Bridge-Bidding Decision Making

[firstfrost]

So, one of the reasons that I rarely end up in an argument with harrock is that we have a ridiculously simple method for deciding on things (I know I've mentioned it to some people before, but in my new vague quest to talk about things other than book reviews, I thought I would talk about it...). Basically, it works the way bidding in bridge does.

An example, using the Classic Disagreement of "Where Should We Go For Dinner?" which seems to constantly plague society.

1: Want to go to Uno's for dinner?	A mild suggestion, no strong preference. Call it one club.
2: I had pizza for lunch; something else would be good.	You can't bid "not one club", you have to actually suggest something else.
2: I had pizza for lunch; how about Indian?	It's not a much stronger preference, but it's a little bit of one. This might be one spade.
3: Or we could do Chinese, if you'd rather.	This is still mucking around in sounding like "I don't really care" area, it's like bidding one diamond, and it's too late for that. You have to actually bid *higher*.
3: Oh! Hey, there's a new Chinese place at Fifth and Main I've been wanting to try. How about that?	A legitimate overbid. Maybe it's two notrump.
Alternate 3: I was really looking forward to Uno's, actually. I've been thinking about pizza skins all day.	Back to the original suit, but at three clubs or so now. I personally think it's better form to open with the three clubs to start with, but this is still an acceptable bid.
4: Okay.	Pass. The last person to bid has made the decision.

The only real rule is that you can counter (not veto) the previous suggestion, but only if you care more. My mild whim doesn't overrule (can I use "trump" here in absolutely the *wrong* bridge context?) your fond desire - my mild whim doesn't even overrule your mild whim, if you bid first.

I suppose it doesn't have much automatic compromising built in, other than that each person is better off picking suggestions that the other person likes, so they'll be less likely to be outbid.

Comments

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

The person who is willing to suggest something, rather than dithering, has a lot of power.

Yeah, I have come to see that as an explicitly Good Thing. If I don't care, all power to the people who are willing to care. If I do care, then this forces me to commit to something in particular rather than just reject other people's preferences.

[desireearmfeldt]

Agreed.

However, in a big group you really do have to worry about people who might have an opinion and not feel comfortable speaking up for group dynamics reasons.

Rephrase: you don't *have* to worry about it, but it is a thing that may occur, and not worrying about it doesn't make it not exist. :) Anyway, various things about the bidding system make it less good for mobs, I think.

With only two players, this is not so much a concern, especially if you know each other well enough to be married.

[countertorque.livejournal.com]

You can't stand around on the street with 30 people and worry that someone wants to eat at a particular place but won't say so. I mean, how could you possibly figure that out in that setting?

If you want to eat, you speak up and say where you're going. You'll either force a subset of the group to shout you down (which is fine, cause you only wanted to know what they wanted in the first place), or they'll go where you want to go. It's win-win.

I don't really think anyone should get hurt feelings over this. Surely everyone can see that it's impossible to have any kind of detailed discussion in this situation.

[remcat.livejournal.com]

Yeah, what he said! And as an added bonus, dithery people are fun, because you can make them do what you want. :) Look, we're all eating Ethiopian! Raw! With our fingers!