Dreidel Fairness Study

Robert Nemiroff & Eva Nemiroff

Email: nemiroff@mtu.edu

Abstract

Are dreidels fair? In other words, does the average dreidel have an equal chance of turning up any one of its four sides? To explore this hypothesis, three different dreidels were each spun hundreds of times with the number of occurrences of each side recorded. It was found that all three dreidels tested – a cheap plastic dreidel, an old wooden dreidel, and a dreidel that came embossed with a picture of Santa Claus – were not fair. Statistically, for each dreidel, some sides came up significantly more often than others. Although an unfair dreidel does not necessarily make the game itself unfair, it is conjectured that hundreds of pounds of chocolate have been distributed during Chanukah under false pretenses.

Introduction

A game popular with many children during Chanukah is called Dreidel. The game involves the spinning of a four-sided top called, not-coincidentally, a dreidel. The word “dreidel”, as used in English, derives from the word dreyen which translates “to spin” in Yiddish [1].

The rules of Dreidel may vary, but invariably involve people spinning a dreidel and examining which side turns up [2]. A common unstated assumption is that each side has an equal chance of ending face-up. Depending on the side showing, a player may be required to place coins in or out of a central pot. In the modern experience of the authors, these coins are typically made of foil-wrapped chocolate and referred to as “Chanukah gelt”.

Over the years, the lead author, surely among many others, has been known to wonder aloud why certain sides of a dreidel seem to turn up more often than others. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge,
no formal study of the fairness of dreidels has been done. Therefore, the researchers have performed one such study and report the results here.

Three dreidels were procured for this study. The first was a small, common, plastic dreidel that was chosen randomly from 25 similar dreidels ordered online from Amazon.com in 2015 January. Given that all 25 dreidels together cost $8.48, this is called here the “cheap plastic dreidel”. The second dreidel was small and wooden and just found around the researcher’s house. Although this dreidel appeared familiar to everyone asked, no one could recall its origin. This dreidel is here dubbed the “old wooden dreidel”. The third dreidel was discovered serendipitously online while ordering the first dreidel. It was relatively large and in the place of more-typical Hebrew letters, it had pictures of Santa Claus, a Christmas Tree, a snowman, and a candy cane. It was not known to the researchers previously that dreidels with such decorations existed, and, despite exceeding a predetermined price point, was so intriguing that that it was ordered and soon referred to as the “Santa dreidel”. All three dreidels are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: The three dreidels used this study.

Procedure

Both researchers, not-coincidentally father and daughter, spun all three dreidels, spun them at different times over 11 days in February and March 2015, and spun them on two different surfaces. Complaints of boredom were disfavored. The surface of the table in the TV room was relatively hard, while the surface of dining room table was comparatively soft as it was covered with a thick plastic tablecloth. Each spin was a “real spin” in that the dreidel revolved at least several times and it was not initially obvious to the spinner which side would finish face-up. The researchers were not trying to create any result – it was really unknown to them whether each dreidel was fair, and they were curious to find out. Consecutive spins were conducted in a simple manner similar to spins made and observed at numerous previous Chanukah celebrations. After each spin, a researcher would record the result with a tick mark on a piece of paper. These tick marks were later counted up and transcribed on the family computer. Spins that caused the dreidel to fall off the table were respun on the table. This occurrence, although potentially a point of arduous debate, was deemed rare enough so as to not significantly bias the results.

Results

None of the dreidels tested were fair. After 2,550 spins, a straightforward statistical analysis involving the Chi-Squared parameter showed a 6.7 x 10- 6 chance that the spins produced by the cheap plastic dreidel were consistent with a fair dreidel. And that dreidel was the most fair of the three! The old wooden dreidel was the least fair, with a miniscule 4.8 x 10-48 chance of being unbiased, while the Santa dreidel’s spins were in the middle with an also tiny 4.6 x 10-28 chance of being equitable. Basic results are summarized in Table 1.

Table 1 Dreidel ג or Santa נ or candy ש or פ or tree ה or snow -man Spins χ2 P(≥χ2) Santa 109 302 134