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> Dreidel is a bad game.

Mathematically proven now. A gut feel I've had since childhood.

But then again, spinning the thing is sufficiently fun, who needs the antes.

I actually had the exact opposite conclusion from the analysis: Dreidel is a great kids' game of chance, because it's easy to come back from a few bad rolls and it's almost impossible to lose.

It also seems to be a great game for randomly redistributing chocolate coins among children while giving them something to do that's not "run around screaming" for a while. The game went on all day long? Great, that kept them out of your hair and amused them.

The only bad thing about it is that it takes longer as players are knocked out. Now you have one kid who’s in a bad mood because they were knocked out early, and their friends are busy.

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