Beta Testing the buttonmen web site, Also Auxiliary Dice Theory

(1) If you don't know, yet, you should: the Button Men web site is now in beta testing at www.buttonweavers.com   Remember  that it's still a work in progress,  with new features to be added and some rough edges here and there  -- but it's getting very playable, and the game is always fun!

(2) Auxiliary Dice -- when a game involved Auxiliary dice, both players must agree to use it -- if not, the extra die is not included in the game.  As a matter of game theory, then, it should never appear since whichever player it penalizes in the matchup should decline it -- so if it DOES appear in the game, someone has blundered. (I suppose there are some very rare cases in which the Auxiliary die is equally good for both players. Also, it's perfectly legitimate to want to play with it for fun even if you think it hurts your net probability of winning.)

Sometimes it might be subtle to really calculate who benefits from  gaining an Auxiliary Die. But sometimes, I think it's very clear.

For example, suppose the matchup is  Patience (Recipe: 2,2,8,12,X) vs. Lancelot (10, 12,20, 20, X) . If both players agree, they'll get an extra X-swing die (X-swing: 4-20, and if you have two X-swing, they both need to be set to the same size).

Who do you think benefits if the auxiliary die is used?

not too hard, but a characteristic problem.

if I take the d10, my d20 has a  65% chance of rerolling safe from immediate attack, but he gets to reroll his d20 and may outroll me -- which reduces that survival chance substantially. [is it as much as a 50% reduction? Why or why not?

if I take the d20,  I have only 45% chance of rerolling safe from immediate attack.

In either case, I still have to capture both his remaining dice on the subsequent turns.

Game #136  •  ElihuRoot (Rubeus) vs. jimmosk1 (Tuxedo Mask)  •  Round #3

Your turn to attack

(4) (4) (12) (12) r(6) r(10) r(20) (20) Button: Rubeus Player: ElihuRoot

W/L/T: 1/1/0 (3)  •  Score: 22 (-16 sides) Dice captured: (6), (4) 1 (4) 18 (20) 6 (6) 10 (10) 3 (20) Dice captured: (12), (12), (4) W/L/T: 1/1/0 (3)  •  Score: 46 (+16 sides)

Player: jimmosk1 Button: Tuxedo Mask (6) (6) (10) (20) (4) r(8) r(10) r(12) r(20)