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Comment by raganwald | Hacker News Reader

Meaningful is not strictly equivalent to influencing the outcome. Imagine a typical "racing" game where players advance along a track. The track could incorporate forks such that mathematically, all choices are equivalent. But the entertainment value of the forks may differ. Some children may want to cut through the "garden," others through the "playground."

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If they're all perfectly equivalent then even very young kids will catch on to that quickly. Here's an improvement: make the choices equal in EV but different in variance. That adds a little bit of strategy: take the predictable choices when you're ahead and the risky ones when you're behind. Nonetheless, a child with no concept of this strategy can sometimes win against an adult who plays optimally.

N.B.: I was home-schooled through preschool. My mother designed a bunch of board games that she used to teach me basic math. Then I got to kindergarten and got introduced to Chutes & Ladders. I saw through it immediately and got into arguments with my classmates about what a stupid game it was.

The game you just described is Chutes and Ladders, but with choices.

Could easily be implemented by having two dice, a "safe" die and a "risky" die. On your turn you only roll one die (you choose which one) - the risky die you move ONLY when the number would land you on a chute or ladder, otherwise you stay put. The safe die you move no matter what, and chutes/ladders do not apply to you wherever you land.

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