An Ancient Unfair Game

Feinerman, Robert P.

doi:10.1080/00029890.1976.11994192

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2006

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“…Assuming that all game players have an equal number of chances to spin the dreidel, the bias of the dreidel should affect all players equally. However, were players to have an unequal number of spins [3,4], or if a player insisted on using their own dreidel, a bias in the dreidel could affect the fairness of the game. At minimum, an unfair spinner creates a false pretense to those believing that the spinner is fair.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dreidel Fairness Study

Nemiroff¹,

Nemiroff²

The Winnower

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Are dreidels fair? In other words, does the average dreidel have an equal chance of turning up any one of its four sides? To explore this hypothesis, three different dreidels were each spun hundreds of times with the number of occurrences of each side recorded. It was found that all three dreidels tested --a cheap plastic dreidel, an old wooden dreidel, and a dreidel that came embossed with a picture of Santa Claus --were not fair. Statistically, for each dreidel, some sides came up significantly more often than others. Although an unfair dreidel does not necessarily make the game itself unfair, it is conjectured that hundreds of pounds of chocolate have been distributed during Chanukah under false pretenses.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%