I regret being the host of this | Tom Scott, Matt Parker, dodie, and Sophie Ward play No Thanks

I invited Sophie from @SophsNotes, dodie from @doddleoddle and Matt Parker from @standupmaths to play a game. Most of us made poor decisions. One didn't.
No Thanks is designed by Thorsten Gimmler and published by Amigo Games; its official site is www.amigo.games/game/nothanks and the set we used is on Amazon UK here: amzn.to/3bDKNQD (that's an affiliate link)
My main channel: / tomscottgo
I'm at www.tomscott.com
Twitter: / tomscott
Instagram: / tomscottgo
Facebook: / tomscott
Series Producer: Cambria Bailey-Jones
Assistant Producer: Sophie Newton
Editor: Pierre Blanc
Game graphics: William Marler wmad.co.uk
Sound Operator: Tom Bartlett
Sound Design: Dan Pugsley www.cassinisound.com/
Executive Producer: Guy Larsen
A Pad 26 / Penny4 Production www.penny4.co.uk
00:00 Intro
00:27 Rules of the game
01:08 The game
20:11 The final scores

[@TomScottGo]

For the folks who are wondering why we didn't put a scoreboard up all through the video: it was just too distracting! There's just too much information on there and it doesn't help with understanding the game: so instead we're using highlighting and camera shots to point out relevant things. (And besides, Unexpected Charging Cable is really the star of this week's show.)

[@typechecked9069]

hi tom!

[@MrCommentGod]

hi tom!

[@Kobenomics]

hi tom!

[@Pepso8P]

I am not sure if it would be too distracting, but I like the moment of surprise at the end where you count it all up, so I am glad you didn't put a scoreboard while you played.

[@declaniii6324]

hi tom!

[@Colopty]

I like that the mathematician lost the math game due to a compulsion to collect any card with interesting numbers on them.

[@reaganbowen9494]

playing this like pokémon

[@IceMetalPunk]

@@reaganbowen9494 Look, Houndoom is the best Pokemon and no amount of stat calculation will convince me otherwise 😂

[@custardbaby4]

Nerdsniped again.

[@marcscattolin1554]

The thing is, though, there cannot be any such thing as a non-interesting number 🙃. Look. An interesting number: any number on a list for some reason. Now, make a list of numbers not on any other list. Now, every number is on a list, meaning every number is interesting!

[@omerd602]

@@marcscattolin1554 The better way to say this is to define a list of all interesting numbers, and then find the smallest number not on that list. Boom! You've got another interesting number! Now add that number to your original list and repeat until infinity

[@reddragon3132]

Who knew Matt's knowledge of numbers would be such a detriment. I did not expect the allure of numbers to cause him to drop all illusions of strategy

[@grzzltn]

In other words, it didn't matter what Matt's going to do, it was a win-win for him; win the game and/or enjoy having the best numbers

[@Corrup7ioN]

A Parker strategy if ever I saw one

[@PeterLePresident]

Hahaha, I'm like him in that regard. I do nonsensical things for numbers.

[@artemlyubchenko3022]

Imagine that, but with complex numbers, and to get the score you take their sum's length.

[@vaguelyweird]

@@PeterLePresident same. good numbers are so tasty

[@doddleoddle]

THE UNDERDOG

[@GeorgeFoot]

The hustler!

[@andrewlow5547]

Good Win!

[@farzaan1479]

The real strategy was to have no strategy

[@kilgirlietrout]

Well played!

[@sacredgeometry]

You knew exactly what you were doing

[@toddbod94]

Fully believe that for some reason Tom Scott owns this pub, but only ever uses it for the occasional video.

[@joshgallie1543]

I believe Tom Scott know someone who know someone who owns a pub

[@lonestarr1490]

@@joshgallie1543 Every brit knows someone who knows someone who owns a pub. So that's not that much of a statement.

[@davidmcgill1000]

Probably a hovercraft parked out front.

[@6023barath]

@@davidmcgill1000 Was it registered in Sark island by chance?

[@NoobixCube]

Life in the plague years. Knowing someone with a pub sitting empty who wouldn't mind a few bucks in venue rental is common.

[@stevenbridges]

Matt's chaotic number favouritism strat 😂

[@highpath4776]

Just Need to play Vs Count Von Count

[@ToMaX444]

"The Parker Strat"

[@lysaali50]

_"there is no such thing as root 2.."_ -Pythagros

[@rugvedkulkarni1593]

@@ToMaX444 What is this in reference to?

[@testoftetris]

I can't stop thinking about how much more interesting this game would be if everyone at the start got to look at 3 random cards and pick 2 of them to throw into the "out of game" pile (plus one at random from the deck of course). Not only would it let everyone have a little bit of extra data to inform their choices, but you'd also get a spectacular element of "what do you know that I don't?" every time you see someone do something a little odd

[@NZsaltz]

I agree, that sounds awesome

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Ooh, that would be diabolical. I like you.

[@randomizednamme]

I think it would be cool also for everyone to have a down card that’s hidden until the end

[@cooledcannon]

In BGA a variant is 10, 20 and 30 are guaranteed to be removed.

[@Colopty]

@@cooledcannon But that gives everyone equal knowledge of which cards are removed, so it wouldn't have the same element of knowing stuff the others don't.

[@ehsteve23]

I really appreciate the effort that went into subtitling the OoOos at 9:25

[@Anivacuum]

Thanks for pointing this out! Never saw such work with subtitles before.

[@erufailon4723]

The people doing Tom's subtitles took some notes from that title sequence video, huh

[@mirjanbouma]

Same, here that was awesome. Great job @ the subtitler (is that the right word?)

[@EmmaVB82]

Now I feel like I missed out by having subtitles turned off! I appreciate this bit, and the colour coding in general, being brought to my attention though 😃

[@rev.rachel]

oh my gosh so impressive...I don't even know how to make that happen on subtitles!

[@timothymclean]

I love how quickly this every-player-for-themselves game turned into a spitefully-cooperate-against-whoever-would-benefit-most-from-this-card game.

[@phil_510]

Woah! The subtitles are color-coded! I’ve only seen that once or twice before, and it really helps with following along here

[@tree427]

and it uses the same colour scheme that tv subtitles do

[@jellevm]

You must not watch a lot of anime ;)

[@Eylrid]

I didn't even know you could do that on youtube

[@asmqb7222]

@@jellevm aegisub vectoring ftw

[@asmqb7222]

Okey dokey time to link the best-captioned video on KZbin: ?v=ddWJatRxfz8 Set the subtitle language to Japanese - _after_ watching the whole thing through with the captions off, potentially 2-3 times so you take everything in. Yep, this is what KZbin's captioning system is capable of. Very much a pity noone uses it - but the level of work in the linked video generally takes months.

[@thatstarwarsnerd6641]

If Tom hadn’t gambled the second lap with the 22, then, by my calculations, he’d have been on 33 and would have beaten Sophie by 5 points.

[@hakairyu1]

Meanwhile if Sophie let it pass to Tom again, she'd be at 42 in third place and Tom would be down a staggering 31 points and won with 28. So Sophie made the right call and went up a ranking, and Tom paid the price.

[@fendalynn6604]

Yet you forgot the 5, that would have given 3 pts to Sophie, I think

[@gavinkemp7920]

that sounds about right.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

@@hakairyu1 Yes, and the optimal play was to make sure Tom doesn't win.

[@nishkaarora6343]

clearly greed has its own cost

[@arnavodkaa]

I genuinely cant believe I am having so much fun watching 4 people playing a card game. That's Tom Scott folks dude makes everything interesting.

[@PsiVolt]

there's a whole world of tabletop game communities online! polygon's overboard is a favorite show of mine

[@zyaicob]

*welcometooverboardpolygonsboardandcardgameshow*

[@bisbis2.0]

Even a microwave 😂

[@andymcl92]

Always love the chemistry between Tom and replaceMatt, but that was a bit of a Parker strategy...

[@lonestarr1490]

:D

[@Aiden-xn6wo]

I knew a joke like this would come up.

[@GerackSerack]

Brilliant!

[@TheGlassgubben]

Nah, that isn't even a Parker strategy. It's simply bad.

[@newcoolvid27]

*classic* parker strategy

[@ODISeth]

I didn’t know it was possible to make multi-colored captions on KZbin, excellent decision to do that Tom!

[@connor1577]

@@user-yf5rv5bx5j haha same!

[@amsyarzero]

I agree, tho I don't think it's Tom who does that. Rather, I think it's by Caption+.

[@paintspot]

9:20 is the best moment of captions :) -Paintspot Infez Wasabi!

[@reddragon3132]

What's funny about this game is that it plays so differently depending on the people you play with. When I play with friends, we leave the cards much later, so there's a much larger exchange of tokens. If I was in Matt's position with the 35 going around, I would normally be able to expect to get well over 10 tokens out of that. I don't know what strategy is optimal but it certainly is extremely dependent on your opponents

[@cooledcannon]

It really is not dependent on opponents. You actively want someone else to take the 35 which is why you pass it around. The only way opponents decisions affect you is if their aggression starves you of tokens, or if their passing gives u a surplus. To put it this way, if you take the 35 for 0, you lose a point. But if someone else takes the 35 for 2, they gain 33, which benefits you for about 11 points.

[@wobblysauce]

@@cooledcannon math.

[@jakesecondname2462]

I think it's a Game Theory Optimal versus Exploitative play type thing as in poker. So, perfect strategy isn't opponent dependent, but winning by as much as possible is.

[@ben8557]

@@cooledcannon "To put it this way, if you take the 35 for 0, you lose a point" You mean you gain 35 points?

[@dmarsub]

@@cooledcannon but wouldn't the "culture of the game" change optinal decisions if you know how much other players value the chance of a future row. If they over or undervalue it from the mathematical optimum that could inform your decisions. Also sabotaging a certain player can be a valid strategy, but is usually also not "optimal".

[@adamnaameeazim6365]

Another banger. Another banger from professional game show host Tom Scott.

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

It's cool to see him try something new and host an unprofessional game show.

[@sebarus8108]

I understood that reference

[@georgedoty-williams2085]

Another banger by Shayne Topp from iCarly

[@solehsolehsoleh]

Tom Scott's Board AF.

[@zyaicob]

That is the last reference I expected to see here

[@himabimdimwim]

360 cameras are so cool! Before this video, I never saw what the practical purpose of a 360 cam was, but after seeing there sheer number of angles and face shots from a single camera, I have to say that it is absolutely incredible.

[@ragnkja]

Compare the “Citation Needed” videos of series 1-2 and series 4-5 (the only ones where they’re seated around a table) to see the impact a 360° camera can have.

[@sourwitch2340]

This is a great way to use them. Another is for making an interactive video, where you can look all around yourself. An example of that are Starkid's One Night Ultimate Werewolf games, where you can then look around and try to find out who is who by actually watching them.

[@himabimdimwim]

The captions in color do show who is talking is so incredible and underrated! Most KZbin captions are a mess in situations in which multiple people are constantly alternating between talking!

[@dragonhunter8807]

the moment tom yelled "HOW?" i felt that. when i play cardgames with family and tell everyone by guessing (if asked) what is in their hands its the same xD

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

Surprise is an important strategy.

[@crazydragy4233]

I can always respect the effort even if it is irritating to get caught haha.

[@jpalz]

Tom saying "The part where I trade some of my reputation and credibility" made me respect him even more for pointing that out

[@onthepalehorse]

That was his plan all along!

[@morganlouden3850]

"that's why they're called counters Tom! Because you count them" had me cracking up 😂

[@darkerbit]

9:25 with subtitles is one of the more creative things I've seen done with subtitles, good job whoever made those!

[@Greyrabbit22]

I love Matt's quirky attitude and his winding of Tom!

[@TorgieMadison]

"How many counters do I have?" "Nine." "Ok, good to know." Hahaha!

[@AdamCraftPC1234]

I'm So glad Tom Scott made this channel its so much fun

[@MF-fd2ug]

The Colour-Coded Subtitles are a really nice touch. Thank you for holding up Acessibility on KZbin.

[@Dardove]

So there was a Korean show called the Genius which played this (with their own setup). I never knew it was an actual card game. Cool to see it again.

[@splodeyferret]

Yes! If I recall correctly they only had two cards missing, and there was a special round near the end where everyone could bid on one of the missing cards?

[@raytonlin1]

I love the Genius!

[@Ayane13b]

This was hilarious. Your guests messing with you is just like how my family messes with my Dad. Absolutely love it.

[@blackbird95913]

jesus i've been watching both numberphile and dodie FOREVER and its just wild to see them in a video together. thank you tom

[@sebastianwlodarczyk]

It's amazing that Matt managed to be both an agent of chaos and order (is "agent of order" a thing? After watching this I'm gonna say it is a thing)!

[@robertofontiglia4148]

You play the types of games I LOVE. These relatively simple card games, the ones I can make at home. I don't need to buy an expensive boardgame, I don't need to spend two hours reading the rules... You just break out the game and play. My absolute favourite games at partiies!

[@antisocial-gamer7293]

I'd like to see Mr Unexpected Charging Cable in more episodes; his demeanor is award-winning if I'm honest!

[@kaziiqbal7257]

“I’m so thrown by my rash decision” is the story of my life

[@TylerFurrison]

Gonna love the mathematician playing by his own rules

[@jackeea_]

Now I want to see a version of this game where instead, you're scored on the interestingness of the numbers you end up with!

[@dig8634]

You would either need a judge whom you are supposed to please, or some other third party, or the results would be highly subjective and up for debate

[@Anonymous-df8it]

This needs to be pinned!

[@HaloInverse]

Could be paradoxical. The least "interesting" number would be made _more_ interesting because the fact that it is "the least interesting number" would be _an interesting fact about that number._ It may be possible to extend this idea to prove that numbers _cannot_ be objectively ranked on interestingness, because the act of ranking them alters the interestingness of the numbers, thereby invalidating the proposed absolute ranking. ...so yes, you would need a judge, and a time limit for the inevitable debating and shouting. Could get _very_ silly.

[@Slaeowulf]

Dodie is an absolute sweetheart.

[@cemerson]

I do love this game. You quickly find that taking cards to spite someone else is not a winning strategy!

[@davidmann2414]

It’s amazing how many times they intentionally lost a load of points just so someone else wouldn’t gain a few or even just break even!

[@AlexGoings]

I missed the "Lowest score wins" part of the rules explanation and I thought I was going insane with the strategy

[@kisaragi-hiu]

Caption+'s subtitles are so good. Really wish more channels would use their service.

[@SpankyPie]

Shout out to the captioning team for the CC being color-coded.

[@607]

9:25 What a dedication to the captions. :)

[@McJaews]

Here's my fingers crossed that Dodie can put Tom in touch with Jacob Collier for a cool video sometime.

[@stijnlieftink7026]

Oh yes please make this happen

[@dennis_johnson]

Ultimate crossover

[@yohhhanna3326]

OMG BIG UPVOTE ON THAT IDEA

[@chelsea706]

YESSSSSS

[@rasmusn.e.m1064]

The overlap between linguistics and music theory is definitely there. Something on vowel quality vs timbre would be very interesting :)

[@bagusamartya5325]

Sometimes I forget that Dodie and Tom are just straight up friends

[@3dcbd393ce]

Kudos to the person who made captions at 9:25.

[@ReedCBowman]

I want to see Matt's version of the game, where you have some interesting mathematical rule(s), or rules of mathematical interest, by which runs of cards are grouped, rather than it being just consecutive numbers. So, strings of consecutive primes. Strings of consecutive squares. Etc.

[@5hirtandtieler]

Love the choice of players - made for a really fun, captivating game to watch! And, I dont say this often, props to the sponsor for accepting all of tom’s honesty!

[@lorcanoconnor6274]

That’s numberwang!

[@ThisIsAYoutubeAccountAsd]

Wow, the O's coloured wave at 9:25 in the subtitles was definitely a nice touch

[@CorneliusThroatworthy]

just to let you know in case you haven't already fixed it, the links at the end of the video are titled as "Mark's Liv's & Rohin's" channels (I presume from when y'all played skull, but I might be misremembering) rather than "Sophie's, Matt's & Dodie's" channels loved the video, loved the friendly competitiveness that made you visibly cheesed off, and the game itself is a fun & interesting concept - I've enjoyed playing Skull, & this feels like it fills a similar niche :)

[@ingridplata2411]

The nature of Tom as a game host is such that players are naturally drawn to collaborating against him

[@betoh7140]

Honestly, mad props to whoever did the subtitles for the "oooo" at 9:25

[@recurvestickerdragon]

the rainbow Os (captions on) when they oooh-ed all together made me giggle

[@danielleanderson6371]

That fun fact about 16 is precisely why it's my favorite number! Also a 4x4 grid is just super aesthetically pleasing to look at, and if I could see in four dimensions I bet a 2x2x2x2 tesseract would be just as lovely.

[@kickwriteteach2313]

this gives off Citation Needed vibes and I love it.

[@jmhastings0]

the best part of the video was the nuanced and thoughtful character development of the Unexpected Charging Cable. masterful execution Tom!

[@pithlyx9576]

i love dodie and its feels so good to have listened to her music for so long and then see her on another channel like this.

[@rachmanfachri]

Dodie wins thanks to her good manner towards those yummy chocolate buttons

[@connorgoss7786]

I appreciate the effort for the captions at 9:25.

[@gooddogtyson6135]

people have probably mentioned this already but i love the coloured subtitles

[@psychicpenguin2850]

I would love a 1 - 2 hour version of this.

[@EmmaVB82]

I think you would probably enjoy this Nebula Original series, called “Money”; tagline, “Tom Scott hosts a series all about trust, negotiation, and money”, and it’s roughly 70 mins across 5 episodes a bit like this, but higher stakes and drama :) (I’m sure Tom has a Curiosity Stream/Nebula sponsored vid around somewhere with a code to sign up to them both - I recommend!)

[@bernds6587]

I always love if someone makes subtitles, and especially on Toms channel, where different people get different colours! Thanks for that. Now what's awesome is the easter egg at 9:24

[@alexisericson241]

The captions turning all sorts of colours when they go "ooooo" gets the point across and is really funny all at the same time

[@rumblezerofive]

Matt is just so charming and wholesome in the way he cares about the numbers

[@woodfur00]

Definitely can relate to Tom's fatal flaw of always needing to make sure others know they've counted wrong.

[@thisrandomdude_]

I wish I had the words to tell you how awesome you are, Tom! This video was really really fun to watch, and I always appreciate honesty in advertisements. Thank you for being an amazing presence on this platform!

[@0xTJ]

I'm really loving Tom Scott plus!

[@DenisRyan]

Might I suggest I'd love to see you play a round of Set with friends, Tom. It's a really great card game of creating sets based on number, shape, shade and colour.

[@mirjanbouma]

I've done Set! It's great fun and a good brain workout.

[@kaishang6406]

I've played it once. I've never been bullied so hard in a brain game before.

[@233Deadman]

That sounds like it would be Matt's favourite game...

[@PlanckRelic]

I absolutely love Matt's alternative goals/values/success measure

[@andrewmcallister3529]

Has youtube always been able to do colored subtitles? I appreciate the effort, Tom.

[@baguettegott3409]

That was so much fun :D I was having such a crappy night and I feel so much better now, I'm so glad Tom decided to make this channel

[@dragoncurveenthusiast]

Hope you're doing better now, stranger on the internet!

[@vertxxyz]

The coloured subtitles during the "ooooh" really are wonderful. Great job to whoever put in that effort.

[@LunizIsGlacey]

I love these "card games in a pub with other KZbinrs" type of videos SO MUCH!!

[@CuteLittleHen]

Matt was definitely the MVP of this game, he drowned the whole ship just to get the captain.

[@smutnejajo5149]

13:55 "Oh, I feel like I'm giving you a present" It's funny because the Polish edition of this game is called "Present"

[@trizgo_]

the color-coded subtitles are a wonderful touch

[@TheGeladoo]

These videos where you host games are my favorites Not trying to say the educational videos are bad or anything, I love them all, these ones just manage to go beyond

[@mirjanbouma]

They really pull you in, don't they? I wouldn't have thought watching other people I don't know playing a game I don't know would be so entertaining, but here we are

[@uncreativecosmos]

@@mirjanbouma Just finished binge watching all his gameshow related ones. All of them are so good !

[@olivermartin3772]

Matt’s goals are beyond our understanding

[@jaxsmolenbee4683]

Tom Scott being friends with dodie makes zero and one hundred percent sense at the same time and I don’t know how to explain it

[@pitedapollo6175]

ikr

[@baguettegott3409]

All british people are friends with each other, hope that helps

[@pitedapollo6175]

@@baguettegott3409 indeed we are

[@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721]

They're both the best person in the world so every time they collab it makes it one of the best videos ever created. This is Dodie's third time in a Tom Scott video, so she's really a frequent collaborator now.

[@walterw2]

@@vigilantcosmicpenguin8721 ooh! what are the other two?

[@jbw416]

the captions on this are so well made

[@Pepso8P]

I am actually glad there were subtitles, I didn't understand a few parts when you talked at the same time. And they are very nice, only one issue, the end screen blocks them! If you could move them up a bit during that segment, it would be perfect.

[@alexismandelias]

The subtitles at 9:20 are a work of art

[@JudyCZ]

The subtitles are pure joy! There are so many people who depend on them and so many creators that seem to not care. I love that there are people like Tom who put the work into it - the colours were brilliant and everything matches. Thank you so much, Tom.

[@thothtahuti5509]

This is fantastic, I'm loving the "bar games" 😊

[@FTE99699]

Brilliant game, brilliant and adorable players - I envy your life Tom :)

[@jackporter2251]

The guests in this were so good!

[@Owimyr]

This video made the price of the game on US Amazon go up 25% since yesterday.

[@nghx5976]

Love what you did with the subtitles Tom

[@WhiteWulfe]

"Surprised they let me keep that in the script"... Love that playful bit about it being a sponsored segment.

[@bemde]

These subtitles are amazing! Thanks for making the video not only acessible, but the subtitles also really fun, the "Ooooo" was amazing :D

[@LordHengun]

The captions on this video is some next level stuff, great work!

[@Adam-bh1lk]

Matt's strategy is A++ here

[@HAL-oj4jb]

I really really love this second channel, every video is something new and interesting. I never know how every new video will be, but I know that it will be great. The caving video was so emotional for myself, and the coffee video probably is among my top 10 most interesting videos I've ever seen.

[@toadstooltadd3843]

Loving this “games in a pub” series

[@Zenithian186]

Gotta say I absolutely adore the subtitles on this video, colour-coded, multiple lines at once, perfectly synced. Absolutely great for anyone hard of hearing or just anyone that struggles with following multiple people at once!

[@Wordsnwood]

"We Get to Keep These Now?" / "No!" --- Great line, but the lines your sponsor let you keep may be almost as good.

[@Wheeze_NL]

These are lovely! The interaction between all the lovely people, and an interesting game! Anyone want to try playing it?

[@legowerewolf]

Everybody without captions on missed something hilarious at about 9:25.

[@rachelf6745]

i LOVE how youve used different colour captions for different speakers, i wish that was standard

[@rachelf6745]

honestly id be happy if non-auto captions were standard but this is above and beyond

[@AlKohaiMusic]

I could watch 10 hours of this.

[@666WTFLOLKATZ666]

Something seems to have gone wrong with the end card annotations, when you hover over their channel icons Sophie's says "Mark's channel," Dodie's says "Rohin's channel," and Matt's says "Liv's channel"