Subject: Never won winnables!
Date: Sat May 7 16:22:43 2016
User: ix
Message:got it on my 12th try, it was all about *not* making a certain move, now 1/35
Date: Sun May 8 06:03:55 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:Congratulaions, ix! Well done! I had a look (for about an hour, with cards) and still couldn't get it!!!
Date: Tue May 10 07:41:08 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:This is one of the most difficult w4x10 games I have ever encountered:
Sorry You Lose
Game #: ------ 21346
Game stats: -- 1/0/0.00%
Difficulty: ----- 8
Elapsed: ------ 6:46
Streak was: --- 38
Please ignore the "Elapsed time" -- it was more like 48 hours, LOL!!
I offer a $10 reward to the first player to solve it, and will happily mail it to the winner, if you post a mailing address!
Date: Tue May 10 12:51:34 2016
User: WRAC
Message:Most 9x2-5s are easy.
Not 13830.
It's actually not all that hard once you see the trick. Which I didn't. At least not right away. Took me 8 tries. Now 1 for 51.
Link: 9x2 13830-5
Date: Tue May 10 14:11:29 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:was able to get that 9x2, no luck yet on the 4x10. If the trick you are referring to is where I think it is, I didn't get to that point until my 2nd to last try...so it wasn't an easy game even without this trick.
Date: Tue May 10 14:14:27 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:actually looking at it again, I don't think there is any way you'd be considering that a trick, so I'm curious to see which part you consider the trick.
Date: Tue May 10 15:14:09 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:quite the game, finally got it.
Game #: 4x10 21346
Game stats: 84/1/1.19%
Difficulty: 8
Elapsed: 2:37
Streak: n/a
Today: n/a
Date: Tue May 10 15:38:48 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:FANTSTIC! How would you like to receive your reward? I could up it to $12, and send it to Denny for a year's Premium Membership for you!?
Date: Tue May 10 16:34:10 2016
User: WRAC
Message:Nice job, CS! I haven't looked at the 4x10 yet, but no doubt it was a bear.
As for the 9x2, as I recall, the "trick" was a CubicSprock (!) maneuver of sorts, but not at the top of a column. So perhaps not so much of a trick after all, but hey, what's a trick besides something you miss the first seven times you look at it? :-)
Date: Wed May 11 13:37:09 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:TT, no need for a payout, I do it for the joy of solving tough games :-).
WRAC, yes I suppose any game that takes that many attempts is certainly tricky. Though I didn't do anything I saw as a CS maneuver, so maybe we had different solutions.
Here is mine... (1-9 are the columns, a-b freecells, h is home)
9a 98 94 49 4h 6b 62 64
69 56 59 b9 57 5b a5 45
65 43 b3 29 2h 4h 46
from there it is pretty easy.
Date: Wed May 11 22:56:49 2016
User: Patti_Scialfa
Message:This is not a "Never won winnable", but I found it challenging in the WWC (10x1) just now:
#17935, and it's only in level 5.
51/2/3.92%
Date: Wed May 11 23:29:42 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:another not never won, but about the longest I've taken to win a streak mode game in quite awhile (when not being interrupted).
Looks like it was a challenging game from a tournament.
Game #: 10x1 29583
Game stats: 134/4/2.99%
Difficulty: 10
Elapsed: 7:29
Streak: 54
Today: 4
Anyone else able to beat this one 1st try?
Date: Thu May 12 00:35:31 2016
User: Mastermind
Message:Done!
http://www.freecell.net/f/c/view_one_game.html?;29583,10,10x1!
Date: Thu May 12 10:33:11 2016
User: Mastermind
Message:Another just about won winnable game in today's Threat.
6x5 10 21297
Link: Teaser
Date: Fri May 13 22:47:36 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:W6-5, climate 5:
#503. Now 0/33. I just gave it one try. I'm pretty sure it's not all that difficult, tho.
Date: Sat May 14 05:29:31 2016
User: Mastermind
Message:W6x5 5 17749 24/1
Date: Thu May 19 07:19:01 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:This one very nearly spoilt my day yesterday, but I'm very pleased to have won it!!!
Congratulations! You Win
Game #: 9x2 31618
Game stats: 46/1/2.17%
Difficulty: 10
Streak: 67
Today: 15
Date: Wed May 25 11:59:09 2016
User: Mastermind
Message:W 6x5 4318 5
Very complicated, outlandish solution.
Standing now @99/1.
Date: Wed May 25 13:29:50 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:100/2
Date: Wed May 25 20:43:35 2016
User: ix
Message:with a time of 2:14, i simply cannot fathom that
Date: Thu May 26 04:33:16 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:Hopefully he paused while thinking, before he actually started to play!!!!!
Date: Thu May 26 08:30:58 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:It wasn't a streak game so I just jumped right in with what looked the most promising and it happened to work out.
Date: Mon Jun 6 07:39:00 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:G_G_G reports this one in the "winnables challenge" thread: w6x5/5, #3216, 0/45. How about it CS?
Date: Mon Jun 6 08:45:48 2016
User: WRAC
Message:As mentioned in the Winnable Challenge thread, this took me four attempts, now 1 for 49.
Link: 6x5 3216-5
Date: Mon Jun 6 15:19:47 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:Well, it's no longer a "never-won-winnable", but since others have posted similarly on this thread......
W10x1-8 #17995. Now 1/6. Not trivial - but not horrible, either. Fun game, actually.
Date: Wed Jun 8 13:13:35 2016
User: Patti_Scialfa
Message:W6x5
Game #: 19122
Game stats: 18/0/0.00%
Difficulty: 5
Date: Thu Jun 9 01:05:17 2016
User: dcn21
Message:Got #19122 on the first try. Took me nearly 9 minutes though.
Date: Thu Jun 9 06:47:16 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:"9 MINUTES"!!! This game took me a little over five hours in the WWC yesterday! I wonder if anybody can get it on the 1st try??
Congratulations! You Win
Game #: 6x5 9330/8
Game stats: 1/1/100.00% -- Big LOL!
Date: Thu Jun 9 09:24:49 2016
User: Patti_Scialfa
Message:W6x5
Game #: 13514
Game stats: 10/0/0.00%
Difficulty: 6
I'm sure it's winnable just because it's supposed to be.
Date: Thu Jun 9 17:39:23 2016
User: dcn21
Message:#13514 took 4 tries, interesting hand.
Date: Tue Jun 14 01:21:37 2016
User: dcn21
Message:4x10 21346-8 is one of the most difficult hands I have encountered as well, took me about 50 tries. I'd probably put it in the "nightmare" category.
Date: Tue Jun 14 01:47:28 2016
User: dcn21
Message:Got 6x5-5 #503 in 2 tries.
Date: Tue Jun 14 02:34:59 2016
User: Mastermind
Message:Few weeks back free@last had pegged,as at that time, unwon winnable 6x5 at 210. May be it has now come below 110.
Date: Tue Jun 14 21:13:24 2016
User: dcn21
Message:10x1 15215-8 broke my winnable streak at 37. Took me 6 tries. It has a rather intersting solution.
Date: Wed Jun 15 17:10:32 2016
User: free@last
Message:20 minutes! Was this game really that tough?
Game #: 10x1 5100
Game stats: 1/1/100.00%
Difficulty: 9
Elapsed: 20:04
Date: Wed Jun 15 17:56:42 2016
User: dcn21
Message:Maybe not , but not so easy, took me over 6 minutes.
Date: Wed Jun 15 22:35:05 2016
User: Kaos
Message:2:26. I think the answer is no, not really tough. There's only two moderate decisions to make.
Of course, if you are at 37 wins, you always want to be extra-protective.
Date: Wed Jun 15 23:05:48 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:Agreed (not really). Far from a piece of cake, but it was never in doubt for me.
Date: Wed Jun 15 23:48:42 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:Game #: 5x8 21909
Game stats: 1/1/100.00%
Difficulty: 10
Elapsed: 18:31
Streak: 57
Today: 20
absolute beast, spent almost 2 hours staring at this one. Maybe extra careful and I could have lucked into a solution by guessing if I didn't have a huge streak on the line.
Date: Thu Jun 16 11:42:46 2016
User: free@last
Message:My GF is fond of saying "Your head is so big, I don't know how you fit through the door." Always nice to come here to get a little ego trimming. :)
Date: Tue Jun 21 10:06:29 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:Has this one been reported before?:
W9x2
Game #: 2392
Game stats: 76/0/0.00%
Difficulty: 5
Elapsed: 9:46
Streak was: 5
And yes, in the drop-down menu, it definitely says "9x2 Winnable".
Only tried it once, at least so far....
Date: Tue Jun 21 10:32:41 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:After several more tries, I can see that it *is* likely winnable, and I think I'm doing all the right things, just not in the right order. I can get close, but not finish it out. Tired of fooling with it...
Date: Tue Jun 21 10:33:23 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:1/88 now, took me several tries.
Date: Tue Jun 21 13:03:21 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:It has occured to me that there isn't much practical difference between "not winnable" and "winnable, but not on the first try"! In both cases, ones streak is ended!
Date: Tue Jun 21 14:50:57 2016
User: CubicSprock
Message:From a streak perspective I suppose that is true, but I would venture to guess that any game that can be won by person a on the nth attempt can be won by some person b on the 1st attempt. Of course if 'first attempt' is equated with ending a streak any number of people could win this 'first attempt' by playing it out fully offline (or in their head) to get to this point. Being level 5 I almost definitely would have lost in streak mode. If it was level 10 (I had a long streak at risk) I'd have played it out deeper in my head instead of just trying something, which may or may not have been enough.
Date: Tue Jun 21 16:22:19 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:Thanks CS! Good point about the length of the streak at risk! I think that helps explain why so many level 5 games have such low win rates!
Date: Wed Jun 22 05:33:35 2016
User: Goosey_Goosey_Gander
Message:Yes. When I was using cards if I didn't have much of a streak going, meaning at level 5, I would just try to bash out a game without thinking much and would often lose. On the other hand, if I had a good streak going I wouldn't hesitate to get out the cards if I couldn't see a good way to get a game going or if there were two competing ways to start. Now I only use my head, and I have difficulty getting any meaningful streaks going in the winnables because there are so many very difficult games one of them pops up before I can get a god streak anymore. But I will persevere.
Date: Wed Jun 22 08:13:59 2016
User: TitanicTony
Message:Hey Goosey, you go right ahead and do whatever you enjoy most! For myself, just "using my head" doesn't get me very far anymore! As soon as my turn as score keeper finishes, I will give a MUCH lower priority to playing in the WWC and the SSC, since "my style of play" isn't appreciated by Mr TN (and a few others)!!
Date: Thu Jun 23 03:32:44 2016
User: TNmountainman
Message:Fun one: W10x1-6 #10695 Now 1/8.
Post follow-up