master114 wrote: ↑22 February 2023, 11:10
sprockitz wrote: ↑21 February 2023, 03:30
A little inference can help, in fact that is a large part of the game. another big part is setting things up for later...setting up so that you will have several different numbers on a given spot...like 3, 2, and 1. also playing slow intentionally is usually to your advantage if you are just trying to avoid being caught (going for high score seems to be the intended purpose, but just trying to win at first seems reasonable). So in 3-5 player this means often only guessing 1 card even when you know 2 so that you don't have to use a guess in a later turn. it also means moving slower so that the queen in turn also moves slower. In 2 player you can take advantage of those free skips before getting to 10 as it is an extra turn (or 3) as you setup the board.
I don't think this kind of card-guessing tactic in the later phase of the game can drastically change the results of the game.
If your goal is to just avoid getting caught you likely only need to answer 1 each turn. It's wrong guesses or speeding the queen up too early that will kill you in this game.
For 2p here is some very brief thoughts on how to win:
1st player to go should always take an easy card, other player should take medium...and you should keep this trend up. You should almost always be able to guess 1 card each turn, and in the rare case you can't you have 3 skips. By intentionally playing slow early you keep the queen only moving 1 spot at a time. you can win the game only getting to the low-mid 20s.
-With the easy clues you are usually able to give a clue that gives the answer to your card away without question, but on those rare occasions where you can't the mere fact that you don't give an outright solution can usually give an inferred solution.
-If a negative clue is given (i.e. a 0) think about why...it is likely safe to assume that if your partner could give a clue that gave the answer away definitively they would. (so take for example a first turn with a 0 clue, where the board had 3 of the 4 colors available (say red is missing) to chose from for your new plant, in this case a clue of 0 on an easy card would tell you they must be red/red.
-A 50/50 guess isn't always a 50/50 guess. Often later in the game you'll have to give a clue that has 2 possible answers, but it may only have 1 realistic option which you can surmise by looking at the board and the options the player had for laying which will often tell you choice A had a 100% in another spot, so it can't be choice A because my partner would have played the sure thing, therefore it must be choice B.
-Be aware of how you setup the board...the inner ring will be valuable later in the game when you make it possible for clues of different values. Getting 5 different things that all give a value of 1 is pretty worthless but getting a 3 a 2 and a 1 offers much more information when that spot is used. This can be done in early game first ensuring possibilities for 2s in spaces, then moving to possibilities for 2s and 3s.
-In 2p taking a skip when you get to 8-9 can be strategic even if you don't need it...in preparation for this the player taking medium can usually grab a hard card here (and again before hitting 20), the hard cards will likely take 2 rounds of clues but the extra points and the delay in having the queen move faster are worth the tradeoff.
