
I tried “Pavel Chekov” and it couldn’t do it, but I figured out why;
“4. Is it always getting into trouble? You said Yes, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.”
You people are teaching it wrong! Chekov was always getting his ass into trouble! He gets the shit kicked out of him in at least half the movies. He’s like the redshirt who won’t die.
I’ve done the online version of other 20 Questions games. It really DOES get better at figuring it out as more and more people play and input things. So if it’s not very good now, it’s probably just because it’s new.
Also tried The Guardian, which it didn’t guess.
Had no problem with Spock. Although the question ‘did it ever spend an evening with James T. Kirk?’ did seem a bit odd, I did have to say yes.
wow. they mustve JUST revamped the overall look of the game. I’ve been playing it since last week and even played it earlier today…it didnt look this cool until just now!
I’m glad someone put this into a story….i’d been trying to rally some troops around here to go play to help teach the A.I. a thing or two. i dont where in the world it was getting some of the bad answers it had.
This thing is definitely in the info gathering stage. It missed sehlat, and I know I answered it’s queries correctly.
It never heard of Shawn Jeffrey Christopher. So I submitted it, and it’s been “Thinking” now for several minutes.
And #16 (Scott), I did that before I read your comment. I guess if it doesn’t know dad…
it thinks that picard is NOT mechanically inclined…
It took almost 30 guess to get General Martok. It had problems with:
1. Is it always getting into trouble? You said No, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is Yes.
2. Does it have lightening-fast reflexes? You said No, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is Yes.
3. Is it known for its physical strength? You said No, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is Yes.
4. Would it feel out of place on Earth? You said No, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is Yes.
It didn’t give me a chance to disagree, but
1. Martok had some challenges, but I wouldn’t classify it as “always getting into trouble.” I’ll allow room for disagreement here.
2. “Lightning fast” makes me think of Data. Martok is getting up there in age.
3. A great warrior, but I would not consider him especially strong for a Klingon.
4. Just because he’s not from Earth doesn’t mean he’d feel out-of-place. I think he’d be amused (and slightly offended) at the suggestion.
We fans know too much. The AI should stick to questions with unambiguous answers.
You are Q.
1. Has it ever used the Holodeck? You said Yes, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.
While Q never started a holodeck program, he did participate in one on Voyager when he was pursuing Captain Janeway. The computers memory banks needs a look over I think :P
It got me, The Guardian of Forever.
It’s dumb as a Pakled — oops, sorry, didn’t mean to be racist here.
I beat it with Koloth, because appparently he’s not in it’s database. It needs a little work but it’s still pretty fun to play.
You are the U.S.S. Enterprise-D.
3. Did it ever compromise a crew’s safety? You said Yes, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.
4. Has it ever used the Holodeck? You said Yes, 20Q was taught by other players that the answer is No.
Wtf? Never heard of the episode “Emergence”, where the Enterprise computer tries to build a new lifeform, which could’ve potentially been dangerous to the crew.