Level 2 Challenge Questions

These questions are for level 2 strategies.

Question 1

Question

• It is currently the Early Game. There is 1 clue token left.
• List all the legal actions that Alice can perform. Of the legal actions, which is the best one?

Solution

• There are two legal things for Alice to do:
  • First, Alice can perform a 5 Stall to Donald (by cluing number 5 to touch the purple 5).
  • Second, Alice can discard.
• If Alice performs a 5 Stall, then Bob's action would be to discard (since there are no clue tokens left).
• If Bob discarded, he would discard a green 1, which is considered to be an excellent discard (since it is already played and is thus considered to be trash).
• Alice could have a more desirable card on chop than a green 1, like a yellow 3 or a blue 3.
• Thus, while it is permissible for Alice to either 5 Stall or discard, her best action is to perform a 5 Stall, since her chop is more valuable than Bob's chop.

Question 2

Question

• Alice clues blue to Bob, which touches one card on slot 2.
• Bob writes a card note with the identity of the card.

1. What card note does Bob write?
2. What action should Bob perform?

Solution

1. Bob writes "blue 2, blue 3 if blue 2 f".
   • Bob knows that this must be a Play Clue on his blue card, since it is not on chop. Blue 2 has not been played and has not been touched elsewhere, so this card could be the blue 2.
   • However, Bob also sees a blue 2 on Cathy's Finesse Position, so Alice could have performed a Reverse Finesse. If that is the case, this card could be a blue 3.
2. Bob must entertain the possibility of a Reverse Finesse, so he cannot play the blue card immediately. Assuming there is nothing useful to clue in Alice's hand, Bob should just discard (and avoid cluing the blue 2).
   • If Cathy blind-plays her blue 2 on her turn, Bob can update his note to "blue 2, blue 3 if blue 2 f | blue 3".
   • If Cathy has nothing more urgent to do and still does not play her blue 2 on her turn, Bob can update his note with "blue 2, blue 3 if blue 2 f | blue 2".

Question 3

Question

• Alice clues number 3 to Bob, which touches one card on slot 4. It has negative red and green on it.
• Bob writes a card note with the identity of the card.

1. What card note does Bob write?
2. What action should Bob perform?

Solution

1. Bob writes a note of "yellow 3, blue 3, purple 3".
   • Bob knows that this must be a Play Clue on his 3, since it is not on chop. Since there are no 2's played, the 3 is not directly playable. Normally, this would look like a Reverse Finesse on Cathy's green 2, but since Bob's 3 has negative green, that is impossible.
   • Thus, this must be a Self-Finesse and Bob must have the 2 to make his 3 playable.
   • Bob does not know exactly which 3 is playable until he plays his Finesse Position.
2. Bob needs to blind-play his Finesse Position immediately to demonstrate that he (and not Cathy) has the connecting 2.
   • Cathy's chop is trash and does not need saving.
   • After playing the 2, Bob should mark his 3 with the same color as the 2 that was played.

Question 4

Question

• Alice clues number 2 to Bob, which touches a yellow 2 on slot 5.
• Bob discards trash from slot 4.
• From Cathy's perspective, was Alice's clue a Reverse Finesse? Why or why not?

Solution

• No, it is not a Reverse Finesse.
• Since the yellow 2 was on chop, Alice performed a normal 2 Save.

Question 5

Question

• Alice clues number 3 to Bob, which touches one card on slot 2.
• Bob writes a card note with the identity of the card.

1. What card note does Bob write?
2. What action should Bob perform?

Solution

1. Bob writes "red 3, blue 3, purple 3 if purple 2 f".
   • Bob knows that this must be a Play Clue on his 3, since it is not on chop. It could be an immediately playable red 3 or blue 3, but it could also be a Reverse Finesse on a purple 3.
2. Bob must entertain the possibility of a Reverse Finesse. For now, Bob needs to clue green to Cathy, which would be a Critical Save on the critical green 3.
   • If Cathy blind-plays the purple 2, Bob will update his note to "red 3, blue 3, purple 3 if purple 2 f | purple 3".
   • If Cathy does not blind-play the purple 2, Bob will update his note to "red 3, blue 3, purple 3 if purple 2 f | red 3, blue 3".
   • (This cannot be a Self-Finesse on Bob, since he knows that Self-Finesses cannot be given if a Play Clue interpretation is possible. In this case, the clued card could be an immediately playable red 3 or blue 3.)

Question 6

Question

• Alice clues number 4 to Bob, which touches a green 4 on slot 5.
• Bob discards trash from slot 4.
• From Cathy's perspective, was Alice's clue a Reverse Finesse? Why or why not?

Solution

• Yes, this is a Reverse Finesse.
• Green 4 is not critical, so the 4 clue cannot be a Save Clue. Thus, it must be a Play Clue. Cathy is promised a green 3 to make the green 4 playable.

Question 7

Question

• Alice clues number 3 to Bob, which touches two cards on slot 3 and slot 5.
• This is a Chop Focus clue, which means that slot 5 is focused.
• Bob writes a card note on both of the cards.

1. What card note does Bob write on each card?
2. What action should Bob perform?

Solution

1. Bob writes "red 3" on the slot 5 card, and "yellow 3, green 3, blue 3, purple 3" on the slot 3 card.
   • Since Bob got a Chop Focus clue, he should treat it as a Play Clue or a Save Clue.
   • However, there are no directly playable 3's, so this cannot be a direct Play Clue.
   • The only 3 in the trash is the red 3, so this must be a Save Clue on a red 3.
   • This cannot be a Self-Finesse, because Alice would expect Bob to treat the clue as a Save Clue on the red 3.
   • This cannot be a Reverse Finesse. Even though Cathy has a red 2 on her Finesse Position, Cathy would interpret a clue touching a critical red 3 on chop as a Save Clue. Thus, she would never blind-play anything from Alice's clue.
2. Assuming that Alice has no cards of interest, Bob should clue number 2 to Cathy as a Play Clue on the red 2. (A number 2 clue is better than a red clue because it gets the purple 2 "for free".)

Question 8

Question

• Bob has an unknown blue card in his hand.
• Cathy has an unknown 2 in her hand.
• What is the best clue that Alice can give?

Solution

• Alice only has one valid clue: number 2 to Cathy.
• Alice cannot clue the red 3 (with either color or rank) to initiate a Reverse Finesse, because Cathy would proceed to play the unknown 2 as a red 2 (assuming a Prompt over a Finesse).
• Alice should avoid cluing red to Cathy, as it would violate Good Touch Principle and touch the trash red 1.

Question 9

Question

• Bob has an unknown 5 in his hand.
• Cathy has an unknown yellow card in her hand.
• What is the best clue that Alice can give?

Solution

• Alice's most valuable clue is green to Bob. This would be a Play Clue on the green 4 and initiate a Reverse Finesse.
• Unlike the previous question, the Reverse Finesse will work because Cathy knows that her yellow card cannot connect to a green 4.
• Alice could also clue number 3 to Cathy as a Play Clue on the green 3. This would also "fill in" the yellow 3. But it would only "get" one brand new card instead of two brand new cards.

Question 10

Question

• Bob has an unknown 5 in his hand.
• Cathy has an unknown purple card in her hand.
• What is the best clue that Alice can give?

Solution

• Alice's most valuable clue is number 4 to Bob. This would be a Play Clue on the red 4 and initiate a Self Finesse.
• Alice can expect that Bob to play into the Self-Finesse because:
  • Bob will know that the number 4 clue cannot be a Save Clue. (No 4's are currently critical.)
  • Bob will know that the number 4 clue cannot be a direct Play Clue, since there are no immediately playable 4's.
  • Bob will know that the number 4 clue cannot be a Reverse Finesse, because Cathy does not have any playable cards on her Finesse Position that connect to a 4.
• Alice could also clue number 3 to Bob as a Play Clue on the red 3, but this would only "get" one brand new card instead of two brand new cards.