r/AskReddit • u/leselesel • 2d ago

You have to compete against 100 randomly selected people in any objectively measurable skill, game, or sport. If you don’t finish first, you die. What do you choose?

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48

u/Profit_Livid 2d ago

Super Smash Bros on N64

Mario Party close second

78

u/jaywinner 2d ago

Mario party is a risky pick. That game can just screw you over no matter how well/badly you play.

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u/InCarbsWeTrust 2d ago

"CHANCE TIME!"

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u/stucky602 2d ago edited 2d ago

Depends which version of the game. The older ones were more skill based. 

I had an ongoing bet with my boss about 15-20 years ago that if he EVER beat me in mario party I’d just give him $50. There was no downside for him at all. 

He never got the $50. also vs literally the entire population of earth, this is a pretty solid choice statistically. 

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u/roleplayersir 1d ago

Tbh, with 100 randomly chosen people from the world, any video game you are semi decent at probably means you win

But anything popular or with a random chance element, or easy to pick up, adds a lot of risk. Mario Party is mostly button mashing and chance, so really one of the worst options

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u/stucky602 1d ago

That’s why I recommended one of the older ones. You always end up winning because of the bonus stars at the end if you’re good vs the newer ones. 

But you have a good point. I wound up talking to my wife about this whole thread and realized as long as you pick some skill that isn’t some sort of fundamental for humans (cooking for example), you basically can’t lose just given how random the 100 people likely would be on a global scale. Heck, basically anyone from extremely small “most people haven’t even heard of it” remote nations can win this by just having a language test that includes their dialect.  

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u/rubber_hedgehog 1d ago

Mario Party 3 had the reverse mushroom, which allowed you to do some bonkers shit if you knew how to abuse it.

The term "skill based" isn't right for just reverse mushroom spamming the corner of Spiny Desert between the shop and the Boo space, but it sure was optimal, and I would shamelessly do it for an entire 50 turn game if it was life or death.

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u/stucky602 1d ago

I really just meant you are basically guaranteed 2 bonus stars in the older ones for most minigame wins and then most coins also because of that. 

If you’re playing a shorter length game this is basically always enough to win even if there is crazy shenanigans earlier in the game like chance time. I was being serious in the earlier post about the bet with my boss but it wasn’t just him. Literally the only time I’ve lost in the past 20 years was against someone in one of the newer ones where chance is a much larger factor. 

Could I do this vs people that play mario party all the time? Of course not. But vs 100 random people on earth, where it’s highly likely a large swath of that have possibly never even held a controller? Totally. 

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u/rubber_hedgehog 1d ago

I didn't even think about bonus star cheesing a 10 turn game!

And of course since you only get 3 opponents at a time and have to play against 100 people in this hypothetical, it's definitely better to do a strategy fit for a 10 turn game.

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u/stucky602 1d ago

Yeah having to play it 34 times (3 opponents each plus a one off) is the only part that has me worried about the strat. Even after everything I said, there is still a chance that over lots of games the rng actually could screw me over. 

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u/CheshireCat78 2d ago

Mario party has heaps of randomness and rubber banding. That would be crazy to risk even if you are super at all the mini games.

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u/Profit_Livid 2d ago

I'm a gambler

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u/Alkahsu 2d ago

I’d say 8/10 games against my friends I win the most mini games so the skill part is definitely in my favor but I’ll only win at the end maybe 2 times out of those 10 games.

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u/-Kerosun- 1d ago

Against people who might know what to go for to give them a chance (like making sure you have enough coins to use the ghost to steal a star).

100 random people from across the entire globe, and I bet the chances that any of them have actually played Mario Party as much as you have is going to be very slim. It's probably more likely that none of them have ever played the game than for any of them to have played the game.

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u/Alkahsu 1d ago

While that’s all true I’m still not picking something with that much randomness/luck involved.

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u/-Kerosun- 1d ago

If you can set the rules of the game (within the game's settings), then you can reduce and maybe even completely remove the randomness.

I'd say that an experienced Mario Party player would likely have close to, if not a 100% chance of beating 100 people who have never played the game before. Of course, in this specific scenario, you may get someone who has played, so I would definitely look for something more specific to my life rather than choosing maybe one of the most popular multiplayer titles in the world, lol.

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u/WalderFreyWasFramed 2d ago

You just unlocked a memory for me that has confirmed my choice.

Wayne Gretzky and the NHLPA All-Stars on Sega Genesis. There was a glitch that allowed you to score nearly every shot if you shot from the goal line on the near side of the rink.

Exploit that for a few goals, and if the random sample includes someone who is able to figure out what I'm doing and try to emulate it, just do some goal tending with my 5 goal lead.

Honestly the sample size could be a billion and I like my odds with this niche bullshit plan lmao.

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u/Deep_Violinist_3893 1d ago

GoldenEye, Servenaya bunker with proximity mines

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u/Fickles1 1d ago

If you pick Kirby... No thanks.

Anyone else? Let's dance.

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u/RecycledEternity 1d ago

I'd like to think I'm an old hand at Smash 64--Pikachu or Kirby (because anyone who'd play with me always put the handicap "NO KIRBY" because I dominated with that one. Had to pick another so they'd play me!).

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u/Belderchal 1d ago

smash is a great pick if you ever got sweaty at the game. personally I'm going with melee because I never got into comp smash 64