Untangling skill and luck in business, sports, and investing
The Succe$$ Equation

Game № 1

Colonel Blotto

Divide your troops among the battlefields. The computer will do the same using a randomized algorithm. Whoever has more troops at a battlefield wins that battlefield — and whoever wins the most battlefields wins the game.

More battlefields make the game more complex — and inject more luck. Give yourself fewer troops than the computer's 100 and see how the added randomness of many fronts can still hand the weaker side a victory.

Parameters

Battlefields

Your troops (computer gets 100)

Fewer battlefields reward brute strength; more battlefields reward strategy and surprise — the weaker colonel should concentrate forces and concede a front or two on purpose.

Your army