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Brain teaser time!!

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Ok, now I'm thinking

#5 gets screwed when it's down to 2 pirates, so he needs to vote before that
#4 gets screwed when it's down to 3 pirates, so he needs to vote before that

When it's down to 4 pirates, No. 2 just needs to give 1 gold to No. 4 to get his vote because he'd get nothing in the next vote.

If it goes one more round, No. 3 and No. 4 get nothing.

I just need to offer them something to get their votes.

New answer:

No.1 : 98
No.3 : 1
No.4 : 1

This seems too simple 😛

EDIT: I just screwed up the numbers at the end but came to the same conclusion you did Tux.

I meant to write:

When it's down to 4 pirates, No. 2 just needs to give 1 gold to No. 4 to get his vote because he'd get nothing in the next vote.

If it goes one more round, No. 3 and No. 5 get nothing.

I just need to offer them something to get their votes.

New answer:

No.1 : 98
No.3 : 1
No.5 : 1
 
suppose there are 2 pirates. pirate 1 (the senior) would just give all the gold coins to himself, and none to pirate 2. he would vote for it, and therefore win.

now take the the example of 3 pirates. pirate 1 (again the most senior) knows he must gain the vote of at least one other pirate. therefore, he must give pirate 3 (the least senior) only 1 gold coin. reasoning? if pirate 3 votes against this proposal, pirate 1 is gone, and we're down to the two pirate situation where pirate 2 gets everything.

take the situation with 4 pirates. again, pirate 1 must gain the vote of at least one other pirate. simplest and cheapest way? pay off pirate 4 with one gold coin, since thats the most he's gonna get in one to three pirate situations

finally, 5 pirates. pirate one must gain the vote of two others. the cheapest guys to pay off would be pirate 4 and 5. give one to pirate 5, and one to pirate 4, and keep the rest.

so, in conclusion, if you are the most senior pirate, you could walk away with 98 of the 100 gold coins.
 
Originally posted by: puffff
suppose there are 2 pirates. pirate 1 (the senior) would just give all the gold coins to himself, and none to pirate 2. he would vote for it, and therefore win.

now take the the example of 3 pirates. pirate 1 (again the most senior) knows he must gain the vote of at least one other pirate. therefore, he must give pirate 3 (the least senior) only 1 gold coin. reasoning? if pirate 3 votes against this proposal, pirate 1 is gone, and we're down to the two pirate situation where pirate 2 gets everything.

take the situation with 4 pirates. again, pirate 1 must gain the vote of at least one other pirate. simplest and cheapest way? pay off pirate 4 with one gold coin, since thats the most he's gonna get in one to three pirate situations

finally, 5 pirates. pirate one must gain the vote of two others. the cheapest guys to pay off would be pirate 4 and 5. give one to pirate 5, and one to pirate 4, and keep the rest.

so, in conclusion, if you are the most senior pirate, you could walk away with 98 of the 100 gold coins.
Click to expand...

That does make sense, but for some reason I think you're missing something.
 
Originally posted by: mobobuff
Originally posted by: puffff
suppose there are 2 pirates. pirate 1 (the senior) would just give all the gold coins to himself, and none to pirate 2. he would vote for it, and therefore win.

now take the the example of 3 pirates. pirate 1 (again the most senior) knows he must gain the vote of at least one other pirate. therefore, he must give pirate 3 (the least senior) only 1 gold coin. reasoning? if pirate 3 votes against this proposal, pirate 1 is gone, and we're down to the two pirate situation where pirate 2 gets everything.

take the situation with 4 pirates. again, pirate 1 must gain the vote of at least one other pirate. simplest and cheapest way? pay off pirate 4 with one gold coin, since thats the most he's gonna get in one to three pirate situations

finally, 5 pirates. pirate one must gain the vote of two others. the cheapest guys to pay off would be pirate 4 and 5. give one to pirate 5, and one to pirate 4, and keep the rest.

so, in conclusion, if you are the most senior pirate, you could walk away with 98 of the 100 gold coins.
Click to expand...

That does make sense, but for some reason I think you're missing something.
Click to expand...

I think the only issue is that it's cheaper to pay off #3 and #5 in the last step rather than #4 and #5 since #4 can expect to be paid 1 gold in the next round, so you'd have to pay him more than that to ensure that he votes for your plan.

#3 and #5 would get nothing if it carried on for one more round though, so those are the cheapest to buy off.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Originally posted by: mobobuff
Originally posted by: puffff
suppose there are 2 pirates. pirate 1 (the senior) would just give all the gold coins to himself, and none to pirate 2. he would vote for it, and therefore win.

now take the the example of 3 pirates. pirate 1 (again the most senior) knows he must gain the vote of at least one other pirate. therefore, he must give pirate 3 (the least senior) only 1 gold coin. reasoning? if pirate 3 votes against this proposal, pirate 1 is gone, and we're down to the two pirate situation where pirate 2 gets everything.

take the situation with 4 pirates. again, pirate 1 must gain the vote of at least one other pirate. simplest and cheapest way? pay off pirate 4 with one gold coin, since thats the most he's gonna get in one to three pirate situations

finally, 5 pirates. pirate one must gain the vote of two others. the cheapest guys to pay off would be pirate 4 and 5. give one to pirate 5, and one to pirate 4, and keep the rest.

so, in conclusion, if you are the most senior pirate, you could walk away with 98 of the 100 gold coins.
Click to expand...

That does make sense, but for some reason I think you're missing something.
Click to expand...

I think the only issue is that it's cheaper to pay off #3 and #5 in the last step rather than #4 and #5 since #4 can expect to be paid 1 gold in the next round, so you'd have to pay him more than that to ensure that he votes for your plan.

#3 and #5 would get nothing if it carried on for one more round though, so those are the cheapest to buy off.
Click to expand...

I think that completes it. The method of making sure #4 votes yes.
 
Originally posted by: Captante
Considering the terms I'd go with 20 each.
Click to expand...
I'd like to think this is the correct answer. Oddly enough if it's not the correct answer, I think the 4th and 5th least senior pirates carry a lot more power than most of you think. Remember that if a proposal is voted down, someone dies, and dying is worst than getting nothing. Off the top of my head I'm thinking #1 gets 1, #2 & #3 get 0, #4 gets 49, and #5 get 50.

 
Give all of them 25 coins, talk to each of them separately and tell them you'll kill all the others at night and bring them half of the loot, giving them 62.5 coins. What you don't tell them is that you actually kill all of them.
 
Originally posted by: chuckywang
I saw this on another message board:
(The pirates are all extremely logical and greedy, including you, and all want to live.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
One step back, #1 to #5. He gives 1 coin to #3, #5 and 98 for himself. End?
Click to expand...
Who the heck is going to vote to receive only one coin?

The 'nominally fair value' for is 20 gold pieces per pirate. Because they're greedy they'll opt for any division plan that provides a reasonable chance of them getting more than 20 gold pieces. They should not vote "yes" for any plan that has 100% certainty of getting less than 20 gold pieces.

Senior pirate (#1) proposes they vote on a slate of several distribution plans as follows:

A) 20 each
B) 25:25:25:25:0
C) 34:33:33:0:0
D) 50:50:0:0:0
E) 100:0:0:0:0
F) 40:30:20:10:0
G ...

He lists 6 to 10 plans. The plan that receives at least 3 votes is the distribution plan and the pirates draw straws to determine their cut. (If the pirates vote 2:2:1, then the plan with only one vote is tossed and the pirates re-vote on the two plans. It can get a tad complicated if the vote is 2:1:1:1 but it can be resolved.)

The 5 straws are labeled with the gold pieces awarded as shown above in each of the plans. Plan "F" gives each pirate a 3 out of 5 chance of receiving at least 20 gold pieces, the 'nominally fair value' distribution.
 
Originally posted by: YOyoYOhowsDAjello
Originally posted by: alrocky
Who the heck is going to vote to receive only one coin?
Click to expand...

The guys who know that if it goes one more round they'll get nothing
Click to expand...
I'm greedy pirate #5! If you don't offer me a chance at least the nominally fair value of 20 gold pieces I'll vote you dead. I may be greedy and broke but you'll be dead and broke. Being greedy does not mean I'll settle for only one if the alternative is none. Being greedy means getting at least 20 and a shot of getting more than that. Being alive is more important than gettting only one coin.

 
Originally posted by: chuckywang
I saw this on another message board:
Five pirates on an island have one hundred gold coins to split among themselves. They divide the loot as follows: The senior pirate proposes a division, and everyone votes on it. Provided at least half the pirates vote for the proposal, they split the coins that way. If not, they kill the senior pirate and start over. The most senior (surviving) pirate proposes his own division plan, and they vote by the same rules and either divide the loot or kill the senior pirate, as the case may be. The process continues until one plan is accepted. Suppose you are the senior pirate. What division do you propose? (The pirates are all extremely logical and greedy, including you, and all want to live.)
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

That is simple, as senior pirate, you propose to divide the treasure between yourself and two others.
 
Originally posted by: dxkj
I am logical and know that 1 coin isnt worth it, Id vote no for anything less than 20
Click to expand...

Um, you get nothing if you don't take 1 coin, or you might die, assuming you are #3 or #5.
 
Wikipedia article

The whole point of the game is moot, because these pirates are Homo economicus, not Homo sapiens. A true pirate is not a rational creature! The other pirates would gut the senior pirate just because they could. 😀
 
Originally posted by: dxkj
I am logical and know that 1 coin isnt worth it, Id vote no for anything less than 20
Click to expand...
The only pirate that is deserving of more than 20 coins is me aye matey? Are we savy?

Arggg. : Pirate ;
 
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