Where would you put your stand?
Three vendors sell the same ice cream at the same price along a circular beach. You are one of them.
Part 1 of 4
Pick your spot
Drag stand A around the shore, or use the “Move A with a slider” control. Watch how many customers choose A; each dot chooses its nearest stand.
- Your spot
- B moves
- Customers shift
- Tomorrow
Drag A or use its position slider; the totals show where customers go.
Your result
A customer chooses the nearest stand along the shore. Equally close stands split that customer.
Keep all three stands fixed. Compare where customers are:
How B and C choose: They each choose using yesterday’s positions. Neither sees today’s new choices.
Choose a prediction first. “Not sure” is fine.
What actually happened?
The broader idea
What carries beyond the beach?
Here, you know their goal. You do not know their next move. Outside this model, you may be uncertain about both.
A result can change because others chose differently, even when your own stand stayed put. Before predicting someone’s move, ask what they are trying to achieve.
Related writing: Which Game Are We Playing? →How do B and C choose?
Each independently chooses the position that would have served them best if the others had stayed in yesterday’s positions. They do not see your new choice or each other’s new choice first. This is one deliberately simple strategy, not a claim about real vendors.
What changed?
Inspired by the Lemonade Stand Game: lemonade in the original, ice cream here. This is a simplified model; the customer distribution and the other vendors’ decision rule are chosen to make each change visible.