Valerie Putman: The Game Day Logic Puzzle
You’d like to arrange a game of Tichu for tomorrow. You know that your friends Larry, Dale, Frank, Eric, Alfred, Kris, and Scott are all Tichu players, so you think you can get a match together. Unfortunately, the arrangements are a bit tricky.
You would like to play, of course.
Dale can only come if you play after his kids go to bed at 8pm.
Frank and Alfred will only play if they can be partners.
Kris and Alfred are playing tennis in the afternoon, but they can make a morning game.
Larry will only come if Dale and Scott aren’t coming.
Kris won’t be your partner.
Eric, Scott, and Larry all want to sleep in—they’ll play any time after lunch.
So who do you invite and what time do you tell them to come over?
Seriously, though…have you ever found yourself trying to plan a particular game with a specific number of people? If you invite exactly the right number of people, someone won’t make it and you’ll be short. You’ll also risk hurting the feelings of the friends who didn’t get invited. If you invite extras, counting on the flakers, you will end up with one or two too many…especially when someone brings an extra friend that you weren’t expecting. Things start getting really complicated when you also try to accommodate different personalities from your game group that might not want to play together. Oh, and make sure that you have similar enough eating habits that when it’s time to order food delivery, you don’t have to call 3 different places!
Gosh, have I mentioned that I love game conventions? It’s so much easier to arrange a specific game when there are 50 people milling around, dozens of groups going to different places to eat at different times, and hundreds of games sitting around the room to play. Did the three people you were sitting with just suggest a game you don’t love? No problem! You wander off to find a different group and your friends announce that they have room for one more in Monkey Poo Flinging Fun.
I’d rather be gaming,
Valerie Putman
Posted by Valerie Putman on May 27, 2007 at 01:00 AM in Columnists, Valerie Putman / 1158
Comments:
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You’ve got it wrong. Scott’s an early riser and can’t play too late, and he’ll only play Tichu if Val is playing. Regarding food to serve...our regular gamenight group solved that problem by finding the best Thai restaurant in the country(we think their secret incredient is crack or something) so that helps cut down on the decision making process. Posted by Scott Tepper on May 27, 2007 at 08:09 AM | #
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You did much better with mine, Valerie. There’s no way you’re getting me out of the house before noon, even to play games. And while I have no opinion about Scott, avoiding Dale is always a worthy goal! :-) Actually, your biggest mistake with me is your choice of games. After all your planning, I’d probably arrange to show up when there’s only two other players available and slyly suggest we play Through the Ages instead! Posted by Larry Levy on May 27, 2007 at 10:00 AM | #
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Food isn’t usually an issue for our gaming groups. Usually when we’re playing at my house, I order pizza, breadsticks, sometimes salad and maybe wings. Guests get to suggest toppings. If it’s a nice day, I’ll grill hamburgers, brats, Italians and/or hot dogs. (We usually also have turkey and veggie burgers available upon request.) I have beer, diet pop, milk and tap water always available. Usually we have some kind of juice, regular pop and bottled water. Once in a while, we’ll open up a bottle of wine, if there is sufficient interest. This is pretty common practice with my gaming groups. Sometimes one of my buddies’ wives will cook something more elaborate, but in general, we don’t fuss about food. It’s only to keep the tummies from rumbling so we can play more games. Who to invite to get to try that game that only supports four players and make sure everyone arrives on time isn’t as easily solved.... Posted by Scott Russell on May 29, 2007 at 12:26 PM | #
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