10 ms·
2048 Numberwang
- maxjus 13y agoFor those unfamiliar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjOZtWZ56lc
- minimax 13y agoIt makes slightly more sense when you understand the context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfa3MHLLSWI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfa3MHLLSWI
- aidos 13y agoCarol Vordaman is just brilliant. To tie back full circle [1], if anyone hasn't seen it there's a great UK show called Only Connect. It may appeal to people on here as it's a fiendishly difficult pattern matching game. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AB31ymF8zA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AB31ymF8zA [1] The hostess (Victoria Coren) recently married David Mitchell - the co-creator of the numberwang sketch
- dagurp 13y agoVictoria Coren Mitchell now. She's amazing and Only Connect is brilliant.
- ZeroGravitas 13y agoFlash-based online game version of Only Connect: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lskhg/features/quiz http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lskhg/features/quiz edit: which they've massively expanded since I last looked, I think they only had about 14 boards, now they have hundreds and seem to allow you to submit your own.
- mistercow 13y agoI'm really interested to know what his process was, since he didn't seem to actually know the product he was subtracting 50 from.
- lclarkmichalek 13y agoWell it seems that he was always going for 4 from the top row, which reliably gives him 25, 50, 75 and 100 (I think). He then uses the ability to divide by 25 to treat these as an additional 2, 3 and 4. So once he has 318, he does (318 * 3) - 2 to get his 952, except via the 25s; ((318 * 75) - 50)/25. It's a hack; increasing the set of available numbers by guaranteeing the presence of a common divisor.
- Timothee 13y agoI'd think of the thought process a bit differently than lclarkmichalek, though of course with the same result. To get close to 952, you can quickly think of 106x9. 106 is easy to obtain and you have a 3. You can get another 3 from 75/25. You're now at 954 with only a 50 left. If you could divide by 25, that would give you the 2 you're missing but you already used the 25, unless you were to divide later. So instead of doing 106x3x(75/25), you do (106x3x75-50)/25. He could have certainly thought of it another way but based on how players typically play that game, that would be a somewhat logical progression.
- malvim 13y agoI was wondering how he thought of that. Even though we don't know, this explanation is beautiful and makes a lot of sense. Thanks!
- 13y ago
- daliusd 13y agoNow someone make 2048 where in addition to numbers you get math operations and should achieve some number. Game could even get more complicated during gameplay as new operations appear.
- networked 13y agoIs there a general name for the kind of problem the contestants try to solve in that round of the show? I've encountered variants of it "in the wild" in a game we played at university. People would challenge each other to place arithmetic operators and parentheses between the digits of the serial number printed on bus tickets to get the number 100, with some variations. Despite playing this game for quite a bit I never learned any name for it or the problem it used; I asked other people who played it and nobody knew one, either. Googling around finds the exact question on Programmers SE (https://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/213924/name-of-the-countdown-numbers-round-problem-and-algorithmic-solutions https://programmers.stackexchange.com/questions/213924/name-...) but no answer.
- mhaymo 13y agoAny problem with the Countdown Numbers Game as a name? Any variations on it could simply be called Modified Countdown Numbers Game.
- networked 13y agoI'm glad there's an established name to attach to this problem but when I searched for them I didn't find variations of "Countdown numbers round problem/game" mentioned in books on mathematics/theoretical CS or in research articles. The idea behind the basic problem seems obvious and must have occurred to many people, so the lack of such mentions makes me suspect it may have a different canonical name as a specific type of combinatorial optimization problem. If there isn't one then "Countdown numbers (round) problem" will do just fine (I'd say "problem" is better than "game" because looked at like this it is not a game with players in a game-theoretical sense).
- JohnTHaller 13y agoHere's the playlist. Mitchell and Webb. Good stuff. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDu5D_IXbc&list=RDqjOZtWZ56lc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDu5D_IXbc&list=RDqjOZtWZ56...
- tvachon 13y agooh my god this. this so much. <3<3<3
- the_cat_kittles 13y agoThank you netflix, for insisting that I would like peep show.
- deletes 13y agoLooks like the internal state of the numbers that actually decide what can be merged is changed when you press a key. Also works if you hold it down, which is a bug I think. Just hold down one direction to observe.
- leni536 13y agoThis game does not any have bugs by design. If you discover a bug than it is a feature.
- naiyt 13y agoI'll admit to getting annoyed a bit by all of these 2048 clones. But this made me laugh regardless.
- MBCook 13y agoDitto. They've actually been pissing me off since it seems like Threes is getting shorted by 2048. But this was great. I managed to get 11032 before I lost. Just making a rules engine that could deduce Numberwang along is an incredible accomplishment.
- kookiekrak 13y agoyou do realize the games still the same as 2048 right? just look at the colors of the tiles. the only thing randomized is the numbers on the tiles
- MBCook 13y agoYeah. But the sense of humor from Numberwang makes it more than a "look I just stole someone else's idea" clone, gives it it's own personality.
- orbitur 13y agoThese past few days have been one of the rare times I've wished HN functioned like reddit, so I could have the ability to hide posts from the front page. Not only has there been a constant barrage of clones, but they seem to have a lot of staying power in the top 30.
- MarcScott 13y agoThis is my favorite clone bar none. After about 5 seconds of playing I was giggling, as I remembered the sketches.
- trafficlight 13y agoThe first letter that popped up got me.
- martin-adams 13y agoFor me, it was the number 36 but a mirror image
- elohesra 13y agoIs that the elusive shinty six?
- recursify 13y agoHaha, yeah this is great.
- c23gooey 13y agothank you for brightening my day. i love it
- lotsofmangos 13y agois only a matter of time now before someone makes a 2048 that is turing complete
- mcintyre1994 13y agoThis is the best, but I'm still waiting on someone to translate the Numberwang board game :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmiEODmYNmI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmiEODmYNmI
- rmccue 13y agoNote that it is possible to lose, eventually: http://i.imgur.com/kKsjG2u.png http://i.imgur.com/kKsjG2u.png
- jaibot 13y agoNeeds more fish numbers.
- MarcScott 13y agoIn hindsight, we should have all jumped on this and pretended we understood the rules of Numberwang, in the style of Mornington Crescent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_%28game%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_%28game%29
- archagon 13y agoLike the folks over at Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/britishproblems/comments/1jvgn6/i_said_numberwang_to_the_pet_shop_cashier_when_my/cbioq86 http://www.reddit.com/r/britishproblems/comments/1jvgn6/i_sa...
- BESebastian 13y agoNobody should do anything like Reddit.
- jvoorhis 13y agoHow do I rotate the board?
- TazeTSchnitzel 13y agoIt actually plays identically to 2048 (except you can only rely on colours, not face values), but I still love it. Ich bin gewangernumbt! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJs3Tsx-3Ak https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJs3Tsx-3Ak
- michaelmior 13y agoIt's impossible to lose. Just hold down an arrow and watch your score go up.
- nvader 13y agoYou can lose, and it's worth it to see it happen!
- justinpombrio 13y agoNo, it doesn't! I was doing well, and then it suddenly changed the color of one of my tiles. It was the largest tile I had (which I always keep in the lower left, so it was very distinctive), and it dropped by a factor of 8 (3 colors) or so. At least I'm pretty sure that's what happened...
- MBCook 13y agoWhenever you get Numberwang it seems to change some of the tiles either up or down the scale.
- tfgg 13y agoDas ist Nümberwang!
- chewxy 13y agoThis is amazing! I cannot stop laughing! The first reversed number hit me like a ton of bricks and I couldn't stop. BEST.2048.CLONE.EVER
- lvs 13y agoDespite best efforts, this is still playable because the color codes haven't changed from the original.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- Watabou 13y agoI love this, only thing is it doesn't have my favorite number: H Is there going to be a Wangernumb mode too?
- jonalmeida 13y agoi'm not entirely sure what I'm doing, but I think I'm winning...
- dredmorbius 13y agoWelcome to life, you now understand the rules.
- jedp 13y agoI think I just peed my pants.
- keithnoizu 13y agoThat's numberwang!
- davepm 13y agoPlease guys, make it stop. I need to work. I need to sleep. I need to eat!! I have no idea wtf I was doing but this is by far the best! This dam game is worse than heroin....
- saraid216 13y agoSilicon Valley doesn't do the productivity porn thing anymore, does it?
- joeblau 13y agoNot bad... not bad at all!
- stevengg 13y agoThis has just turned into a meme clogging up hn
- dragonfax 13y agoOddly enough, makes it easier to win.
- kimonos 13y agoI love this! I enjoy playing!
- atomicfiredoll 13y agoThis is my absolute favorite version, because I can actually beat it!
- taybin 13y agoThe definitive version of 2048.
- jpwagner 13y agoi keep getting shinty-six
- oddshocks 13y agoThis is one of the few clones/memes that gets better as it is propagated.
- chavesn 13y agoI think I should have won by now: https://www.dropbox.com/s/2hokoh94hujyf2j/Screenshot%202014-03-20%2020.08.11.png https://www.dropbox.com/s/2hokoh94hujyf2j/Screenshot%202014-... I thought it played normally, and it does for a while, but it always eventually seems to randomly revert your high tiles (I verified that I had at least 1024 by checking the debugger). [edit:] Ah, I found the code. It's possible to win but you have to survive the small chance that it will perform a random merge and destroy your tile: // 0.005% percent chance that we will merge a cell anyway if (next && Math.random() > 0.995) { next.value = tile.value; }
- AdamTReineke 13y agoHm, the comment is wrong, it's 0.5% chance.
- _puk 13y agoAnd that's CommentWang.. I'll get my coat
- dfbrown 13y agoI've found this seems to make the game significantly easier. If you get a block stuck in a bad spot it will eventually get merged fixing the problem.
- peterkelly 13y agoFound a bug you might want to look into: After 8 steps, I "won" after reaching the following configuration (all on the edges, from top-left clockwise): 16, 584, 26, 6, 18, and 7 That's not numberwang, according to the official definition [1] [1] D. Mitchell, B. Russell, A. Turing, and R. Webb. Numberwang determination and the Entscheidungsproblem. Principles of Mathematics and Computation, 1944. Cambridge Press 14(2).
- thedufer 13y agoNo, "That's numberwang" does not indicate winning nor the end of the game. It just pops up at random throughout the game.
- peterkelly 13y agoAh yes - that's true in the BBC 4 version of the rules, introduced in 1968. I think most countries use that now. In Australia we play according to the original rule set, hence the misunderstanding.
- martin-adams 13y agoBBC 4 was never associated with Numberwang, it was actually BBC 7.1
- martiuk 13y agoThe pilot debuted on BBC α
- pcrh 13y agoMornington Crescent!
- buro9 13y agoDo HN users outside of the UK get the surreality and humour of this entire conversation? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mornington_Crescent_(game) You can tell it's currently morning in the UK and night-time in the USA.
- hol 13y agoThis is phenomenal. So, so good.
- etfb 13y agoC:\> TWENTY48 Loading... Ready. You are in a darkened room. On the floor in front of you are sixteen tiles, arranged in a grid. The tiles are labelled A1, A2, A3, A4, B1 and so on up to D4. There is a two here, on tile A1. There is a two here, on tile D3. > GET ALL The numbers appear too strongly glued to the tiles. > INVENTORY You have a copy of On Lisp by Paul Graham, a thing your Aunt gave you that you don't know what it is, and a small leaflet. > READ ON LISP Time passes. You have a profound enlightenment experience. Sadly, this does not help you win the game. > READ LEAFLET "WELCOME TO TWENTYFORTYEIGHT! TWENTYFORTYEIGHT is a game of numbers, addition and high bits. In it you will explore some of the most tedious territory ever seen by Hacker News readers. No computer will be without one!" > GO LEFT Some numbers move, and a new number appears! There is a two here, on tile A1. There is a two here, on tile C1. There is a two here, on tile D1. [Footnote 6] > FOOTNOTE 6 There are no footnotes. > GO UP Some numbers move, some change, and some new numbers appear! There is a four here, on tile A1. There is a two here, on tile B1. There is a two here, on tile D4. >GO DOWN Some numbers move, and a new number appears! There is a four here, on tile C1. There is a two here, on tile C4. There is a two here, on tile D4. There is a two here, on tile D1. >PANIC Not surprised. >QUIT Amazed you survived this long. Your score is 4, out of a possible umpty squillion and six. Good bye! C:\> C:\> C:\> DEL TWENTY48.EXE C:\>
- lstamour 13y agoI'd panic too, if my A1 jumped to C1 for no apparent reason. ;-) And it's evil to use A-D and 1-4 with "up" and "left" commands ... and not telling us which side is labelled with letters and which with numbers. Makes me wonder what TWENTY EIGHTY-FOUR would look like ;-)
- snicker 13y agoI give it until tomorrow before we see a text-adventure-based version of 2048
- pavel_lishin 13y ago
- julianz 13y agoBrilliant! Even better because Numberwang is our internal term for "any random number in some code that isn't declared as a constant". Love it.
- feverr 13y ago1724 first go. NFI as to what I was doing, but that seems pretty good to me? EDIT: I just followed the arrow keys around in circle and got 7056. That's pretty, pretty, pretty good.
- coupdejarnac 13y agoI love the backwards seven! And to think I, an American, get this reference because I read The Guardian's football forums...
- rokusho 13y agoLost is when I got "a"
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- chrisdone 13y ago"maths quiz show that’s simply everyone" Huh?
- daxelrod 13y agoIt's a quote from Numberwang Episode 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDu5D_IXbc&feature=youtu.be&t=7s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJDu5D_IXbc&feature=youtu.be&...
- Numberwang 13y agoYou have my attention..
- kzrdude 13y agoDid you change the rules after posting it here? It seems like they are more chaotic now (and I like it).
- RV86 13y agoLove this so much.
- MarcScott 13y agoI'm due a slow commute to London next week and I can't wait to play it on a train see whether those sitting near to me can figure out the rules of the game.
- tuan5 13y agocan someone stop posting this?
- jessep 13y agoI started giggling with the first numberwang. As it kept happening, the giggle escalated into full out laughter that just kept getting stronger. I am sure I've seen the numberwang sketch, but don't remember it, so reference was wonderfully subliminal and all the more absurd. Anyway, I love this. Laughter is glorious.
- ajnas 13y agoTry this reverse version of 2048 game.. See if you can end up with fractions :P http://ajnas.in/one/ http://ajnas.in/one/