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When will the iPhone version of 20Q be available? |
| Now!  | |
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Is there and iPad version? |
| Yup! | |
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How much does the iPhone/iPad version
cost? | | Free! Well, almost free. You will be able to download and play the game for free and then you may pay to remove the ads.
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Will the iPhone/iPad version speak my language? |
| Yes! As long as your language is English, French, Itialian, German or Spanish. We are working on supporting more languages in the near future.
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I am sure I payed to remove the ads… |
| If you do see ads, and you have payed to remove them, go to the configuration menu and press “Restore Purchases”. You can always use the in-App purchase, and you will not be charged
if you have already made that purchase. | |
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For more information check out
A Quick Tour
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How do I play the game? |
| From the 20Q home page, select Play from the menu on the left, and then select "Play 20Q" choosing one of the languages. On the next page, answer a few demographic
questions and click "Play." Next, think of an object and answer the questions asked by the 20Q Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). Beginning with the question: "Is it classified as Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Other or Unknown?,"
you will notice five possible answers below the question. Click on the answer that fits the object you are thinking of; the questions that follow will be displayed by 20Q with several choices.
Click on what you believe to be the appropriate answer for that question. Don't worry about making a mistake; you can always scroll down and click on the questions to change your answer later.
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What if I make a mistake? |
| You may change your answer to a question while playing the game. Select the question from the list of answered questions, then change your answer. You may also use the back button of your web browser,
but 20Q may pick different questions than it did the first time. Once the Update button has been pressed, the knowledgebase is permanently modified by the answers you gave it and you won't be able to go back.
Don't despair. Every game changes the knowledgebase a little bit; the game will be corrected over time by you or by other people playing the game. | |
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What if I find a mistake? |
| Sometimes when you get to the end of a game 20Q will tell you that there were contradictions . You may notice that 20Q can be wrong. This happens because it tries to reflect human knowledge,
not necessarily what is fact. The one way to correct such "errors" is to play the game thinking about the same object again and again and again. 20Q will eventually learn the correct answer after a few games.
We always like to hear about typos and other strange problems. Please fill out our contact form and let us know if you find any such
problems. | |
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Why does 20Q list contradictions
at the end of a game? | | When 20Q makes note of some contradictions at the end of the game, it is merely giving you a peek into its state of mind
with regard to the object you played. Since 20Q learns everything it knows from the people who play, it is dealing with opinions, not facts. It's more like a folk taxonomy. Folk taxonomies are generated from social knowledge and are used in everyday
speech. As noted in Wikipedia: "They are distinguished from scientific taxonomies that claim to be disembedded from social relations and thus objective and universal." Since the opinions of people often differ, 20Q must do its best
to sort out conflicting information. Contradictions are also one of the main ways that 20Q learns more about something. If enough people contradict what it currently thinks, it slowly changes its mind about that subject and eventually the contradictions
will no longer happen. | |
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Why does 20Q ask unrelated
questions? | | Let's say, for example, that you are playing Twenty Questions with 20Q and it seems to be asking somewhat relevant questions and then, out of the blue,
it asks a question that is completely unrelated. When 20Q picks a new question, it uses the answers you have given it and looks for probable objects. It then looks at its knowledge of those objects
to determine which question would rule out as many objects as possible. Sometimes 20Q will find a question for which it has very few answers; it may ask one of these questions to fill-in the knowledgebase.
The bottom line is, the question may seem obviously unrelated to you, however, 20Q wants to ask the question, since that's how it learns. | |
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Why won't 20Q learn my object? |
| If at the end of a game, 20Q doesn't know your object, you may have an opportunity to provide it. This may only happen occasionally. The next time you play, 20Q may still not know the object and you may need to
tell it again. Why? When you tell 20Q what your object is, the object and your game are placed in a queue of objects to be reviewed by a group of human moderators. A moderator will review
the object you entered and either change your answer to something the game knows or add your object to the knowledgebase. If the object is added to the knowledgebase, two other moderators will review the object
and must agree it is a worthwhile addition before it is made available for play. One hint: objects that have been played most often will be reviewed first (this means that you can speed up your object's acceptance by playing it several
times). | |
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Do you censor the knowledgebase? |
| The objects that are added to the knowledgebase are censored. At this time, all games are G-rated (suitable for all audiences.) If you think of an object that 20Q finds unsuitable for family game play, it
may scold you. | |
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Why does 20Q ask thirty questions? |
| If 20Q knows a lot about an object, it will often guess it in less than twenty questions. The reason it will ask up to thirty questions is to help its knowledgebase grow faster. The only way 20Q can learn
is by asking questions; the more questions it asks, the faster it learns. You can always tell 20Q to give-up after it has asked twenty questions or more. | |
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20Q didn't count some questions. |
| 20Q will not count questions to which you answer Unknown . The rationale is, if you do not know the answer, 20Q cannot use the information to guess at an object. You may answer as many questions
as you like with Unknown , since 20Q has lots of other questions it can ask. | |
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20Q asked me the same question twice in one game. | | You are allowed to answer as many questions as you like choosing Unknown as an answer, but if you
answer too many questions with Unknown , 20Q will start to forget about some of the questions that you have answered with Unknown . 20Q limits the number of answers that it can store
to 50. To avoid over-filling its answer buffer, it will forget your first Unknown answers. | |
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Instruction Manual
Mega Screen Instruction Manual
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How do I turn the off the handheld game? | | The game will go into 'sleep' mode after 60 seconds of inactivity.
To wake the game up and resume your game where it left off, simply press the "YES" button. To make sure that the game will not accidentally turn on, the game has an on/off switch on the side.
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How do I change the batteries? |
| The game is powered by two AAA (LR03) batteries. To replace them, you must remove the battery cover on the back of the game using a phillips screwdriver.
Loosen the screw on the back of the game until the battery compartment door can be removed. Remove the old batteries, and replace them with fresh ones as indicated by the markings
inside the battery holder, then replace the back of the unit, and gently tighten the screw. Note: The Mega Screen Edition requires three AAA batteries.
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The game doesn't work... what do I do? |
| First, check the on/off switch on the side of the game. Next, check the batteries. If the unit is defective, you should bring the game back to the store where you bought it
along with your receipt. Most stores will be happy to exchange a defective game for a working unit. | |
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Full Instruction Manual
For more information about our former partner, Mattel, Inc., check out
Mattel Product Support
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How do I turn the off the handheld game made by Mattel/Radica? |
| The game will go into 'sleep' mode after 60 seconds of inactivity. To wake the game up and resume your game where it left off, simply press the "YES" button.
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How do I change the batteries? |
| The game is powered by two AAA (LR03) batteries. To replace them, you must remove the back cover of the game using a screwdriver. Loosen the screw in the center of the back of the game until the battery compartment
door can be removed. Remove the old batteries, and replace them with fresh ones as indicated by the markings inside the battery holder, then replace the back of the unit, and gently tighten the
screw. | |
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I have the toy and it doesn't work... what
do I do? | | If the game is relatively old, try changing the batteries. If you just bought it, you should bring the game back to the store where you bought it
along with your receipt. Most stores will be happy to exchange a defective game for a working unit. You can also contact Mattel/Radica (in North America) at 1-800-803-9611 for information on returning a defective unit.
Mattel Product Support | |
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What is a handheld game made by Mattel/Radica? |
| The 20Q handheld electronic game was first manufactured in 2003 and subsequently produced over fifty variations. See: Historic Products.
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