3 ms·

To have fun, perhaps?

by masto 3y ago

IshKebab 3y ago
Games that can be trivially solved are generally not fun. Nobody* plays noughts and crosses for fun once they have figured out the solution. *standard HN disclaimer
- refulgentis 3y ago
  It's non-trivial if you apply a computer science algorithm, true. Scrabble's trivial if you have a dictionary, chess is trivial if you have Stockfish installed...checkers...do they have a Stockfish? More directly: it's actually pretty fun to guess these straight up. disclaimer: I have a strong bias towards having fun with color stuff - c.f. https://material.io/blog/science-of-color-design https://material.io/blog/science-of-color-design. RGB is neigh-meaningless, true. Here, I get to exercise my intuition I should balance between red and blue based on warmth via hue of the color. Then, jack up G to match the lower of the two if its a light color / has high tone.
  - jncfhnb 3y ago
    Scrabble is far from trivial with a dictionary :)
    - bombcar 3y ago
      Exactly why we used to play with various levels - everyone could refer to the two letter word sheet with Q without U words also, and the players given a handicap could use the dictionary, though limited to 30 seconds on their turn.
      - jncfhnb 3y ago
        Ehhh no not what I meant. Scrabble is far from trivial even if you have a solver that shows all possible word combinations with your hand.
        refulgentis 3y ago
        Dude come on lol
        jncfhnb 3y ago
        High level scrabble play isn’t a greedy algo to get the most points every turn with the best words. Positioning around bonuses matters more.
  - IshKebab 3y ago
    > It's non-trivial if you apply a computer science algorithm, true Noughts and crosses? It's non-trivial if you're 8. No fancy algorithms needed. The other examples you mentioned can't be solved by an 8 year old in their heads. > do they have a Stockfish? No, which is why chess is still fun. You don't need a computer or even a pen and paper to solve noughts and crosses, or this.
- temporarara 3y ago
  When I was younger we played way too much noughts and crosses with "infinite" board trying to get five in a row and it never stopped being fun. The "standard" 3x3 board was just 100% unfun and pointless to us even though we had no idea back then that there is a "solution".
  - tianshuo 3y ago
    That game is gomoku, commonly played on 15x15, and is a strong first-player win, where the game is solved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gomoku https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gomoku
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]

To have fun, perhaps?

by masto 3y ago

To have fun, perhaps?

Games that can be trivially solved are generally not fun. Nobody* plays noughts and crosses for fun once they have figured out the solution. *standard HN disclaimer

refulgentis 3y ago
It's non-trivial if you apply a computer science algorithm, true. Scrabble's trivial if you have a dictionary, chess is trivial if you have Stockfish installed...checkers...do they have a Stockfish? More directly: it's actually pretty fun to guess these straight up. disclaimer: I have a strong bias towards having fun with color stuff - c.f. https://material.io/blog/science-of-color-design https://material.io/blog/science-of-color-design. RGB is neigh-meaningless, true. Here, I get to exercise my intuition I should balance between red and blue based on warmth via hue of the color. Then, jack up G to match the lower of the two if its a light color / has high tone.
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  Scrabble is far from trivial with a dictionary :)
  - bombcar 3y ago
    Exactly why we used to play with various levels - everyone could refer to the two letter word sheet with Q without U words also, and the players given a handicap could use the dictionary, though limited to 30 seconds on their turn.
    - jncfhnb 3y ago
      Ehhh no not what I meant. Scrabble is far from trivial even if you have a solver that shows all possible word combinations with your hand.
      - refulgentis 3y ago
        Dude come on lol
        jncfhnb 3y ago
        High level scrabble play isn’t a greedy algo to get the most points every turn with the best words. Positioning around bonuses matters more.
- IshKebab 3y ago
  > It's non-trivial if you apply a computer science algorithm, true Noughts and crosses? It's non-trivial if you're 8. No fancy algorithms needed. The other examples you mentioned can't be solved by an 8 year old in their heads. > do they have a Stockfish? No, which is why chess is still fun. You don't need a computer or even a pen and paper to solve noughts and crosses, or this.
temporarara 3y ago
When I was younger we played way too much noughts and crosses with "infinite" board trying to get five in a row and it never stopped being fun. The "standard" 3x3 board was just 100% unfun and pointless to us even though we had no idea back then that there is a "solution".
- tianshuo 3y ago
  That game is gomoku, commonly played on 15x15, and is a strong first-player win, where the game is solved. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gomoku https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/gomoku
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]