is it possible to win every solitare game?

[otispunkmeyer]

is it? my lomgest win streak is 3!!! haha i suck, but surely some hands must be impossible

 

[Kyteland]

Yes. There are 8.066*10^67 possible solitaire games. Even assuming ESP, some of them are impossible to win.

Trivial case: None of your initial 7 up card move, and all of the cards that will play on them are hidden, aas well as the aces. No moves are possible.

 

[KarenMarie]

on freecel every game is winnable. on solitare, it depends largely on what you are dealt.

🙂

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
on freecel every game is winnable. on solitare, it depends largely on what you are dealt.

It has been proven that some freecell games are unwinable (but they are rare, I personally win 91% of Freecell games since I'm too lazy to try hard). I think most solitare games are unwinable. For example, imagine this in a pile of hidden cards:

Very bottom: Ace of hearts.
Next: 3 of clubs
Next: 3 of spades.
Turned up: 2 of hearts.

You have nowhere to move the 2 of hearts without black 3s, and you can't get to the ace.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
on freecel every game is winnable. on solitare, it depends largely on what you are dealt.

It has been proven that some freecell games are unwinable (but they are rare, I personally win 91% of Freecell games since I'm too lazy to try hard). I think most solitare games are unwinable. For example, imagine this in a pile of hidden cards:

Very bottom: Ace of hearts.
Next: 3 of clubs
Next: 3 of spades.
Turned up: 2 of hearts.

You have nowhere to move the 2 of hearts without black 3s, and you can't get to the ace.

You're forgetting the open spaces on the playing surface, by the time you're to that point odds are you have a place to move them to.

Viper GTS

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS
You're forgetting the open spaces on the playing surface, by the time you're to that point odds are you have a place to move them to.

In real Solitare, you can only put Kings in the open spaces. My 2 still can't move.

Your mutilated version (allowing moving the 2 into an open space) seems so easy, that yes, most will likely be winable.

 

[Vic]

A great many solitaire games are unwinable. It's not too uncommon to get dealt hands in which there is not a single playable move.

On the subject of Windows Solitaire btw, real men play Draw Three, Vegas Scoring, Cumulative Score. 🙂

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Vic
On the subject of Windows Solitaire btw, real men play Draw Three, Vegas Scoring, Cumulative Score. 🙂

In most versions, draw 3 has a greater chance of earning money*. Thus real men play draw 1 (once through the deck).

* The key lies in the number of times that you are allowed to go through the deck. Obviously, you are better off drawing 1 if you only go through the deck 1 time. However, many people play that you can draw 3 and go through the deck unlimited times. With the exception of limits of 1 or 2 times through, drawing 3 with good strategy is easier.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: Vic
On the subject of Windows Solitaire btw, real men play Draw Three, Vegas Scoring, Cumulative Score. 🙂

In most versions, draw 3 has a greater chance of earning money*. Thus real men play draw 1 (once through the deck).

* The key lies in the number of times that you are allowed to go through the deck. Obviously, you are better off drawing 1 if you only go through the deck 1 time. However, many people play that you can draw 3 and go through the deck unlimited times. With the exception of limits of 1 or 2 times through, drawing 3 with good strategy is easier.

In the Windows Solitaire game setup I described, draw 3 only allows you to go through the deck 3 times, making strategy almost impossible.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: Vic
In the Windows Solitaire game setup I described, draw 3 only allows you to go through the deck 3 times, making strategy almost impossible.

If I recall correctly though, 3 times through with 3 at a time is slighly easier than 1 time through with one at a time. Windows is thus close to the borderline. still 1 at a time was for so long the only gambling way to do it.

 

[rh71]

repost! 😀

 

[MeanMeosh]

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
on freecel every game is winnable. on solitare, it depends largely on what you are dealt.

🙂

unwinnable freecell games:

open up freecell
goto load game (the option that lets you enter a certain game number"
try -1, -2, and -3

those three freecell games are unwinnable =P

true story: my uncle, who prolly has ocd, kept track of the games he played (by number) and played and beat every single game of freecell the windows version offers (except for -1, -2 and -3, of course)

 

[Syringer]

Originally posted by: dullard

Originally posted by: KarenMarie
on freecel every game is winnable. on solitare, it depends largely on what you are dealt.

It has been proven that some freecell games are unwinable (but they are rare, I personally win 91% of Freecell games since I'm too lazy to try hard). I think most solitare games are unwinable. For example, imagine this in a pile of hidden cards:

Very bottom: Ace of hearts.
Next: 3 of clubs
Next: 3 of spades.
Turned up: 2 of hearts.

You have nowhere to move the 2 of hearts without black 3s, and you can't get to the ace.

Proven where?

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: MeanMeosh
true story: my uncle, who prolly has ocd, kept track of the games he played (by number) and played and beat every single game of freecell the windows version offers (except for -1, -2 and -3, of course)

Unless he used the cheat code, #11,982 can't be solved by humans or by computers trying every possible move.


Edit: Hmm. 7000 posts. I need to get out more.

 

[Ilmater]

Originally posted by: MeanMeosh
true story: my uncle, who prolly has ocd, kept track of the games he played (by number) and played and beat every single game of freecell the windows version offers (except for -1, -2 and -3, of course)

I tried to start that, but unlike you're uncle, I don't have OCD, so I gave up about 1,500 games into it.

 

[AStar617]

I seem to remember freecell hand #617 being dubbed impossible, or at least a bitch to win.

 

[dullard]

Originally posted by: AStar617
I seem to remember freecell hand #617 being dubbed impossible, or at least a bitch to win.

Follow the link in my link and you'll see a discussion about #617 being the first really difficult one if you go in order. Does this have anything to do with your alias?