George Orwell does a lot of rolling over in his grave, but this time he may be in danger of rolling out. A new gadget isn’t just smart. It may be telepathic.
20Q is a modern-day version of one of the hottest party games of all time, 20 questions. The classic mind-bender is captured for the first time in a funky yo-yo size sphere that comes in four bright colors—golden yellow, ocean blue, dark purple, and red. “Are you an animal, vegetable mineral, or unknown?” questions the two-inch LCD screen, daring all cynics to try their hands at beating the game. The glowing orb then asks 19 more questions, letting the user choose between possible answers yes, no, sometimes, and unknown.
Taunting, the game scrolls phrases like, “You can’t beat me” and “Can you fool 20Q?” at intervals throughout, until it smoothly flaunts the correct answer time after time.
The game is the product of the website www.20Q.net, which began as an experiment in Artificial Intelligence but has been scaled down and manufactured by Radica Games for mass consumption. Since everything the game knows was learned from early players, 20Q claims that the more it is played, the better it gets.
Unlike your mother, however, this one’s avaible for $9.99 at Target.
