Posted on 12/20/2017 12:22:51 PM PST by Allen In Texas Hill Country
OK, I've put this vanity post off for a month or more. Its a bit lame but when I find I enjoy something a bit I like to post what I found.
So here goes,,,,, when I'm at the computer and not on FR I do solitaire. Yeah I did say lame but I put my time in. I did SOAP II, Autocoder, GMAP, COBOL, Burroughs medium systems assembler, several variations of SDL and finally C++. But to get back....
Specifically I find Freecell very entertaining. Statistically one can win 9 out of 10 games. Maybe half of those won might be considered not too much of a challenge. On the hand, no she didn't wear a glove. The other wins require patience and a bit of this and that. Those wins don't come easy and require thought. More than once I walk away and come back in a couple of hours and try something else and bingo, puzzle solved. Thats why I find it relaxing/enjoyable. Well relaxing after the win. Thats 9 out of 10.
FREECELL......
I thought that game was called “mindsweeper”.
From the BOWEP...I like ‘Chip’s Challenge’ the best.
Yes, that is correct. All games in FreeCell are winnable.
Thank you.
I think it is more than 9/10.
I have gone about 10,000 games across 10 years without losing — but I DO use “undo” a good bit so maybe that a definition of “losing.”
Out of the many thousands of games possible I think there are like 5 or 10 proven unwinnable.
I am too lazy to actually Google it but you can. :)
Yes, I’ve seen reference to 100% and I do use undo/ctrl-Z to start over if need be. But I’ve got 3 different machines and right now they all say 90%+ wins.
Once upon a time, I set out to determine if there were unwinnable games of Freecell, since I had read that in theory, all games are winnable.
Then I saw a game somewhere that was obviously unwinnable. IIRC, it consisted of a very ordered tableau, all of the cards laid out in order or something similar.
Once I saw that game that was so obviously unwinnable, then I stopped trying to play every single game of Freecell. Clearly, the hypothesis that all games are winnable was false.
>>100% can be won.<<
There are a small number that cannot be won. Before they expanded the number of games there was only one unwinnable game. I think there are few more now.
Thank you
There were some incredible difficult levels in Chip’s Challenge.
I’d completely forgotten about that game, but it sure got me to waste the hours way back when.
Thanks for that, 1982 was a true legend. I knew a guy who wrote a simulator and proved empirically it could not be won.
I am sure it can be described mathematically why but I think you would have to be Nash or someone to actually do it.
Beau is an expert at Free Cell. He won’t quit until he’s won - even if it means backing all the way OUT and starting over again.
I don’t think he’s lost a single game. I’ll ask and get back to you on that...
I bounce around on phone games. Never more than a month or so on one game. I’m on grow empire Rome now. Last month was PGA tour golf. Next month who knows.
When I’m on my laptop though it’s free cell and classic solitaire. Those never change. Timeless classics, for the computer age anyways.
Wow, people actually play thousands of Freecell games? I’ve played 418 games in about four years, have won 70% and don’t use undo. You could undo most any of the games until you won, but is that really the point?
Just play a few games every few weeks.
I once played a game of freecell where I didn’t have to move one card to the bank. Played the whole game just moving stacks.
No....there is one known impossible to win game! Now you are going to ask me the number. It’s in the 13,000’s, that all I can remember.
#11982 is impossible.
++++
I learned that the hard way. Won every game until that one. Some in less than 60 seconds and some perhaps 30 minutes.
I have a hard enough time not looking stupid accidentally. Why would you want to seem stupid?
Freecell is fun, but I just start by clicking all four corners. If there’s a bomb in one, meh, on to the next game. If not, the rest of the game goes much easier.
A lot more interesting than starting all over from the start. I think I have a hard copy of the codes...somewhere. Probably in the same box as all my 5 1/4" floppies.
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