Solitaire Chooser FAQ
Last updated 8/2/2006
Here are the answers to a couple of questions I've been asked
by people who have used my Hand-Choosing program
Question 1.
Now that I've used the Sol chooser, I am wondering (having forgotten if you already explained this) how you came to devise this "predictor". It's puzzling to a non-math person like myself how a program comes to know on the basis of only 7 cards how the game will ultimately play out????????????/
Answer 1.
Excellent question.
Answers:
1. In your original email to me you said something about "---the odds that the programmer built in--". Well, I don't think the programmers built in any particular odds, but the fact that each card is (more or less) randomly chosen for every location with every new deal supplies the basic "odds".
What this means is that every card you turn over in the 7 columns could be ANY card left unchosen at another location. So, my rules attempt to optimaize the effect of any new card you turn over.
From playing many many hands, I have observed that, generally, the more "help" you get right at the beginning of a hand, the more likely you are to win it. So, my handchooser attempts to evaluate each hand dealt for its immediate value in getting you off to a good start.
Once started, (ie, you have used up all the beginning moves you can make) all help from the handchooser is lost except for this IMPORTANT FACT: You will have already turned over a larger number of cards with a high chooser score than with a low chooser score.
Then, using my rules becomes very important.
2. The name of the game is uncovering cards as early as possible so as little as possible is UNKNOWN to you at any given time. The sooner you know MORE, the better adavantage you can take of "shifting" the cards in the upper left stack.
You still have to be smart to win often. But you have to depend somewhat less on random chance.
Another example of "upping the ante":
We used to play Clue a lot with one or two other couples when we were first married. No video games, no money, etc. My wife was always better at remembering cards played, etc,, than I was. So I devised a way to use 4 columns of the "detective notes" so I could learn something from every play that anyone made. After that, I never lost a game again. You see, it was a simple defensive measure to bring myself up to her level.
Everybody got tired of me winning ALL the time, so I showed them my method. After that, it took about 4 times as long to play a game, but everybody was a lot more involved, and I didn't win so often.
If you study the webpage again, you will see, almost exactly how the chooser "thinks". This link:
http://www.spaco.org/solrules.htm
lists the rules, but not the exact scoring method. And I added about 4 more rules when I finally coded it up. Some of the rules have higher values than others and some actually have negative values. Low cards (below 8, except for the ace) have negative values. 8's and 9's have no value at all unless they are part of a move. 10'a and up have a plus value of 1, pairs a value of 2. Aces only have a value of 1 because all they really do for you is to provide one more spot to put a card, etc, etc...
In the old program format the reason for each total score was displayed as the "score" element was computed.
Question 2.
I dealt my hand, then entered the cards from L to R on the SolChooser. Then I played my hand and won (truly won...all cards moved to the four ace piles).
Finally, I hit "run" on SolCh, and lo and behold I got a score of -1 -- surely not an indication of a winning hand!
Am I doing something wrong?
Answer 2.
The top 7 cards ARE only 7 of the 28 cards in the 7 columns. I guess I should have commented about your earlier question asking how the top 7 cards can "predict" a win. They can't. All the chooser does is to give you a better CHANCE of winning, because you have a "head start".
You aren't doing anything wrong. Random chance is always at work here.
But, that "head start" is valuable in winning more games. The higher the score, the better the head start. Of course, higher scores don't come up as often as lower scores. Someday I plan to automate the chooser so I can just tell it what score I want and then have it present only those games for me to play.
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