Stones

Category: Zone BBS Q&A

Post 1 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 26-Apr-2012 16:54:42

why does the computer always leave 5 stones on the pile, and no matter which amount i remove it makes it so i'm gonna lose out?
Is there any hope for us as humans?

Post 2 by SilverLightning (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Thursday, 26-Apr-2012 19:23:17

Yeah, its called not leave less than eight stones on the pile yourself. The reason the computer leaves five is because you only have three choices. If it leaves five, and you take one, all it has to do is take three. If you take two, it takes two, if you take three, it takes one. The way to keep that from happening is to not have anything less than nine stones on the pile. With nine, you can win, with five you can't.

Post 3 by OceanDream (An Ocean of Thoughts) on Thursday, 26-Apr-2012 20:25:23

Exactly. it's just a math concept. I haven't lost a single game of Stones since I figured that out. Granted, I'm not trying to say you're stupid for not knowing this. it took me quite awhile, but it's not the computer's fault.

Post 4 by JH_Radio (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Friday, 27-Apr-2012 11:18:54

I'll try it and see what happens. Thanks.

Post 5 by rdfreak (THE ONE AND ONLY TRUE-BLUE KANGA-KICKIN AUSIE) on Friday, 19-Apr-2013 2:23:36

I know this is an old topic but John, it took me ages to figure that out. I still get it wrong sometimes when I'm not thinking clearly but not too often. :)

Post 6 by dalekood (Veteran Zoner) on Tuesday, 23-Apr-2013 9:38:46

Hi
So, you want to try to get nine stones on the pile first. Then, you can get five stones, making the computer do exactly what you don't want to do ahaha.