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

four very similar [basic]

does it make any different which die j. captures? this isn't deep.


Player: ElihuRoot *Dead Dude* *Fanatic* 
Button Man: Famine    Score: 65 (28 sides)   Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 2 / 1 / 0 (out of 3 round(s))
Captured Dice: Weak X Swing 13-sided die, 10-sided die, Twin Die (both with 12 sides)

Dice	8-sided die	Twin Die (both with 12 sides)	Weak X Swing (with 4 sides)
Value	2	12	2
Dice	6-sided die	8-sided die
Value	6	8

* Next Turn * Player: jthurley * Next Turn *
Button Man: Famine    Score: 23 (-28 sides)   Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 1 / 2 / 0

Did I mention I hate Mood Swings?

At least this time, I wasn't the one with the tricky calculation. Which die should d. capture?This isn't necessarily HARD [though it's different face-to-face than on the website, since the values the Y swing can take are different], but I find it conceptually confusing -- the size of the Y swing if it rerolls makes a difference in the victory conditions and in the
probability of success.

it's from Game  727223






Tournament Legal challenge, copying communication from game 726401
This game was last modified on Fri Jan 20, 2012 08:25:45


* Next Turn * Player: dakeyras *Lamb* * Next Turn *
Button Man: Scorpion    Score: 40 (-3.6 sides)   Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 2 / 2 / 0 (out of 3 round(s))
Captured Dice: 8-sided die, 16-sided die, 12-sided die

Dice	4-sided die	Focus 4-sided die
Value	3	2
Dice	8-sided die	Y Mood Swing (with 11 sides)
Value	5	5

Player: ElihuRoot *Dead Dude* *Fanatic* 
Button Man: MothMan    Score: 45.5 (3.6 sides)   Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 2 / 2 / 0
Captured Dice: 20-sided die, Focus 12-sided die, 4-sided die

Jim M. submits the following queer puzzle

What to capture first? It's made even more tricky by the fact that, even if you roll safely,
you *might* have to roll a second time...

Player: jimmosk *Classically Fuzzy* *Bronze Medal in Men's Bars* *Bronze Medal in Men's Judo*

Your Button Man: RandomBM (^2 6 Gq8 ^8 Gq12) 
Score: 32 (-1.6 sides) 

Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 2 / 0 / 0 (Out of 3 wins)

Your Captured Dice: Twin Die (both with 10 sides), Berserk Queer 6-sided die

Queer 12-sided die		Time and Space 8-sided die
1		4 Captured last turn
Queer 8-sided die	Queer 8-sided die	Queer 5-sided die
5	7	3

Opponent: lephantman13 *Perfect Memory*

Button Man: RandomBM (qB6 q8 q8 qB10 (10,10)) 

Score: 34.5 (1.6 sides) 
Rounds Won/Lost/Tied: 0 / 2 / 0

Captured Dice: Time and Space 2-sided die, 6-sided die, Queer 8-sided die, Time and Space 8-sided die