Subject: trying a new tournament theme

It's going to be called "Descent Into Madness" or just "Madness" for short.  I'm thinking it will be 8 games, all winnable, but all with a win rate under 5% in a one hour timeslot. Completely random mix of variants. Here's an example:

  5x9:8940:4

  6x5:5169:8

  6x4:27898:11

  6x4:20714:5

  5x10:1573:5

  8x2:32274:5

  7x3:25506:5

  7x3:3617:5

Is 8 the right number of games? I'd like this to be  won by "most games solved", not just by the fastest.

I know, I know, I've been pushing for easier stuff to attract the newbies but I'm feeling particularly sadistic today. :-)

MrFixit

P.S. Here's another sample:

  7x2:18078:5

  6x4:3041:11

  6x6:29310:11

  8x2:2567:11

  6x5:25741:8

  5x10:15199:9

  8x2:12710:5

  6x4:9008:7

Anyone who tries these sample lists, let us know how many you win in 55 minutes.

Theme number? Will you update the data feeds information?

I cannot see it in the schedule.

OK I added one for tonight at 6 p.m. eastern. We might only do this weekly on Saturdays. The games may seem impossible, but they're all winnable.

Throw in some by-naughts, such as 8x0 and 9x0 which by definition must be level 5.

They're in there, mostly 10x0 and 9x0. This theme draws from all variants where there are games with <5% win rates.

Here's the variants that have <5% winnable games. The chance of a given variant is proportional to how many games there are. Pretty good chance of getting a 6x4. Getting that one 9x4 that's extremely difficult? Not likely.

I'm in, wearing my baggy trousers!

OK, I started a wee bit late so got them all in 56-57 minutes.  Probably would have been faster if I had known all of the games would be winnable in advance.  

On the "is 8 games enough" topic:  Seems like a good starting point.  The really good solvers who are also fast (the now absent WRAC and mabb would be classic examples), would likely be getting to 7 or 8 wins before the bell.

Was the easy 100% game a mistake?

"OK I added one for tonight at 6 p.m. eastern. We might only do this weekly on Saturdays."

Another theme, just like Masters, at an inconvenient time for me. How unfortunate.

Congrats, Dr.Bombay, that was an impressive way to start. The 5x10 in there was supposed to be a 4x10, but we're gonna try again today at 2 p.m. eastern. Join if you can!

Thanks El-G but it was already over before I read your notice at 6:30 Monday morning! Good that Hop could play and win.

Yikes! - less than 5% win games - I think a few select peeps would be drawn to this - but should make the super solvers very happy.