The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds Unblocked — Play Free Online
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The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds unblocked: play The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds online free right here in your browser — no download, no sign-up, works on a school Chromebook.
The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds is less a game than a playable essay. You are handed a crowd of small grey faces and a pair of simple tools, and over roughly half an hour you find out why networks of people can be brilliant at some things and disastrous at others. Nicky Case, the developer behind several pieces on this site, built it as an interactive explanation of how ideas, rumours and habits move between people.
A session is calm and unhurried. Nothing chases you and nothing can be lost. Each chapter poses a small question, such as how a piece of news travels or why a habit catches on in one group and stalls in another. You answer it by changing who is connected to whom and watching the result play out on screen.
If you came here for We Become What We Behold, this is a natural next stop. It has the same short, clickable format and the same habit of making an abstract point through something you do with your own hands rather than something you read.
How to play
Press "let's play!" to begin. The whole interface is the mouse or a finger:
- Drag from one face to another to draw a connection between them.
- Drag across an existing line to cut it.
- Use the numbered circles at the bottom to see the chapters and jump between them.
After each change, watch how the crowd reacts. The point is not to hit a target score but to notice which shape of network lets a rumour, an idea or a drinking habit spread quickly, and which shape keeps it contained.
Tips
- Change one link at a time. If you rewire half the crowd at once you cannot tell which connection made the difference.
- Try the opposite of what you expect. Cutting a line is often as informative as adding one.
- Read the text between the interactive bits. It carries the argument, and the toys only make sense with it.
- Give yourself a clear half hour if you want to go through in order, though the chapter circles make it easy to stop and return later.
Similar games on We Become What We Behold
The Evolution of Trust is the closest relative: another Nicky Case explorable, this one about cooperation and why people stop trusting each other. Adventures With Anxiety is more personal and story-led, and Coming Out Simulator 2014 is a narrative choice game. If you want something more playful, Life: The Game and Whack Your Boss are lighter takes on choices and consequences.
It suits anyone who likes to learn by poking at a system, on a laptop or a phone, and it runs in the browser with nothing to install.
Questions about The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds
Is The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds unblocked at school?
The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds runs in an ordinary browser tab from wbwwb.com, with nothing to download or install, so it plays on most school Chromebooks and work computers. If a network filter blocks the site, only that network's administrator can change it.
How do I play The Wisdom and/or Madness of Crowds?
Click "let's play!", then drag from one face to another to draw a connection and drag across a line to cut it. The numbered circles at the bottom are the chapters.
How long does it take?
It is designed as a playable essay of about half an hour if you go through it in order.
Is there a score or a way to lose?
No. It is an interactive explanation rather than a scored game; the aim is to see how the shape of a network changes how ideas spread.
Does it work on a phone?
It runs in a modern browser and is controlled by dragging, so touch should work, though a mouse is more precise for small faces.
