Like Monopoly, the game of Oligopoly consists of a square board with 40 individual spaces around it, numbered from 0 to 39. All players begin on space 0 (akin to the “Go” square in Monopoly) and roll a pair of dice to determine how many spaces they advance each turn. However, unlike Monopoly, there is no way to otherwise advance around the board (i.e., there’s no “Chance,” “Community Chest,” going to jail, etc.).
In their first pass around the board, which space from 1 to 39 are players most likely to land on at some point (i.e., not necessarily on their first or last roll, but after any number of rolls)?
A dictionary was created with spaces and probabilities, with an initial probability of $1$ on Space 0.
A new cumulative dictionary was also created. Then for each roll of dice:
Space 7 is the most likely with about $18.2\%$.
The square Oligopoly board has 10 spaces on each side. The first side has spaces 0 through 9, the second side has spaces 10 through 19, the third side has spaces 20 through 29, and the fourth side has spaces 30 through 39.
Because you’re rolling two dice, it’s impossible to land on space 1 in your first pass around the board. Several other spaces on the first side of the board are similarly unlikely.
Putting that first side of the board aside, which space from 10 to 39 are players least likely to land on at some point during their first pass around the board? (Another question: What if you rolled three dice at a time instead of two?)
I used the same code as above and found the minimum instead of maximum. Also repeated for three dice.
Space 10 is the least likely for two dice (from above) with about $10.6\%$.
Space 16 is the least likely for three dice (from below) with about $8.5\%$.