Thanks for the numbers. The number for Buffett worked like a charm but the number for Tam O' Shanter not so much. I dispute the characterization that it is all luck. I have played it numerous times and a ten is always blocking a card to win the game.
The same applies to Kingdom. I'd rate it as skill/luck balanced. The skill part is figuring out that you can manipulate the stock and pretty much choose what goes into the eight tableau piles. Undo and then play my solution and you'll see that I rarely bury a low denomination card in the waste. The secret is to keep a playable move in reserve. Let's say a 3D turns up on the waste pile. Undo one card until the 3D will be the next card dealt. Now use a move you've refused to make earlier from a tableau pile to a foundation and lo and behold your 3D will be automatically dealt to the space it vacated.
KINGDOM .................2 Decks. Very Hard (<1%). Mostly Luck. skill/luck balanced
Ken Blackwell put in a brief appearance when this new forum was implemented. He wasn't happy about the new methods we were obliged to develop re uploading and using solution. He was happy when I gave him a copy of his own solution as ihad lost his one. He vanished again soon afterwards.
Until I actually SEE a winning game number I am going to rate this as IMPOSSIBLE. Not just idle conjecture but the fact that the odds of actually clearing a column are astronomical. Imagine that you have found a deal that delivers all 8 aces and all 8 twos. That would mean you have scored 16, leaving you probably 64 in the stock. "Probably" because there is no way hypothetically than you could forecast how many of your piles would still contain two cards. Each of those cards would be dealt automatically to maintain the correct minimum of cards per pile. We've all played PGS long enough to know that creating an empty pile that you can fill when you choose improves the odds of winning. With Block you'd choose to take a card from a pile of two cards thus making two piles of just one card in each and also expose a more useful card.
Comments
Buffett
1 Deck. Very Hard (1%). Mostly Luck.
#1859821055
Thanks for the numbers. The number for Buffett worked like a charm but the number for Tam O' Shanter not so much. I dispute the characterization that it is all luck. I have played it numerous times and a ten is always blocking a card to win the game.
Agreed that it should be at worst "Mainly luck". Will post a partial.
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The same applies to Kingdom. I'd rate it as skill/luck balanced. The skill part is figuring out that you can manipulate the stock and pretty much choose what goes into the eight tableau piles. Undo and then play my solution and you'll see that I rarely bury a low denomination card in the waste. The secret is to keep a playable move in reserve. Let's say a 3D turns up on the waste pile. Undo one card until the 3D will be the next card dealt. Now use a move you've refused to make earlier from a tableau pile to a foundation and lo and behold your 3D will be automatically dealt to the space it vacated.
KINGDOM .................2 Decks. Very Hard (<1%).
Mostly Luck. skill/luck balanced#1199370752
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Are you leaving Picture Patience to the probably greatest PGS solve by Ken Blackwell ?
ONE234
1 Deck. Very Hard (<1%). Mostly Luck.
#2003282
I hate to say it but I'm going to need the full solution for Tam O'Shanter.
Picture Patience
2 Decks. Very Hard (1%). 🤣 Mostly Luck.
Ken Blackwell put in a brief appearance when this new forum was implemented. He wasn't happy about the new methods we were obliged to develop re uploading and using solution. He was happy when I gave him a copy of his own solution as ihad lost his one. He vanished again soon afterwards.
10C up to free the 7S and then job done.
THIRTEEN PACKS
2 Decks. Very Hard (2%). Skill/luck balanced.
BLOCK
2 Decks. Very Hard (<<1%). Skill/Luck balanced.
Until I actually SEE a winning game number I am going to rate this as IMPOSSIBLE. Not just idle conjecture but the fact that the odds of actually clearing a column are astronomical. Imagine that you have found a deal that delivers all 8 aces and all 8 twos. That would mean you have scored 16, leaving you probably 64 in the stock. "Probably" because there is no way hypothetically than you could forecast how many of your piles would still contain two cards. Each of those cards would be dealt automatically to maintain the correct minimum of cards per pile. We've all played PGS long enough to know that creating an empty pile that you can fill when you choose improves the odds of winning. With Block you'd choose to take a card from a pile of two cards thus making two piles of just one card in each and also expose a more useful card.
So in a nutshell, don't waste your time on it.
AGREED!