Six Degrees of Wikipedia
Six Degrees of Wikipedia is a simple challenge: pick any two articles and get from one to the other in six clicks or fewer, using only the links inside the articles. Surprisingly often, you can do it in far fewer.
Where the idea comes from
The name borrows from "six degrees of separation", the idea that any two people in the world are linked by a short chain of acquaintances. The Hungarian writer Frigyes Karinthy described it in a 1929 short story called "Chains". In the 1960s the American psychologist Stanley Milgram tested it with his "small-world" experiment, asking people to pass a letter towards a stranger through friends who might know them, and many letters arrived after only a handful of steps.
Wikipedia behaves like a small world too. Its millions of articles are tied together by links, and a few very well-connected articles, such as countries, cities and major fields of knowledge, act as shortcuts. That is why two subjects that seem to have nothing in common are usually only a few clicks apart.
How to play
- Choose a start and a target. Random articles make the best games.
- Follow links inside the articles only. No search, no typing addresses.
- Count every click. You win if you reach the target in six or fewer.
To make it a contest, play the same pair as a friend and compare: whoever needs fewer links wins. To make it harder, allow fewer than six.
Tips for short chains
- Find the bridge. Most short routes cross one big article in the middle: a country, a war, a city, a century or a science. Aim for it on your first or second click.
- Picture the last step. Ask which article would mention your target in its first paragraphs, and steer towards that one.
- Use people as connectors. Famous people link to places, events, works and other people, so a biography is often a useful stepping stone.
- Do not trust the first idea. The obvious route is not always the shortest. Glance at the whole article before you click.
Six Degrees in Hyperhop
Hyperhop has a Six Degrees mode on iPhone: six links to reach a famous person, such as a leader, a scientist, an actor or an athlete. After each round you see your route next to the shortest one the game found, so you learn which bridges work. The daily puzzle uses the same idea with a fixed pair for everyone, and on the hardest days you only get five links.