December 2, 2013 in Thinking Analytically
Mini Chutes and Ladders
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https://doi.org/10.1287/LYTX.2013.06.14
“Chutes and Ladders” is a popular children’s game where players compete to move along a game board the fastest. It involves both hazard squares that can set you back a few spaces and some helpful squares that can move you forward a few spaces. A mini version of the game is displayed in Figure 1.
A player starts at the red “Start” square and finishes at the green “Finish” square. A player advances along the board by spinning a spinner that results in moving forward one to three squares.
If a player ends his turn on a ladder (depicted by the blue ladder icon) he immediately moves upwards along the ladder. For example, if a player ends his turn on square 6, he would immediately move to square 11.
If a player ends his turn on a chute (depicted by the orange slide) he immediately moves down the slide. For example, if a player ends his turn on square 7, he would automatically move to square 2.
A player wins the game when he lands on or passes the Finish square.
Question: What is the average number of turns needed to finish the game? (Please provide your answer with one decimal place.)
Send your answer to [email protected] by Jan. 15, 2014. The winner, chosen randomly from correct answers, will receive a Magic 8 Ball. Past questions can be found at puzzlor.com.
John Toczek is the AVP Predictive Modeling at Chubb in the Decision Analytics and Predictive Modeling department. He earned his BSc. in Chemical Engineering at Drexel University (1996) and his MSc. in Operations Research from Virginia Commonwealth University (2005).