Could Spock Beat Quark at Tongo?

[Admiral_Sisko]

I thought about this while watching Bashir attempt to beat Quark in "Change of Heart." Quark managed to distract Bashir by talking about Dax, but he wouldn't be able to use a similar tactic with Spock (not because Spock doesn't love, but because Quark wouldn't know him well enough to push his buttons). Would Spock be able to beat him? He has shown an ability to master complex games (three-dimensional chess), and could likely learn to play tongo if given the opportunity.

I would love to see the look on Quark's face when he realizes he's been beaten by someone who's half hew-mon.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Didn't Dax beat him at Tongo? And isn't there some luck and reading of your opponent in it?

 

[Admiral_Sisko]

Didn't Dax beat him at Tongo? And isn't there some luck and reading of your opponent in it?

It's not entirely clear. Quark won more than two hundred consecutive games in 2374. Ezri claimed to have beaten him (when the symbiont was still carried by Jadzia), but Quark denied losing money to her. Besides, as Dax isn't human, her beating Quark doesn't have quite the same level of amusement as Spock trouncing him.

I suppose there is an element of reading your opponent, much like picking up on a bluff in poker, but I don't know for sure without actually playing the game, and nothing exactly like tongo exists in the real world.

 

[R. Star]

I think getting Spock to play Tongo would be far more difficult than him beating Quark.

 

[Mister_Atoz]

I seem to recall Quark saying that they had yet to invent a computer that had mastered Tongo.

Tongo may be more like Poker than chess, in that players rely more on bluffing and intuition than in a logical strategy.

It is also implied in "Corbomite Maneuver" that Spock is unfamiliar with Poker. I've heard many poker player's boast that the game is really more about reading the other players than the cards. I've never actually played the game so I have no opinion.

Spock may not be well equipped for such a game.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I doubt Quark would be enamored with a game that required pure logic and brains. IMO R.Star is right, getting Spock to actually play it would be the hard part.