Dominance, Streakiness, and Non-random Patterns in the Game of
N!àì
Yi Lu 1, Alex de Voogt 2, and Fernand Gobet 3
In the study of play, it has been suggested that hunter-gatherer and egalitarian societies avoid competitive games and forms of dominance in society. The game of N!àì is played by the Ju|’hoan people in Botswana in a way that facilitates competition and contradicts this suggestion. While similar games have been described and studied extensively from qualitative perspectives, we aim to analyze patterns in the game of N!àì from a quantitative and statistical perspective. Specifically, using original data extracted from first-hand video recordings of twenty different matches, we adopt a class of Bradley-Terry pairwise comparison models to analyze players’ latent game-playing abilities. In addition, we demonstrate the use of a Bayesian segmentation model to quantify streakiness. The assessment of the level of streakiness further enables the discussion of whether it is more advantageous to play in a streaky or in a random fashion. The findings question more general assumptions about hunter-gatherer societies and the activities in which they are likely to engage due to the egalitarian nature of their society. Implications for expertise research beyond gesture games are discussed.