Wally plays pai gow

BTW - January 23 is the Chinese New Year (for 2012). Might have something to do with the game involved.

I'd like to think that Adams was referring to pai gow tiles. Here are my reasons:

1. Dilbert and Wally are exactly the kind of intellectual non-Asian guys you would find at a tile table.
2. Dilbert is a scientific type who I think would be anal about using correct terminology. Personally, I can't stand it when people refer to pai gow poker as pai gow.
3. Dilbert says it is difficult to learn after a few drinks, as opposed to play. I think pai gow poker is pretty easy to learn. It is just difficult to play correctly in some hairy cases. Meanwhile pai gow (tiles) is very hard to learn even the rules.
4. This strip comes out on Chinese New Year. Perhaps it is a nod to that, or an inside joke.
5. I don't know where Dilbert takes place, but there are a lot more locales that offer pai gow poker than pai gow. There are probably closer places Wally could have gone to for playing pai gow poker, which was his alleged motive per the first screen.

Granted, I know this is not the most convincing argument, and I could easily be wrong. I don't know how we would find out, but I'd be willing to at least make a gentleman's bet of honor that Adams was referring to tiles.

Quote: Wizard

I'd like to think that Adams was referring to pai gow tiles. Here are my reasons:

1.Dilbert and Wally are exactly the kind of intellectual non-Asian guys you would find at a tile table.

To refer to Wally as an intellectual is an insult to intellectuals. He is very good at avoiding work, but I just don't think of him as in intellectual.

Quote: Wizard

2.Dilbert is a scientific type who I think would be anal about using correct terminology. Personally, I can't stand it when people refer to pai gow poker as pai gow.
3.Dilbert says it is difficult to learn after a few drinks, as opposed to play. I think pai gow poker is pretty easy to learn. It is just difficult to play correctly in some hairy cases. Meanwhile pai gow (tiles) is very hard to learn even the rules.

I actually have to disagree with you. For anybody with a brain, Pai Gow Poker is an easy game to learn. However, most gamblers don't have a brain (why slots are popular). I've seen a TON of people not be able to figure the game out, even after a few hours of play.

Quote: Wizard

4.This strip comes out on Chinese New Year. Perhaps it is a nod to that, or an inside joke.

5.I don't know where Dilbert takes place, but there are a lot more locales that offer pai gow poker than pai gow. There are probably closer places Wally could have gone to for playing pai gow poker, which was his alleged motive per the first screen.

Granted, I know this is not the most convincing argument, and I could easily be wrong. I don't know how we would find out, but I'd be willing to at least make a gentleman's bet of honor that Adams was referring to tiles.

I'd take you on the honor bet. There is an episode of the Simpsons where Homer's "Vegas wife" is referred to as Amber Pai Gow Simpson. I'm willing to bet in both cases they are referring to the card game, rather than the storied Tiles game.

Edit: REASONS WHY I THINK IT'S PGP, NOT TILES.
1. Pai Gow Poker IS often referred to as Pai Gow, especially at the hundreds of casinos that only offer PGP. Even at casinos that offer both, Pai Gow is usually referred to as TILES, while Pai Gow Poker is referred to as Pai Gow.
2. There is no way to mis-set your tiles. There are optimal sets, and really bad sets, but every set is valid. You CAN foul a PGP hand and lose regardless of whether you would have won or not. After a few drinks, it can be very easy to mis-set your PGP hands, if you don't get the game.
3. Engineers and the like, while book smart, often don't get simple concepts. Put them on a BJ table, and Basic Strategy is impossible to learn. I don't see Wally learning Pai Gow Poker as he's never had an inclination towards cards to my knowledge.

I will add a point.

Is Adams a gambler and/or knowledgeable about the games?
a) Yes - in this case he would not refer to PGP as Pai Gow, certainly not through Dilbert.
b) No - in this case, why use an obscure game like PGP (it's obscure for non-gamblers), rather than Blackjack, Roulette or Baccarat?

The only possibility for it to be PGP is if Adams knows just enough about gambling to know there is a game of PGP, but not know there is a game of Pai Gow [Tiles], since Chinese New Year would call for the latter.

Quote:

To refer to Wally as an intellectual is an insult to intellectuals.

There is a set of strips about young Wally (or was it a cartoon, I don't remember). In there, he's a bright go-getter. But then the job gets to him, I don't remember what exactly happened, but it was smth. serious.
In later strips, Wally shifts from passive avoidance (being plain unhelpful) to active, speaking fluent managerish and attributing to himself fictional work. That doesn't make him an intellectual per se, but the overall concept of the character is that he is not actually stupid, just disillusioned.

Quote: Tiltpoul

To refer to Wally as an intellectual is an insult to intellectuals. He is very good at avoiding work, but I just don't think of him as in intellectual.

My impression of Wally is that he is smart and thinks his the work he is asked to do is unworthy of his time and attention. Perhaps he is also harboring a grudge about being passed over for a promotion. I knew a guy at my last real job almost exactly like Wally. In my nine years there I never knew him to accomplish a damn thing.

However, an argument in your favor is Wally might be too lazy to learn tiles.

Again, it may be hard to get Adams to resolve the question, but we should try to do something to make the bet more interesting. Like the loser has to do something embarrassing. Maybe posting a picture of himself wearing a Dilbert tie, which could be rigged with wire.

Anyone want to bet for the next three weeks Google will direct Dilbert searches to this site? :P

Quote: Nareed

Anyone want to bet for the next three weeks Google will direct Dilbert searches to this site? :P

See what comes up fourth on a search of "dilbert pai gow."

Quote: Wizard

See what comes up fourth on a search of "dilbert pai gow."

I wasn't joking.

Do you suppose if we write "Dilbert Pai Gow" more often we'll rank higher?

Quote: Nareed

Do you suppose if we write "Dilbert Pai Gow" more often we'll rank higher?

What search engines look for is a topic of endless debate. If you just repeated that expression 1,000 times, then search engines would probably interpret it as a trick, and ignore it at best. What I think is more important is how often the expression is viewed.

Quote: Wizard

What search engines look for is a topic of endless debate. If you just repeated that expression 1,000 times, then search engines would probably interpret it as a trick, and ignore it at best. What I think is more important is how often the expression is viewed.

Ok.

But there was that time when searching for "french military victories," yielded a suggestion from google like "Do you mean French military defeats?"

Anyway, in this forum I assume that "Pai Gow" means tiles, unless otherwise specified. I am careful to say PGP or Pai Gow Poker when I post. PGP does not require a degree in advanced math, after all , which Wally probably was too lazy to get :P ON the other hand, Dilbert is not WoV. So Adams' terminology may vary.

What did today's cartoon say?