“Neeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrd alert!” Well, there are sexier ways to start a blog entry than a mathematician’s game theory, but that’s the path I chose, and you’re reading a cornhole building blog, so let’s not get judgy. I mean the dude got a Nobel Prize for the theory, so maybe we can just see where this goes. Russell Crowe made the theory digestible in the movie “A Beautiful Mind” (link to referenced scene). In the film, Crowe played the character of John Nash, who had an epiphany while getting schlonkered with his boys at a pub, as a blonde bombshell walked in, accompanied by a few cute brunette friends. Nash deduced that all of his horny friends were going to try and hook up with the blonde. Knowing that they would ultimately block each other from being able to achieve this feat, the next logical move for his friends, would be to shift focus to the brunettes, who would certainly shut them down again, because they would clearly be the second choice. His theory was that, if the guys could all agree to go straight for the brunettes, ignoring the blonde, they could ALL have a pretty solid chance of getting laid. I mean they were college age mathematicians in the 1940s after all, so the odds were totally in their favor from the onset.
Horny mathematicians, booze, blonde, 1940s…. what just happened here? Basically Nash discerned that in a non cooperative situation, where everyone is out ONLY for their own self interests, the optimal result involves the participants working together, to achieve an outcome greater for EVERY party involved than what they could have hoped to achieve on their own. For example, the odds were that none of the guys in the bar were going to make a “love connection” that night going for the blonde, but Nash found a way for everyone to have a strong chance of making one, when focused on the brunettes. Everyone involved could succeed where before, there was no such chance. .
The Cornhole Collective was founded, though unintentionally, on this same theory. With distance removing the all too common barrier of perceived “competition”, two custom cornhole builders exchanged information. One provided information on efficient building methods, and the other information on intricate artwork application. Through the mutual success immediately gained, the relationship continued, exchanging more information, and collaborating efforts to explore new areas. Over time more builders became involved in the exchange, and while a noticeable increase in benefits continued, no noticeable consequences were observed.
As with any hard earned skill, there is a perceived right of passage gained through learning things the hard way, causing a protection of that information. This behavior leads to a solitary mission for growth, which proves itself repeatedly, to be long and hard. While a collaborative exchange of information can reduce the time for growth by half for two parties, imagine what happens when there are 10 parties. It reduces the time for the same growth, to be reduced by as much as 90%! The collective has amassed thousands of builders, and seeks to improve the industry of building custom cornhole boards as a whole. When barriers are easier to overcome, a mission for self growth is more likely to be sustained, allowing the bar for excellence to be ever continuously raised.
As a builder of personalized cornhole boards, I have found my main competition to not be my neighboring craftsman, but rather Amazon, Walmart and outlets of a similar nature. Their manufacturing efficiencies through machines, fuel their mission for cost control through the reduction of skilled labor, and removal of quality materials, rather than achieving excellence. With a market so vast, only with the realization that you are not capable of fully meeting the demand, even with the supplement of other local builders of custom cornhole boards, are you able to achieve Nash’s equilibrium. Together we are able to collaborate and grow our craft at an exponential rate, and elevate the standard of our customers beyond that of what’s available on the shelf of their local super store. We are not each competitors, we are each others’ muses.