2024 Gaming Hoopla Math Trade (2025 info to come)
The Gaming Hoopla is offering a no-ship math trade for attendees to trade their unloved games for games that they hope they can give some love to.
- The submission period to offer games for trade is March 24th to April 14th. At that point, new games for trade cannot be listed any longer.
- The want list submission period then opens April 14th and closes April 28th.
- Then the math trade software will run, using all the want lists from the participants as input, and the output it will create will tell everybody which of their games gets traded, and what games they will be receiving in return.
- At the Hoopla, at 10am on Saturday, everybody will meet to make the gigantic game exchange.
What is a math trade and how does it work?
A math trade is a game trade organized among several people, where person A gives a game to person B, B gives a game to C, …, and Z gives a game to A, completing a loop. Several of these trade loops of different sizes can occur, and the software that creates the loops tries to get the most number of trades as possible. A "no-ship" math trade means that everyone meets in person to physically exchange games at the end of a math trade, instead of sending and receiving items in the mail.
A math trade has three phases: the submission phase, the want list phase, and the results phase.
PHASE 1 - SUBMISSIONS:
On BoardGameGeek.com (BGG), a list of games is created by math trade participants, called a "geeklist". During this window of time, participants list what games they would like to trade away. This time window is called the submission period, and this geeklist is called the submission list. You can view the entire list anytime during the submission period to get an idea of what games will be available in the trading pool.
PHASE 2 - WANT LIST:
When the submission period ends, the second phase begins, called the want list. Using a third-party program in conjunction with BGG, users then create a list of games that are acceptable trades for each one of their submissions. For example: "For my game A, I am willing get game H, X, or Y in trade. For my game B, I will only accept game L." It is encouraged to put many games on the want list for each of your trade games, in case your first choice of games isn’t available.
PHASE 3 - RESULTS:
Once the want list window closes, a mathematical, software project calculates the maximum amount of trades based on everyone's want lists, hence the name "a math trade". Those results are posted for everyone to view. Not all of your submissions might make it into a trade loop, because 1) you didn't find any items that you were willing to receive in exchange for this item, or 2) no one else was interested in receiving your item. Once at the Hoopla, you will then meet up with all other participants in this math trade and swap the appropriate games. You will already know exactly who is getting your games and you will know exactly what new items you are receiving.
The important thing to note about a math trade is that you will always receive a game you asked for whenever one of your games gets traded away. You will never get a game you don’t want in return. However, if you are offering a game for trade that nobody else wants, it won’t get traded, and it will still be yours.
If you have games that you own that you would like to trade for different games and are interested in participating but want more detailed information about how all this works, feel free to send an email to Scott at [email protected], and he will answer whatever questions you have. You can also visit https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/36795/math-trade-wtf for a in-depth tutorial about math trades.
A math trade is a game trade organized among several people, where person A gives a game to person B, B gives a game to C, …, and Z gives a game to A, completing a loop. Several of these trade loops of different sizes can occur, and the software that creates the loops tries to get the most number of trades as possible. A "no-ship" math trade means that everyone meets in person to physically exchange games at the end of a math trade, instead of sending and receiving items in the mail.
A math trade has three phases: the submission phase, the want list phase, and the results phase.
PHASE 1 - SUBMISSIONS:
On BoardGameGeek.com (BGG), a list of games is created by math trade participants, called a "geeklist". During this window of time, participants list what games they would like to trade away. This time window is called the submission period, and this geeklist is called the submission list. You can view the entire list anytime during the submission period to get an idea of what games will be available in the trading pool.
PHASE 2 - WANT LIST:
When the submission period ends, the second phase begins, called the want list. Using a third-party program in conjunction with BGG, users then create a list of games that are acceptable trades for each one of their submissions. For example: "For my game A, I am willing get game H, X, or Y in trade. For my game B, I will only accept game L." It is encouraged to put many games on the want list for each of your trade games, in case your first choice of games isn’t available.
PHASE 3 - RESULTS:
Once the want list window closes, a mathematical, software project calculates the maximum amount of trades based on everyone's want lists, hence the name "a math trade". Those results are posted for everyone to view. Not all of your submissions might make it into a trade loop, because 1) you didn't find any items that you were willing to receive in exchange for this item, or 2) no one else was interested in receiving your item. Once at the Hoopla, you will then meet up with all other participants in this math trade and swap the appropriate games. You will already know exactly who is getting your games and you will know exactly what new items you are receiving.
The important thing to note about a math trade is that you will always receive a game you asked for whenever one of your games gets traded away. You will never get a game you don’t want in return. However, if you are offering a game for trade that nobody else wants, it won’t get traded, and it will still be yours.
If you have games that you own that you would like to trade for different games and are interested in participating but want more detailed information about how all this works, feel free to send an email to Scott at [email protected], and he will answer whatever questions you have. You can also visit https://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/36795/math-trade-wtf for a in-depth tutorial about math trades.