Daniel Solis

Based on the math feedback from Mark Sherry, I made some changes to the core rules of Picker . Mainly this involved resolving this strange bug where being a Picker was actually more detrimental to each player's score. Based on the revised rules, the simulations show that being a Picker gives you a slight percentile advantage, which better fits the spirit of the game. Here are the basic changes: The dice are different colors, which are now the basis of set bonuses, independent of the results. There is no more SHAFT role. It was actually a greater detriment to all AIs and led to lower final scores. The PICKER role always picks herself to be first player. Again, this balanced out the anti-picker bug a bit and streamlined the rules. The set bonus is streamlined to a linear +3, with a maximum of +15 for a set of 6-of-a-kind. Clarified that you can score bonus points for multiple sets, so long as each are a different color. I've updated the main page with these new rule...

Whenever I have a math question, I call upon resident math whiz Mark Sherry for analysis. Seems like a lot of game designers have some background in advanced math, but I ended up taking the art path, so I'm very lucky to have Mark around.  I asked Mark to run some simulations for Picker , the pub dice game I posted last week . Mark set up some AI players who each stick to one PICK strategy and one CHOOSE strategy throughout the game. Then he ran thousands of simulations to find out which strategy, if any, is the optimum strategy. If it was clear that one strategy would win, I'd tweak the rules, he'd adjust his AI, and run the simulations again. It's a nice, fast process. PICK is who they pick to be first player when they're Picker. Mark tested these strategies. Always pick the trailing player Always pick yourself Pick random player CHOOSE is what they do when its their turn to choose a die. Mark tested these strategies. Always keep the highest Alway...

Here's a super simple pub game to play with normal dice, inspired by the customized dice drafting mechanic in Seasons. It's so simple, in fact, that I could fit all the rules onto one graphic. Neat, eh? 3 or more Players 5-10 Minutes EACH ROUND SETUP Roll 1d6 per player. Each die is a different color. Resolving Ties: If all the dice come up with the same result, roll them all again until there is at least one different result. In the first round, youngest player goes first. Thereafter, each round's turn order changes. ON YOUR TURN Keep one result. Score that many points. Keep track of your chosen color each round. If you are first to keep the lowest result, you will be first player in the next round. Clarification:   If there are ties for the lowest result, only the first player to keep that result gets this effect. For example, if there are two 1s, and you keep a 1 first, then you're the Picker. Whoever keeps the second 1 gets no benefit. Turns...