Neurobics

Mashed Swedes

Russell Dear

In Southland, we play a game called Mashed Swedes. In it, an auctioneer provides a sack containing swedes painted red and blue in equal numbers. The person playing nominates a colour, red or blue, and then chooses one swede at random from the sack. If the chosen swede matches the nominated colour the player wins $100, if not s/he wins nothing.

What makes the game more interesting is that it is only played once and only one person plays. People bid for the right to do so. A typical game consists of half-a-dozen rustic-looking individuals standing round the back of a flat-bed truck. The auctioneer takes bids and the highest bidder wins the right to play and the money is paid over. The player then nominates a colour and randomly chooses a swede from the sack. The question is, how much would you bid to play Mashed Swedes?

The rules in the Southland version of the game reflect the basic fairness of Southland people. In Otago the rules are a little different. For a start they use painted haggises instead of swedes and the auctioneer puts different numbers of red and blue haggises into the sack. Otherwise the rules are the same. How much would you bid to take part in the Otago version of the game?

In Canterbury there are different rules again. The sack contains lambs' tongues all stained one colour (again either red or blue) but the player doesn't know which. Otherwise the rules are the same. How much would you bid to play the Canterbury version of the game?

Russell Dear is a Mathematician living in Invercargill