Should I take the d10 or the d20? as is often the case, it isn't too hard to do the explicit computation, but it's worth trying to develop a good instinct for how to handle this sort of  situation (maybe the instinct should be to do the computation!)

Player: ElihuRoot

Button: Crab

W/L/T: 0/0/0 (3)

Score: 40

Dice captured: f(6), f(20)

1
(8)

19
f(20)

3
(4)

6
(10)

3
(20)

Dice captured: f(20), (12), (10)

Score: 59

W/L/T: 0/0/0 (3)

Button: Lion

Player: glassonion

a rare event.

It's glassonion's turn in this game with the Lunch Money buttons. What is glassonion's best move now? [there aren't that many choices]

ElihuRoot performed Skill attack using [(2):1,(8):5] against [(12):6]; Defender (12) was captured; Attacker (2) rerolled 1 => 1; Attacker (8) rerolled 5 => 8.

Game #30

Round #4

Player: ElihuRoot

Button: Patience

W/L/T: 2/1/0 (3)

Score: 32

1
(2)

2
(2)

8
(8)

6
(X=8)

2
t(2)

4
(6)

1
(Y=1)

Score: 16.5

W/L/T: 1/2/0 (3)

Button: Faith

Player: glassonion

It is your opponent's turn to attack right now.

Last action time: Mon, 02 Dec 2013 07:20:09 +0000

Greedy Algorithm

It is glassonion's turn to move... she could either take my poison, d20 or my V-swing d12. Many people avoid swallowing big poison at any cost -- and certainly that would keep her score on the next turn higher -- but can you see an argument for eating the poison now? Is it persuasive? [the alpha test of the buttonmen server -- ooh, it makes me happy typing that! -- doesn't show the captured dice, but you can deduce it from the score.  For the record, I've captured a d10 from her and she's captured my shadow d20.]

Game #4

Round #2

Player: ElihuRoot

Button: Jellybean

W/L/T: 0/1/0

Score: 6

9
p(20)

4
(V=12)

18
(X=20)

1
(4)

10
(10)

11
(12)

2
p(X=4)

Score: 29

W/L/T: 1/0/0

Button: Reaver

Player: glassonion

new puzzle! With *Tess*

OK, it has been a long time. I've lacked an easy way to get examples of play. But maybe someday soon, this won't be a problem!

In the meantime, here's the opening of a game using Tess --  I hope the format is clear [the number in parentheses indicates the size of the die and any special skills it has; the blue number above that is what was rolled on the die].  Tess is not a strong button, but is not as weak as people think; and null dice often lead to interesting questions.  Here, for example -- I could null out  K's d12 with a value of 12, scoring no points but protecting my X-swing and rerolling my d12. OR, I could take the d12 witha value of 5, scoring 12 sure points. A case could even be made for taking the d6, scoring a few points and forcing K to reroll the d12 with value 12 if he wants to take my d12 -- but that doesn't seem likely to be optimal, does it? What do you think?

Player: ElihuRoot

Button: Tess

W/L/T: 0/0/0

Score: 14.5

2
n(4)

1
(8)

9
(12)

7
n(20)

8
(X=9)

2
(6)

5
(8)

12
(12)

5
(12)

2
(X=4)

Score: 21

W/L/T: 0/0/0

Button: Kith

Player: blackshadowshade