First roll =

(3) of A
(1) of B
(2) X

Second Roll =

(1) A
(1) C
(4) X

Third Roll =

(1) C

4th roll=

Doesnt matter

5th roll=

The rest is dependent but you need a **** load of each A,B,C

Success!

...sort of


I achieved three chains in all five areas. But, my bonus was too low. Also, I didn't get many 6s and a couple of them weren't connected to the chain.

Fun game, best I've gotten is low 30k. I have a scoring question: Is there more to scoring a chain than length * # * 2^areas? Unless I'm missing somthing (which I well might be), the calcs in Dynasty's game don't look right. For example, his 5chain looks like 8 * 5 * 2^5 = 1280, but he only gets 1000.

As far as going for a high score, I can't help but think that the highest scores will all have one giant chain of 6's, with a 5-area 5chain, and a tiny 3rd chain out of the way, with a big multiplier. In the quoted game, for example, he'd be better off if his entire chain of 4's were 6's instead; there's no advantage to having 3 distinct 5-area chains. Any plan to tweak the scoring to reward making 3 meaningful chains? Maybe another multiplier somehow based on the lowest chain length?

Again, great game, thanks for sharing it.

Nice work! I've been trying for it almost every game, but still haven't had the right rolls in rounds 5-8.

That's all there is to the scoring and I haven't seen any issues with the calcs yet. You just have the last term flipped around: it's 5^2, not 2^5.

I agree that making the 3rd chain more meaningful would create a more challenging game, but I'm very cautious about adding more rules. It's something I'll definitely consider for the advanced mode though.

Glad you like it.

what about the rpg elements?

When I play now if I don't get a decent amount of 5's and 6's by the second round I just restart the game as there's little incentive to keep going.

*5's or 6's.

I just got my one of my highest ever scores with 35k =]

I think I need to refine my strategy if I want to ever get over 40k.

for some reason I have a tough time getting from the "daily challenge" that I've just completed - back to playing a normal game

This game vexes me. But, I do enjoy figuring out the theoretical limits of what's possible. And since I've been a little sick lately, I took a look at the current All Time High Scores to see what correlates best to achieving a 42,000+ score.

1. The biggest factor in the top scores is the bonus. The bonuses for the all time high scores are: 1- 16, 2- 18, 3- 16, 4- 16, 5- 15, 6- 14, 7- 15, 8- 14, 9- 13, 10- 12. Without a bonus of at least 14, I doubt breaking the high score record is a reasonable goal.

This makes 1's and 2's the most valuable #s in the game.

2. Not surprisingly, all the high scores got a disproportionate # of 6's. In your nine rolls of the dice, you should average 7.5 6's (and every other #). Among the top ten high scores, the average # of 6's was 12.1.

Surprisingly, the #1 all-time score had the fewest 6's on the high score list with just nine. It was offset by the +16 bonus and a record thirteen 5's.

3. A strong second chain of 5's is the third biggest factor. Though, in two cases (Zac's #3 45,696 and Mikus' #8 42,420), the second chain was 4's. Only in two cases (cavdaddy's #1 47,744 and Mikus' #8 42,420) was the 5's/4's chain longer than the 6's chain.

4. I'm putting this 4th, but arguably it could be #1 on the list. Getting few 3's is critical. The high score list averaged just 4.0 3's and only one score (Luke's #6 43,162) got as many as six 3's.

3's are absolutely useless in this game.

5. A third chain (preferably of 4's) is very helpful. The best third chain on the high score list was worth 3,780 points (Dynasty's #7 43,155). A third chain which occupies three areas can rack up decent points. If you can manage to get a five area third chain it can be worth more than 10,000 points with a strong bonus.

Putting all this together, I came up with this theoretical, and somewhat ideal, diagram hoping to learn something.





This board is worth 51,000 points.
Chain 1: 1,200; Chain 2: 1,000; Chain 3: 800; Bonus: 17

It has four 3's, the average # of the high score board.
It has nine 1's and eight 2's, slightly above the average.
It has eight 6's, well below the average.
It has eight 5's, at the average.
It has eight 4's, above the average.

The reason this diagram has above-average 4's and below-aveage 6's is that I chose to create a diagram with three chains in five areas. A similar high score (50,048) could be achieved by changing four of the 4's to 6's, but keeping the 4's chain in three areas.

Perhaps the most important data I got out of this was how to properly place 1's, 2's, and 3's on the first four rolls.

This is where they should go.





In the first four turns, it would be an error to place a 1 on the outer edge/center square. That would prevent you from using any of the adjoining squares for future 1's. You'll likely need to place two 1's in the four outer areas in order to achieve a record breaking score.

Likewise, placing a 2 on the outer edge/center square is necessary so that you can easily place a 2 next to it in Rounds 5-8. Don't rush to pair your 2's in the early rounds. If you get exactly four 2's in the first four turns, you should place one 2 in each of the four outer areas. Pair them up in rounds 5-8.

3's are worthless. So, the priority is to keep them out of the way. It surprised me that putting them in a middle row/edge was the best way to do this. I had instinctively put them as far from the center as possible whenever I got a 3. But, doing so can disrupt the harmony of the 1's and 2's.


Keep a lookout for my upcoming book which has a couple working titles: Triplechain for Advanced Players or Dynasty on Triplechain.

lol - awesome post!

Not a single 4 in the entire game.





If I got one more five for the right-most area (replacing the 1), it's a 38,000+ game.

I came up a bit short on 2s as well. (just six, and only four paired up).

Hypothetical for Dynasty: Couldn't you improve your hypothetical highest score possible by removing 3s altogether and adding some more bonus?

For example, take the far left quadrant. Wouldn't you be better off doing something like this:

224
145
226

I haven't done the math, so correct me if I'm wrong, but even if you concede that one 3 is inevitable, I still imagine these would be better than what you got up there:

224
315
226

or

224
135
226

Dynasty needs to set up a video training subscription site or at least move into triplechain coaching imo.

Btw wouldn't just a load of 6's and 2's with no other numbers give the theoretical maximum? Astronomically unlikely to get such a combination through chance but that would surely lead to the highest possible score. I got five 6's in a single row once =] All that remain then is to work out how many 2's are needed and then how to pattern them optimally over the board.

I shouldn't have used the phrase "theoretical limits". That's not accurate.

What I was trying to calculate was a high score assuming you would get four 3's (average for the high score list) and with the 1's, 2's, 4's, 5's, and 6's equal.

I wanted to figure out the highest score possible based on how good players have already run in the game.


So, these configurations...

224
315
226

224
135
226

... are obviously worth move than my graph. It gives an extra bonus in that area. But, to achieve that in all four outer areas would require sixteen 2's and four 1's. We haven't seen that kind of deviation.

Obviously, a board of all 6's and 2's/1's would lead to a true theoretical maximum score.

I just went live with a major update. Hope you like it Chocula - it's the first step toward full RPG +5 dragon wizard dice.

Basically it's an xbox style set of awards (for those of you who are familiar). Hopefully it'll provide some interesting challenges and motivation to finish the games that aren't filled with 5s and 6s. The award points will eventually be used for more than just bragging rights...

Out of the 19000+ games that I just processed, Dynasty is the only one to earn the snake charmer award (three chains in all five areas).

Btw, I think the theoretical max is 75,900. (23 6s and 22 1s/2s). As was mentioned, the odds of getting it are astronomical.

This is why I failed at playing poker for a living. Zero sixes:



Too lazy to figure out the odds of that, but I'm sure it would make my PT3 graph make a whole lot of ****ing sense.

somehow i cant seem to log in anymore. when i click the Pick a name or sign in button nothing happens.

I've had that problem for a couple days. It says I'm playing anonymously, but all my games are recorded as "Dynasty".

fun additions

3,656.26:1 against

need to enroll in dynasty's class asap, imo

That's weird, first I've heard of it. Do you have javascript enabled? Is this on the same computer that you signed up with?

When you go to the site now, the login section should be displayed automatically unless your old session is still active..

You probably think this would mess up your game - but how INCREDIBLE would it be - if you got 2 or 3 re-rolls per game.

Click the button - and you get an entirely new set of randomly generated #s - usable 3 times per game.


(also - am I the only one who hits 'new game' until I get an initial roll with no 3's?


edit: also wish the 'back' button undid more than 1 move - but see the reason to limit it

I agree that it would be awesome to be able to reroll.

I'm laying the foundation for things like that, but I'm also trying to avoid putting in too many updates at once. I've heard a bunch of good suggestions for features and I'm working on a game mode that lets you build the set of abilities that you want.

Examples:
- Reroll one die (low level ability)
- Reroll your rack multiple times per game (high level)
- Click a button to see a preview of the upcoming rack
- Change a 3 into a 6 once per game
- Increase your bonus by X
- Make 3s behave like 1s and 2s
- Add a multiplier square to the board
- Lots more

So when you went from level 1 to level 2 you'd choose one low level ability to add. From then on, every game that you played in the advanced mode would have that ability available to you.

I'm going to put in the time to come up with a balanced set of abilities and then let people run with it. I'm still leaning toward keeping the main game intact though.

If anyone has suggestions for abilities/awards/other, let me know. I write down everything that's suggested and try to consider as many ideas as I can when I'm putting things together.