I’m a fan of the game Six Degrees to Bacon, so when I find a new linking game to play I get excited. Stephen Dolan has put together the Six Degrees of Wikipedia, a handy gadget to see what Wikipedia pages link to each other. For instance, it takes four clicks to get from Batman to Law and Order:

Batman - Fox Broadcasting Company - Catherine Crier - Susan Polk - Law and Order

Or Pringles to Hillary Clinton in three clicks

Pringles - Cincinnati, Ohio - November 7 - Hillary Rodham Clinton

The system gets an easy route since Wikipedia keeps articles on every date with 2007 being the center of everything Wiki (3.45 average clicks). After all the lists, United Kingdom is the most centered article (3.67 average clicks) followed by Billie Jean King and the United States. No idea why.

More fun statistics, it takes 4.573 clicks on average to get from one article to another. Kevin Bacon averages 3.98 clicks.

Post some of your favorite links in the comments.

Perhaps his most memorable role, actor Kevin Bacon is more remembered for being the focus of a trivia game than the star of Footloose and Apollo 13.  Three Albright College students, Craig Fass, Brian Turtle, and Mike Ginelli, are credited with creating the game in 1994 while watching Footloose during a snowstorm.  The game received tons of publicity on Howard Stern and Jon Stewart’s shows and then a book released by the trio.  Film geeks can test their knowledge against friends, trying to trace actors to Kevin Bacon through movies they were in.  For example: Denzel Washington was in the Fallen with John Goodman.  Goodman was in Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon.  The goal is to match actors within 6 steps.  Less than 200 actors take more than six degrees to match.