Nat/Tom PM

Hey.  I set this up mostly just because Mas disabled PMs, so effectively like a PM.  Use it or not - really just so it's available.

As an offering, this is my clue: H2 will finish before H7 but after H8

Great idea! I would have asked for a room last round, but we wouldn't have been able to work together anyway. Here's my hint:

Hint #3: The sum of the top 3 horses is 14

Yeah, last round was kind of everyone for themselves. I had no clue who was a citizen vs. criminal, and I guess Mas set it up that way, so easier to just be quiet.

And huh... so 7 isn't in the final 3 (since 8 beats it - so 8 might be). That's something at least.

Yeah, we can definitely rule out 7. So I'm rereading my hint. The race is 20 spaces long. Is the sum referring to how far the horses will go? If so, can we rule out 1-3? Unless I'm looking at it the wrong way.

Oh wait, I read that completely wrong. It's the sum of the number of the horses who finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd?

I think it's the sum of their numbers, but I guess it could be the sum of their moves.  The sum of their moves would be impossible to predict until the end, when there's not enough time to bet, though. Also, there's no way that could add up to 14 (since they'd all have to move at least 7 times).

Supposedly we can also rule out 1 (hint from someone else).  Assuming 8 is in the top 3 (it may not be, if it's the best guess I have for a way to add up to 14), we can rule out 3 (because to get 14, you'd need two 3s).  7 is already ruled out if 8 is in the top 3.  Since we can rule out 1, we can also rule out 5 (because 5 would need 1 to make 6... 8 + 6 = 14).  So...

8 is either 1st or 2nd place.
2 is either 2nd or 3rd place.
4 can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd.

The difficulty is in figuring out 2 and 4.

That's the conclusion I came to. I was told to rule out 1 too. I've heard 1 is faster than 3, so we can rule that out as well. It always comes back to 2, 4, or 8.

I'm thinking 4 might be 1st or 2nd if only because of some exclusion principle - it seems like its placement is a complete mystery (except maybe to 1 person), making it somehow key here. I guess if you see a few people suddenly betting a lot on 2, it's probably 2... otherwise, I'm thinking 4.

Remember the last couple rounds you won't be able to bet. Also, if I were in your position, I'd put a lot on 2... it has the best odds and you have the most chips on it (and with the odds as they are, each should be worth 2-3 times as much). Just make sure to have enough on H4/H8 to not be the lowest in case H2 loses (which you already do - as it is, Kathy will likely lose either way). As it stands, you won't win unless H2 comes in 1st or 2nd, no matter how else you spread your chips - but if it does, you stand a good chance.

Yeah, it doesn't look too good for H2 with how H4 and H8 are along the track, but you never know. I was going to put most of mine on H2 and hope for the best.

Hey, asked Mas for this board back.

The Death Match has already been done, when Blake beat Dana (with an awesome strategy). Dana could've easily taken a penalty and had him cycle through numbers, though - but she didn't. All the same, you have the most garnets so you'll get to go first. Should be a sure win. If you want/need help, let me know.

Also, the loophole - I noticed zombies had a cure but using it was pointless. So why would they have a cure at all? I figured out one pretty fast - their first post (very strong suspicion, at least) - and nagged them until they admitted it, got their cure in exchange for agreeing to not tell anyone they were a zombie or nominate them if I won. I don't want to say which one, just because I'm not sure they'd be happy about that... but that's how I used 2 cures. I was hoping there would be more humans/people would buy cures and more would be left to chance (and I wouldn't be the sole human/have to nominate anyone), but when I realized you and I were the only 2 humans, that's when I PM'd you about offing ourselves.

Oh that makes sense! I was rereading the post to try and figure out the loophole and that never occurred to me. I thought it was something like he never said how many times a single cure could be used. Looking back, we should have just offed ourselves, but this is an easy win death match anyway. I hope Kevin doesn't realize he can get a penalty or no one tells him. I'm glad I picked him and not someone else with more garnets.

Offing ourselves would've been a lot safer, but this should be an easy challenge and you'll get into the double digits for garnets. So, not a big deal in hindsight.

Even if Kevin does take penalties, you could do the same - and you'd always be one move ahead of him. So not a big deal either way (though it'll go a lot faster if he doesn't do the penalty thing).

So, looks like Mets is backing Kevin, and Blake's strategy won't work.  But Mas also said when you run out of numbers, you can just go through the same numbers... so this might take a while and become more of an endurance match.  

One strategy that occurred to me when seeing Blake's was, "what is a number that is NOT in your 4 digit password?"  Let's say he says "7".  "Besides 7, what is another number that is NOT in your 4 digit password?"  (saying "7" would be considered evasive, rather than telling the truth, I'd think).  Etc... Technically different questions, if slightly.  Also, by cycling through your numbers to give him penalties, eventually the digits in the password are evident (then you can go back and give the numbers, as a penalty, again).  If he uses a strategy going straight for your numbers (I may have suggested that as an option on the board at the time - I forget, but it's possible), it might be better to outright give him 3 of the numbers at first, then make him cycle through the others as penalties (that way those 3 numbers + the penalty numbers = making him cycle through even more... he'd ultimately get the numbers - out of order - by process of elimination, anyway).  In the show, they used the standards: evens/odds, repeating numbers, etc... (questions that whether the truth or a lie, you get info).  Likewise, completely evasive/unrelated answers are allowed (with a penalty) if either the truth or a lie would give him too much info.

Unfortunately, Blake's strategy won't work again, though, and the penalties can be endless... so, good luck. And sorry for the rant.

I'm pretty annoyed at Mets blatantly helping Kevin, but I kind of expected it. Oh well, it was wishful thinking anyway. I still have the advantage so hopefully I can pull through.

What do you mean by outright giving him 3 number and making him cycle through the others?

For example, if he asks what numbers are in your password (or what numbers are "NOT" in your password - see example), then give him 3, then make him cycle through the rest to get the other 1. 0-9, so 10 numbers. If you did a penalty each time, it would take him 6 questions to find the 4 numbers in your password. But if you gave him 3, then made him cycle through to get the other 1, he'd have to ask 9 questions. Gives you a 3 question advantage.

That only applies if he asks a question like the example, though (which he may, because I may have suggested that last time this challenge happened - I forget and the board isn't open anymore... sorry).

I looked up the episode of the show and watched part of the match, and there was an interesting thing - each chip was magnetized, but 2 in particular were magnetized so that the players' name tags would attach to them when drawing. I have a feeling there's no equivalent of that here, but I'm looking just in case.

These challenges are so hard to wrap my head around the first time I read them haha. I don't know how that would work on here, but yes, I'll keep an eye out as well! Does he get most of his challenge ideas from the show? Maybe I should watch it just to get a heads-up.

Yeah, they're taken from the show. Here's a rundown of challenges (in Season 2, at least): https://realityarchive.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/genius.pdf Some of the episodes you can find online and some you can't (or I can't). There are a few fan wikis that explain stuff, though (but they're all unreliable/some have info for some challenges, others none). Just typing in "The Genius" and the challenge name should bring Google results.

Basically, if too many people bet on the same character, there are fewer coins to place during the challenge (ie: if all 7 people chose the zombie to win, then there would be no zombie coins to play/the zombie couldn't win). That's the catch.