In 1906, 800 people attending a fair outside Plymouth, England took part in a competition to guess the weight of an ox. The crowd included butchers and farmers as well as many casual participants who knew little about cattle. Organizers offered prizes for the best estimates, but each contestant had to pay a small fee to participate—two factors that encouraged the group to take their guessing seriously. Most people misjudged the ox's weight by at least 30 pounds, but the crowd as a whole proved remarkably accurate: Its averaged guess came to 1,197 pounds, just one pound less than the animal's actual weight.

It was no fluke. This example and others like it illustrate what author James Surowiecki calls the "wisdom of crowds," in which a group's averaged prediction is almost always more accurate than one individual's guess, even if the members of the group haven't discussed their answers with one another. But how does "group intelligence" come into play if the group members aren't allowed to work together on a problem? In general, each crowd member has unique life experiences and background knowledge that can serve as context in making predictions. Because together the group has more information to work with, it can make better choices.—Rima Chaddha

Best Money Player - Select from the same graphical game displays; you pick the team and wager amount from your BVL bucks account. Each player is credited with 10,000 BVL Bucks on registration and can wager from this account. Wins are credited at 100% and losses are deducted at 110% for games with a point spread (Football, Basketball). Money Line games (Baseball, Hockey) pay wins at the money line rate and losses are deducted at 100% of the amount bet. BVL Bucks are fantasy dollars and used only to replicate the act of wagering. The top ten money players are displayed with amounts won. This site is fantasy sports gambling only and no real wagering or exchange of money occurs. This site's purpose is to replicate Las Vegas sports gambling without the monetary pain associated with a theory or gaming system that does not produce wins. 

It's free to play and an email address is the only personal information required to register. Participate in our "Wisdom of the Crowd" experiment with anonymous voting no registration required.