The WikiRace Game
Procrastinators and History Buffs alike have probably all heard of this game in some form or another. Though it goes by several names and can vary in rules or strategies, the basic premise is always the same; Get from one Wikipedia page to another in the most efficient way possible. Whether you and your opponent are racing for speed, or trying to go through the fewest pages possible, the goal is always to get from same starting page on Wikipedia to a predetermined finish-line page. The game works under the assumption that Wikipedia’s entire set of pages, which currently stands at around 5.25 million articles, are all strongly connected, meaning that it is indeed possible to reach any given article from another through a series of imbedded links.
For instance, the race could be set to start at the link listed below, which is the Wikipedia page for the Wikirace game itself, and the end page could be for Audi, the car company. In this case, one competitor could reach the final goal through the pages for “Racing”, “Vehicle”, “Motor Vehicle”, “Alternative fuel vehicle”, “Audi A3”, and then finally reaching the end page, “Audi”. Though this may seem relatively expeditious since the two topics are scarcely similar, another competitor could do it in less time and also in fewer pages. “Racing” does seem to be the first logical step here, but this second competitor could then go through “Auto Racing”, “Formula Palmer Audi”, and then reach the end page, “Audi”.
Though one may not be able to prove that Wikipedia’s articles are all strongly connected, there does not exist a list of impossible start-end page combinations. So it is reasonable to think that the enormous set of pages is strongly connected given the nature in which the website is set up (references, galore). However, there is a list on the page linked below which gives several examples that are apparently very difficult to get to from any starting page. These are generally so difficult because of the topic’s specificity, which means that not many other pages will have links to them. This means that they immediately will have fewer paths to them from the starting page.
These super specific pages are in high contrast to more “hub”-like pages that possess many more links in it and many more references to it on other pages. An example of such a hub-page would be “United States”, which as you may be able to imagine, covers a plethora of topics and is referenced in equally many other locations. These types of pages can be useful in more complicated matches, as once you reach one of these highly connected pages you increase the number of paths connecting you to the final page. Obviously, pages such as this would make very easy end pages by the same logic.
So go now and try your luck at the Wikirace game! (Just make sure to get back to your homework after.)