The Best Can't Stop Strategy

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zasfp
Posts: 15
Joined: 25 August 2025, 01:47

The Best Can't Stop Strategy

Post by zasfp »

So I've scrolled through a bunch of top players looking at their win rate, games played, and bust rate. It appears that really good players can sit around a 60% win rate which is impressive for a game that outwardly looks like a 50-50 luck game. Deep within are some fun statistics with optimal lanes (6,7,8) followed by (5,7,8) and (6,7,9) and funny enough (5,6,7) and (7,8,9) are significantly worse since they are all on a single half of the board. Three even numbers give an advantage over three odd numbers. Anyway, enough meandering through the fun statistics of it all.

The question is should I push or should I stop? Many yelling out "Can't Stop" as they throw the dice again hoping to close out a column only to lose all their progress.

So what is better? Pushing aggressively or conserving progress frequently? The answer: they are both viable strategies. You would think at the top level there would be a certain bust rate that arises among 1000s of games as the best way to play, but no. Players with a 60% win rate or higher and have played 1000+ games have anywhere from a 45% bust rate to an 18% bust rate. So perhaps if you are losing progress 50% or more of the time or saving progress on 90% or more of your turns you might have to adjust your gameplay a bit, but outside of that there isn't a "solved" strategy. You gotta read each game as its own monster to conquer. You might just come back 0-2 to win from some last second aggression. Here's a fun game where I got lucky doing just that: https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=752179021
FSKFSK
Posts: 427
Joined: 12 January 2019, 07:22

Re: The Best Can't Stop Strategy

Post by FSKFSK »

There are two reasons to push. If you close out 7, you score a point. You also now block your opponent from using 7 on their turns.
OButler
Posts: 5
Joined: 29 January 2022, 22:17

Re: The Best Can't Stop Strategy

Post by OButler »

There is a player aid available at BoardGameGeek.com that provides the odds of progressing (not crapping out) for each of the triplets.

For example, (6,7,8) has a 91.98% chance of generating a "good" roll while (2,3,12) has only a 43.83% chance. (4,6,8) has a 91.13% chance while (5,7,9) has only a 85.34% chance.
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Zeus
Posts: 29
Joined: 29 January 2024, 05:57

Re: The Best Can't Stop Strategy

Post by Zeus »

theres a lot more to cant stop than the dice mafia wants you to know
JohnnyCyclops
Posts: 282
Joined: 05 July 2023, 22:06

Re: The Best Can't Stop Strategy

Post by JohnnyCyclops »

I’ve often found 4-7-10 to be a productive combo. Provides a lot of ‘width’ across the board while anchors to the 7.

Even some “never bank” players, do switch to banking once they get their second column secure.
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Hihello0909
Posts: 2
Joined: 06 October 2025, 02:10

Re: The Best Can't Stop Strategy

Post by Hihello0909 »

I’ve always believed in not having 3 numbers in a row. There’s just something about the website that makes it not all that viable
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euklid314
Posts: 679
Joined: 06 April 2020, 22:56

Re: The Best Can't Stop Strategy

Post by euklid314 »

Hihello0909 wrote: 01 December 2025, 16:07 I’ve always believed in not having 3 numbers in a row. There’s just something about the website that makes it not all that viable
What do you mean with 3 numbers in a row? Advancing on 6-7-8 gives the best possible combination to advance far. Advancing on 4-5-6 is risky, however, and for obvious reasons even more so if you try 2-3-4...
thg0724
Posts: 130
Joined: 25 December 2022, 15:25

Re: The Best Can't Stop Strategy

Post by thg0724 »

Zeus wrote: 10 November 2025, 13:55 theres a lot more to cant stop than the dice mafia wants you to know
I believe that the dice numbers, cited without regard to whether you or your opponent have already made any previous progress, are only a small portion of what you ought to be thinking about.
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Arjuna92
Posts: 103
Joined: 24 February 2014, 08:10

Re: The Best Can't Stop Strategy

Post by Arjuna92 »

Even numbers are superior to odd numbers.

If you look at the triplets with 7 in the middle these are the failure rates (out of 1296);
6 7 8: 104
6 7 9: 111
6 7 10: 126
6 7 11: 129
6 7 12: 132
5 7 9: 190
5 7 10: 151
5 7 11: 204
5 7 12: 213
4 7 10: 160
4 7 11: 213
4 7 12: 216
3 7 11: 294
3 7 12: 291
2 7 12: 284

5 7 9 is surprisingly poor and 5 7 10 (or equivalently 4 7 9) and even 4 7 10 offer significantly lower failure rates, combined with smaller columns to climb. Also notable: In connection with 6 and 7 it's perfectly viable to go far on 11 or 12 and try to get them in one go.

Triplets with 7 and the other columns both on one side:
7 8 9: 149
7 8 10: 148
7 8 11: 171
7 8 12: 172
7 9 10: 197
7 9 11: 276
7 9 12: 247
7 10 11: 271
7 10 12: 244
7 11 12: 321

Going only to one side from the 7 still offers reasonable odds for gambling with the 7 and 8 combo. Interestingly, 10 is once again better than 9 and 12 in particular is surprisingly solid given its very low column height.

Triplets with 6 and two columns above 7:
6 8 9: 136
6 8 10: 115
6 8 11: 190
6 8 12: 151
6 9 10: 200
6 9 11: 249
6 9 12: 222
6 10 11: 264
6 10 12: 239
6 11 12: 316

6 8 10 is one of the absolute best triplets in the game and one I often play for. This list is where the even numbers shine even more compared to the odd ones.

All in all the triplets you are least likely to crash on (and their symmetrical counterparts of course):
6 7 8: 104
6 7 9: 111
6 8 10: 115
6 7 10: 126
6 7 11: 129
6 7 12: 132
6 8 9: 136
5 8 10: 145
7 8 10: 148
7 8 9: 149
5 7 10: 151
6 8 12: 151
4 8 10: 151
4 7 10: 160

And the absolute worst:
2 10 12: 581
3 11 12: 615
10 11 12:620
2 11 12: 728

Interestingly, only 2 11 12 has a higher than 50% chance of crashing on every roll.
thg0724
Posts: 130
Joined: 25 December 2022, 15:25

Re: The Best Can't Stop Strategy

Post by thg0724 »

Thanks for the list. Would you share a complete list?
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