A Fun Game: Quant Fund or Metal Band?

Everyone needs a good internet time-waster now and then, and boy have we got a good one for you today: Quant Fund or Metal Band?, a game that asks players to decide whether a given name belongs to a quant fund or a metal band.

A quant fund, for those unaware (I had to look it up, I confess), is short for quantitative fund, which is defined as “an investment fund in which investment decisions are determined by numerical methods rather than by human judgment,” according to Wikipedia. Investment decisions must be determined “purely by computer-based models” to qualify for a quant fund. Hybrid models also exist, whereby both human judgment and computer analysis are utilized.

As we all know, there are thousands of metal bands with some out-there names, and as you’ve likely groked by now, many of those names bear a striking resemblance to quant funds… which makes this game very, very challenging! After initially getting a bunch wrong, the algorithm threw a few metal bands I know my way — Avatar, Sylosis, Polaris — so I’m faring pretty well at the moment.

Try your luck at Quant Fund or Metal Band? right here. I’ll be back at the MS Mansion waiting for our rich robot overlords to take over the world.

Here’s a video we produced some time ago along similar lines: