Saturday, May 12, 2007

Episode 4 Article

04: "Messages" about you is always leaking out



Armatures in psychology think: “If I stay silent, then I am not letting anything out.”

In this world, no matter how we humans keep our mouth shut, “messages” would still inevitably seeps out from everywhere. Of course, we never know we let those messages slip.

This time, Akiyama’s “reading” was perfectly correct again.

Fukunaga planned to seize everything from everyone else, and get the full 2.1 billion yen for himself, but, Akiyama saw through that.

In short, Akiyama, noticed how Fukunaga secretively tried to make 2 other teams.
Akiyama said. “Try to remember what happened yesterday in the game.”

“It was very weird! On the first day, everyone was so nervous, but when the game started, they all looked so calm. It was as if, they were all convinced they were safe already.”

“The most obvious hint came, when the losers had to leave the room.”

“As we all know, losing here earns you a 100 million yen debt. Naturally, it wouldn’t be surprising at all, even if people flip or start to cry. But everybody left the room quietly, without a word of complaint."

So! Akiyama was observing everyone’s actions. This is “man watching”. Certainly, no one would say secrets out loud. However, their actions and behaviors, can also effectively expose their secrets.

In this manner, gestures and means beyond words express information, this is called “non-verbal communication,” or “body language”.

Clothing, accessories, belongings, colors, body stature, hair style, make up, expression, eyes direction, posture, manner, gestures, action, how you distance yourself from others, voice tones… these are all clues, and they all communicate information about you.

Therefore, no matter how you keep a secret quiet, your “body” is still carelessly revealing the secret.

That’s why, experienced police would not overlook the slightest nervousness or suspicious actions. In the same way, in a job interview, by reading that person’s body language, employer can get a feel of that person’s distinctive personality. So, our body, really talks a lot.

Well, that suggests that there are no ways to really prepare for that problem. However, let me provide you with some measures you can take in response.

In short “attack is the best defense”. There’s a limit to how much you can keep others from grasping those [non-verbal] information, keep yourself from sending body languages, or increase your defense. Compare to this, on the other hand, proactively sending out information is more effective.

For example, in an interview, you can make your clothing speaks for you, make your posture speaks for you, let your gestures, your expression speak for you in a positive manner. Use body language to your advantage. Life is a play. And when you
act, you can make fools gold turn into gold.

As Akiyama suggests, “If you really want to fool us, maybe you should have made them act their parts too,” in life truths can be hidden away.

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Sunday, April 29, 2007

Akiyama's strategy

With this strategy, Akiyama plans to win the second round of the Tournament.

SPOILER FOR EP3

Round Two: Akiyama's winning strategy

Nao doesn't care about the prize money, she just wants to get out of the game.
Akiyama came up with the idea of creating teams for this purpose.

There is a total of 22 participants. From these, he creates a team (1) of 8 members, including Nao and Akiyama.

When a question is set, each half of the team votes for YES and NO respectively.

Example:


Logically, half of the team is going to proceed to the next round.
At the first question, the closest outcome possible is when the players not in the team split up with 6 votes against 8.
(with 7 against 7 it ends up in a draw)


10 players remain in the game.

At the second question, the team is again divided into half. The closest outcome possible is when the other players split up with 2 votes against 4.
(with 3 against 3 it's a draw again)

4 team members remain in. Once again, they are divided up equally.
This leaves only two possible patterns of answers:

(1)

(2)

If the voting results in the 2nd pattern, it's a draw, so the voting will be repeated until the 1st pattern emerges.
That means, that in the end one of the players is bound to remain.

Now what if there is no close outcome?
Let's assume that after the 1st question we get this:

The following question will lead to:

This decides the game - with only two players remaining, there is no minority vote.



★ Distribution of prize money using this method:

(1) if one player wins:
The winner receives 2100 million yen.
Half of this money goes back to LGT Office for not taking part in the third round.
1050 million yen remain.
The other 7 members need to return 100 million yen each to the Office, for losing the second round.
For this, 700 million yen are needed.
The remaining prize money amounts to 350 million yen.
Divided through 8 members, each person ends up with a share of 4,375,000 yen.
(for the losers the game has already ended, so they don't need to pay half of their prize money to get out)

(2) if two players win:
Each person receives 1000 million yen.
Each of them needs to return half of their prize money to LGT Office for not taking part in the third round.
This leaves each of them with 500 million yen.
The 6 team members who dropped out before are divided in two groups, assigning 3 of them to each of the winners. They need to return their debts of 100 million yen to the Office, so each group ends up with 200 million yen.
Dividing this amount by 4 members per group leaves each person with 50 million yen.

This means that in both scenarios, all team members have a chance to win money.

★ Why have 8 members?
This number allows each member to get the highest amount of money while ensuring certain victory as few members as possible. 9 or 10 members would work as well. But if the number gets any higher, there is only debts to win. And if we have only 7 members...


Closest possible outcome for the first question:

And now, if we assume that the second question ends on the closest possible outcome again:


Now we have one member against three other players. Certain victory has become impossible.
Something like this might happen:

With even less members, say 5 or 6, certain victory is out of reach.

Problems:
○ The team members. The strategy fails if there's a traitor inside. Akiyama had the members sign contracts.

○ The unknown player "X" who stole 100 million yen from Michiko Takada. Because X already has 100 million yen (making it 200 million yen with the money for the second round), X could pay for his debts even after losing in this round.

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Card 2.3

Card 2.3: Game 2 Direction Card



This is what told Akiyama where to go find Nao in Episode 2.

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Round 2 Rules

Round 2 Official Rules (from official web site)


Tournament Rules: Round Two

In the second round, the winners from the first round(*if they wish to participate) get together, and play for 100 million yen each, once again lent to them by LGT Office. Each nameplate handed to each participant contains jewels worth 100 million yen. Losers will have to put down their plate and leave. However, just like in the first round, they must return their 100 million yen to LGT Office.

* Players who do not wish to participate must return half of their prize money from the first round to the Office. Nao won the first round, but because she handed all of the money back to her opponent, Mr. Fujisawa,she couldn't return the money to the Office.

What is the "minority voting" in the second round about?

In this game, the winner is decided by simply using a method opposite to "majority voting"

1) One of the participants makes a question. Only questions which can be answered using YES or NO are allowed.

2) All of the participants (including the person who made the question) must vote either YES or NO within a time limit of 6 hours.

3) The side with less votes is declared winner.

4) This procedure is repeated until only one or two winners remain. Because it is not possible to make a minority vote with only two persons (it is impossible to decide win and loss), the game ends at this stage.

5) If there is only one winner, the prize money will be x 100 million yen - 100 million lent by LGT Office in the beginning.
If there are two winners, the prize money for each of the two will be x 100 million yen / 2 - 100 million

6) The losers will have to return the 100 million they were given for use in the game to LGT Office.


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Round 1 Rules

Round One Official Rules (from the official web site)



Tournament Rules: Round One

Using the 100 million yen you were sent, you must try and steal money from an opponent assigned by LGT Office. There are no rules regarding the means to get at the money. When the game ends (30 days after the opponent has been assigned), the player with more money is declared the winner. Any money exceeding the 100 million yen to be returned to LGT Office, will become the prize money. The loser is to return 100 million yen to LGT Office. The loser has to raise the sum he lost, even if this means taking up a loan.

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Card 2.2

Card 2.2: Real Card




The LIAR GAME is going to end shortly.

Fujisawa Kazuo + 100.000.000 Yen

Kanzaki Nao - 100.000.000 Yen

On April 15, 6:00 p.m. our collector will appear to retrieve the money and announce the end of the game.

LGT Office

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Card 2.1

Card 2.1: Fake Card




The LIAR GAME is going to end shortly.

Fujisawa Kazuo + 100.000.000 Yen

Kanzaki Nao - 100.000.000 Yen

On April 15, 5:00 p.m. our collector will appear to retrieve the money and announce the end of the game.

LGT Office

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