Road-trip guided by coin-tosses and D4 rolls
A reader writes, "This weekend, my wife and I traveled on a Random Road trip. It turned out great. We used a four-sided die (d4) when there were more than 2 routes to decide upon and a coin for the others. We didn't have any hard and fast rules when we started, but developed some as we drove deeper into the trip. I recommend it to anyone even if you don't have a d4 handy."
Near our starting point is the intersection of 2 highways 23 and 94 with convenient N (1), S (2), E (3), and W (4) options. I proposed that we eliminate the "east" option on our first roll, because I wanted to avoid the morass of highways around Detroit. Mrs. BBspot vetoed this idea and she promptly rolled a 3 (east) for our first direction. At this point we had to turn around and go back home to get our passports, because starting in Michigan there's always the danger that we'd end up in Canada. (see map at end of post for a look at our final route)Random Road Trip RecapI was a bit miffed at the first roll, but headed east anyway. Approaching 23 Mrs. BBspot rolled a 1, which turned us north. Phew, I preferred moving away from Detroit. At our next intersection she rolled another 1 and kept us going North on 23.
Unfortunately, randomness pointed us back toward Detroit when she rolled another 3 and we headed east on 96. Mrs. BBspot started getting a little perturbed at my disappointment in her rolls.
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I like this idea a lot. Anyone more creative than me know of a way I could do this on my motorcycle?
My in-laws have been doing this for years, but they draw pieces of paper out of a hat with instructions on them like "go west for 10 miles" or things like that. They call them "Mystery Drives".
It's probably a bit easier to have vague directions when you're starting out in the corner of Arkansas right next to Missouri and Oklahoma--lots of empty space--I think the d4 system would work a lot better for people in more populated areas. (In fact, I actually have no idea how "Mystery Drives" work in practice, I only know what's been grudgingly revealed to me by my husband...only sons ftl, eh?)
I'd have to roll those dice pretty fast and furious to keep up with the choices here in New York.
And I'd need some D6 to handle the crazier intersections.
I'd love to try that, but here in Western Australia you'd end up dying out in the desert within about ten rolls :)
Knowing my luck, I'd end up in Key West and continue to avoid rolling 1's...
Somehow I always imagined BBspot being run by some dorky 17 year old living in his parents' basement. I'm having a hard time believing that he's married and owns a car.
Donald Duck did this in 1952....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_Decision
Lightweights!
This is how you do it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0296VAtDdo
I've done this a couple of times, solo, thinking of it almost as a kind of extended meditation / spiritual journey type thing. It can be refreshing in a weird way, more so than a pre-planned vacation where everything is controlled and nailed down. I recommend it for the introspective set, especially if you need some thinking time. Keep a journal.
I've never tried this with another person.
In mathematics, this is known as "The Drunkard's Walk." See the section so named in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_walk
Just goes to show: "Not all who wander are lost".
@#5 TALLPAT & #10 ANDHISBAND
I read a study once where random interstate hitchhiking in the U.S. ends up with lots of people stranded in Florida. The authors went on to theorize that this was why there were so many serial killers in Florida ...
(On the other hand, random interstate hitchhiking in the U.S. is in reality probably more likely to get people stranded in jail.)
Wonder what the odds are of random galactic travelers getting stuck on Earth?
We've done this several times with our children. Each person in the car gets 5 minutes where they decide which direction to take at each turn. Putting a small child in charge is very much like using a random number generator.
@#12 THEGID
The outcome of the drunkard's walk is that you inevitably wind up where you began. If "random" Interstate hitchhiking leaves you stranded in Florida, you must rethink the notion that there is anything random about the Interstate system. Indeed, it is designed to channel traffic from certain locations to certain locations. That the predominant destination is Florida, though... well, draw your own conclusion.
@14 ANDHISBAND
I think we agree.
"You inevitably wind up where you began" ... but then where do you go? If you keep on moving, you eventually hit a peninsula and get hung up. If the geography includes a peninsula and you hit it, then 3 out of 4 rolls leave you stuck there, so the random hitchhiking bots will eventually cluster.
Yeah, that works fine until you miss a save and drive off a fucking bridge.
Reminds me of Lonely Planet's Experimental Travel Book -- highly recommended for the creative and carefree traveler:
http://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Experimental-Travel-Literature/dp/1741044502/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249991967&sr=8-1
What happens if you roll doubles?
And shouldn't you take turns?
Someone already effectively said it, but I predict it would take them d^2 time to get anywhere.
@1: you could use a 2d6: a six sided die inside another, clear 6 sided die. just shake it and read the inside die. no need to worry about wind resistance.
@ 1 You could try duct taping some kind of boggle dice to your tank. Maybe? Boggle is d6 though, so you might have to crack it open.
@#1 Anonymous
You could install one of those "Pop-o-matic" dice containers, like the ones on the board game "Trouble".
If you want to take the guesswork out of assigning directions to your die rolls, you could always one one of these instead.
I'm still having trouble with the four-sided die. It is either a three-sided pyramid with a bottom surface (which wouldn't roll very well) or it's a cube that's missing two surfaces.
For Anony@#1, I recommend you make a little spin-the-arrow disc with N, S, W and E in the quadrants. Tape it over your (useless) tachometer.
You can spin that on the fly, even with gloves on.
My wife and I often take a meandering drive. We look for roads that we haven't taken, just to see where they go.
Zenu @6:
Ann Arbor, MI - home of well paid, fully employed geeks who seem to be quite able to locate mates within a few zip codes of home.
@ #24:
It's really simple.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4-sided_die
The rounded edges make them roll quite easily. Kinda like how a six-sider has the corners shaved off.
This is Brian from BBspot who went on the trip. One suggestion I have for densely highwayed areas would be to roll once for direction and then again for the number of hours or minutes*10 (or whatever factor you want) you drive in that direction before you roll again.
This concept needs to be taken to the next nerd level. Sure, you can roll which direction to go. But then you need to roll again to see if your car even has the dexterity to make that turn-off.
Zenu @6: I recently moved my office out of my own basement.
@#25 well paid (no), fully employed (yes) locate mates within a few zip codes of home? Unless you think Tehran is close to Ann Arbor. :-)
Anon@#24:
But- that has five sides (a four-sided pyramid also has a bottom). And with either four or five surfaces, you would never have a surface facing upward.
#30 TroofSeeker - you've maybe been misled by the picture on the wikipedia page. It looks like a square based pyramid but it's actually a triangular based pyramid.
Ha-ha. That little loop they made in metro Detroit went around my house!
Remember: Where ever you go, there you are. -Buckaroo Banzai
Yep definitely a 3 sided pyramid.
I was a little confused as well how you would tell which side to read if there was no 'top'. But the explanation on the wiki article says it rather simply.