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Examples of the Surreptitious Finesse

The Surreptitious Finesse is an advanced strategy.

Example 1​

Example Screenshot

  • It is the first turn of the game and letical starts.
  • letical clues number 3 to Steve, touching the blue 3 as a Play Clue.
  • The next player is Steve. Steve needs to figure out the meaning of the 3 clue. hanabornoob does not have any playable cards on Finesse Position, but Fey does, so Steve knows that this could be a Reverse Finesse on one of Fey's cards.
  • From Steve's perspective, it could be a few different possibilities:
    • Fey could be blind-playing 0 cards. In that case, it would be a Double Self-Finesse on Steve for a 1 and a 2, which means that the 3 could be any 3 in the game. (But Steve has to give a chance for Fey to blind-play first before he should blind-play anything.)
    • Fey could be blind-playing 1 card. In that case, it would be a Double Finesse and Steve would have the red 2 on his Finesse Position, which means that the 3 would be the connecting red 3.
    • Fey could be blind-playing 2 cards. In that case, it would be a Layered Finesse and Steve would have the purple 2 on his Finesse Position, which means that the 3 would be the connecting purple 3.
    • Fey could be blind-playing 3 cards. In that case, it would be a Layered Finesse and Steve would not have to blind-play anything, which means that the 3 would be the connecting red 3. (Out of all of the possibilities, this is the most likely, since it does not involve Steve blind-playing any cards.)
    • Fey could be blind-playing 4 cards. In that case, it would be a Surreptitious Finesse and Steve would have the blue 2 on his Finesse Position, which means that the 3 would be the connecting blue 3.
  • This means that for now, Steve has to wait and see what Fey does. Steve clues green to hanabornoob as a Play Clue on the green 1.
  • The next player is Fey. Fey knows that she has the blue 1 a Double Finesse. She blind-plays her Finesse Position card. It is the red 1 and it successfully plays. Fey know knows that a Layered Finesse is occurring and that she has the blue 1 on her Second Finesse Position.
  • On Steve's next turn, he is in the same situation as before. He must give Fey another turn to see if the purple 1 blind-plays or not. Steve does something unrelated.
  • Fey blind-plays her Second Finesse Position. It is the purple 1 and it successfully plays. Fey know knows that a Layered Finesse is still occurring and that she has the blue 1 on her Third Finesse Position.
  • On Steve's next turn, he is (again) in the same situation as before. He must give Fey another turn to see if the red 2 blind-plays or not. Steve does something unrelated.
  • Fey blind-plays her Third Finesse Position. It is the red 2 and it successfully plays. At first, this is confusing for Fey, because she realizes that "2" connects to "3", and Steve might now think that he has the connecting red 3. However, Fey knows that a Surreptitious Finesse is occurring and that she has the blue 1 on her Forth Finesse Position.
  • On Steve's next turn, he is (again) in the same situation as before. He must give Fey another turn to see if the blue 1 blind-plays or not. Steve does something unrelated.
  • Fey blind-plays her Forth Finesse Position. It is the blue 1 and it successfully plays.
  • Steve now knows that a Surreptitious Finesse is occurring and that he needs to blind-play the blue 2 and that the 3 in his hand is the connecting blue 3.