| Author |
Message |
Richard Mechen (Richardscotland)
Advanced Solitaire Player
Username: Richardscotland
Post Number: 84
Registered: 9-2006
| | Posted on Thursday, October 26, 2006 - 4:48 am: | |
My ageing PC can solve complex mathematical problems almost instantaneously. I don't doubt that it could trounce the finest mathematicians on the planet, but is infinitely inferior to the human brain, even my imperfect one. What has this got to do with PGS I hear you ask? Be patient.
Let's say it takes you 10 minutes to play a game of solitaire. Therefore the most you could play would be 144 per day. This equates to 52,560 a year. It follows from this that if you played non stop, day and night,it would take you 8.65 years to play 454,824 games.
My humble human brain has a problem with this, yet a computer will accept this as a fact. A computer would also find nothing remiss about an average score of just 1.
I allocated just 10 minutes to PLAY a game far less WIN one. If we consider a game like Royal Flush with a ten percent chance of winning, I feel that Claus Veje of Denmark should be congratulated for the magnificent achievement of WINNING almost half a million consecutive games. Well done indeed, (as the computer that accepted the data undoubtedly was).
The moral of the story is simple.
DO NOT ACCEPT everything you see in the high scores as FACT. Computerised data can be full of errors due to problems uploading and downloading data, far less very minor and occasional software problems.
Stop trying to compete, and get on with enjoying PGS. It's the best purchase I've EVER made in 59 years. |
Kjell Petterson (Kjell)
Intermediate Solitaire Player
Username: Kjell
Post Number: 48
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 01, 2006 - 12:38 pm: | |
"Stop trying to compete, and get on with enjoying PGS. It's the best purchase I've EVER made in 59 years."
I would like to agree with Richardscotland with a little twist. Having been a PGS fan since PGS was a 'little kid' of, perhaps, only 50 different games, I think playing and enjoying the games is a reward in itself.
However, the big scoreboard in cyberspace adds a dimension to the experience. It is really exciting to be part of such a peaceful, global happening. I have no sympathy for those who are so ugly competitive that they have to fix their stats, but it is still satisfying to compare your efforts with folks all over the world.
As for fixing the scores, Wpywell demonstrated a method that is impossible to detect and stop. I think I will disagree with Mike Ballin that it is virtually impractical to find those idiots who keep playing a guaranteed winning number. It seems that the log does not contain the total stats for a game; I assume that it is recalculated whenever requested. Since we are only looking for repetition of a game number, it would be relatively simple to detect even just a few repititions, and have the program announce "illegal repetition of game number xxx -the statistics will be reset".
Another distortion which I have previously pointed out without support from Thomas: You often find good scores recorded a couple of years ago. Those are probably from people who did very well initially and registered their scores. Did they stop playing that game? Probably not, but their win percentages may have gone down. If the scoreboard purged scores, say more than a year old, those people would have to register their current scores...
The scoreboard adds spice to PGS and we should try to keep it as honest as possible, but just playing PGS is very rewarding in itself.
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Audrey G Schnell (Paxinc)
Master Solitaire Player
Username: Paxinc
Post Number: 143
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 01, 2006 - 12:52 pm: | |
Having 93 games left to solve, I'll probably never be on the scoreboard but there's still a ridiculous thrill in solving one. I just nailed Suit Triangle and it was great. Bye Audrey |
Jeralyn Taylor (Annika)
Advanced Solitaire Player
Username: Annika
Post Number: 87
Registered: 4-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 01, 2006 - 1:50 pm: | |
Competing is the pleasure of solitaire, whether it is against oneself, or other PGS or AS players. Winning is the point, whether it is posting the highest score, succeeding in winning every PGS game at least once, or finally winning a certain game after years of trying.
Re your comment about old scores: in Action Sol, the top 10 scores are in a box above the long list of posted scores. However, when a score is about a year old, Current scores will supersede, even when not higher. The true high scores will still be there in the list below, with dates posted. I found this out by checking a game for which I had the high score, and it was no longer on top. I just had to play more games, until I had a high enough score to get my name back on top of the top ten, even though no one had been able to beat my score. (AS is timed rounds, so one game consists of as many rounds as one can complete, with the time limit getting shorter every round.) Fair enough.
I will try suit triangle next.
Jerri
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Audrey G Schnell (Paxinc)
Master Solitaire Player
Username: Paxinc
Post Number: 144
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, November 01, 2006 - 2:17 pm: | |
I forgot to give that suit triangle number; it's 1818578559. Bye Audrey |
Audrey G Schnell (Paxinc)
Master Solitaire Player
Username: Paxinc
Post Number: 145
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Friday, November 03, 2006 - 8:50 pm: | |
Did the Suit Triangle number work for you, Jerri? I just got lucky and nailed Ladies Battle, with Paul's number 56224177. |
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