Search found 168 matches

by Steve Balog
Sat Mar 08, 2014 12:52 am
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Easy odds puzzle
Replies: 22
Views: 10710

Re: Easy odds puzzle

Bit late to bump this, but 8/35 (27:8, or about 22.857%) is correct: Without loss of generality, put top player A in slot 1 (basically, randomly assign a slot to A, then draw A's opponent next). The probability of a "muppet" being pitted vs. A is 4/7. If B, C, or D is pitted, the trial in ...
by Steve Balog
Sun Jun 23, 2013 5:28 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Official thread of scrag
Replies: 328
Views: 50766

Re: Official thread of scrag

http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=1024033

Max a round only 5 people get spot-on, finish in the bottom third.

Smooth move, Ex-Lax.
by Steve Balog
Mon Mar 18, 2013 10:21 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Weighing game
Replies: 18
Views: 6008

Re: Weighing game

Hint for my puzzle: The first move in my puzzle is sort of unintuitive to consider at first. Think I got the one in the OP after like a half hour: Weigh four coins against four other coins in the first weighing. If the coins balance, all 8 are legit. Weigh three unknown coins against three legit coi...
by Steve Balog
Mon Mar 18, 2013 3:58 am
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Weighing game
Replies: 18
Views: 6008

Re: Weighing game

New weighing puzzle I saw somewhere: You have a balance scale and six balls. Two are red, two are green, and two are blue. You are told that, in each pair of like colored balls, one is slightly heavier than the other. The heavy balls in each pair are all the same weight, as are the light balls. Usin...
by Steve Balog
Mon Mar 18, 2013 3:49 am
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Countdown Conundrum Quiz
Replies: 6
Views: 3574

Re: Countdown Conundrum Quiz

Really, Steve? :lol: http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=489717&round=7000001#r7000001 lol soz, I was running out of ideas and started thinking back to earlier games. :P fwiw I probably should've put the bottom center word at the very end, it's probably the most obscure word of the lot. A...
by Steve Balog
Fri Mar 15, 2013 4:55 am
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Countdown Conundrum Quiz
Replies: 6
Views: 3574

Countdown Conundrum Quiz

I decided to make a quiz with several conundrums I've written at various times in my thought processes. You're given 30 seconds a round, just like in Countdown, but you can take as many stabs as you need and any time you spend on easy gscrambles can be stored for harder rounds. Of course, I get the ...
by Steve Balog
Sat Mar 09, 2013 6:11 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: 'Gevin's Delight' Tournament 2012
Replies: 65
Views: 18899

Re: 'Gevin's Delight' Tournament 2012

We should have another Gevin's Delight tournament either way, preferably one where I don't draw the eventual champion in round 1 :P
by Steve Balog
Fri Mar 01, 2013 1:01 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Countdown for Comic Relief sweepstake
Replies: 17
Views: 3375

Re: Countdown for Comic Relief sweepstake

Let's try 4620, those early letters selections were a bit rubbish and 9s should be coming up a bit more commonly.
by Steve Balog
Sat Feb 23, 2013 3:21 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Lotto Probability
Replies: 5
Views: 2147

Re: Lotto Probability

To expand a bit on Michael's post: The first part of the draw, picking four numbers without replacement from a pool of 28, is called a combination. It can be written as 28C4, or the number of ways to choose 4 numbers from 28 where order doesn't matter. This is equal to 28!/((24!)(4!)), where n! is t...
by Steve Balog
Fri Nov 30, 2012 7:13 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Asperger Syndrome
Replies: 81
Views: 19447

Re: Asperger Syndrome

Oh, hi thread. Here, have a gigantic not entirely appropriate given the most recent posts here wall of text. From my perspective, at least, having AS means being "different" and not "disabled" like a lot of people think. I mean, you see me functioning on my own in the real world,...
by Steve Balog
Thu Nov 22, 2012 12:05 am
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: 1001 Things You Should Know
Replies: 22
Views: 10055

Re: 1001 Things You Should Know

This reminds me startlingly of most American game shows released in the last 5 years or so. Especially the "it doesn't matter how well you did for most of the show, only the last round matters at all whatsoever" part.

This is a very, very bad thing.
by Steve Balog
Mon Aug 27, 2012 12:59 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Official thread of scrag
Replies: 328
Views: 50766

Re: Official thread of scrag

I'm going to have a load of games against Plum today to try and get the 6-small max game. I already have max games for 1-large, 2-large and 3-large in 20 round games. Think I'm quite a bit off achieving the 4-large max game though. oooh, good luck with that, I've had a few 19s myself but have yet t...
by Steve Balog
Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:26 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Lance Armstrong and "doping" generally
Replies: 121
Views: 36197

Re: Lance Armstrong and "doping" generally

Fun fact: All of Lance's titles would go to people who themselves have faced allegations of doping.

w2g cycling
by Steve Balog
Fri Aug 24, 2012 10:18 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Only Connect
Replies: 169
Views: 93694

Re: Only Connect

Someone loaded all of Season 5 to Youtube which was pretty awesome, spent a couple weekends watching them all.

Hope this season also gets uploaded, this is possibly one of my favorite game shows ever even though I'm clueless whenever British pop culture comes up.
by Steve Balog
Fri Aug 24, 2012 2:21 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Official thread of scrag
Replies: 328
Views: 50766

Re: Official thread of scrag

Well right now I'm playing a 1,000 round 2L game vs. Prime, winning by a decent amount right now but I'm not even at 90% maxed. I am getting a lot of crappy rounds (stuff with two 1s, all even smalls + large odd target, and bad absolute modulo 5* setups) though so I think this might start to go back...
by Steve Balog
Tue Aug 21, 2012 4:58 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Official thread of scrag
Replies: 328
Views: 50766

Re: Official thread of scrag

Here is the list of most max games, by format. I'm tied for the most max numbers attacks. This and this are my first two attempts of the day to get #22 fml I am such a choke artist EDIT: looked again at game 2 after twitch closing the window in disgust and suddenly (((25*5)-3)*7)-50 within 3 second...
by Steve Balog
Tue Jul 17, 2012 1:45 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307968

Re: Is Apterous down?

Can't get apterous to open most of the time, and when it does it won't open any game windows. I use the "down for everyone" site and it says this is only my problem, but I can't get it to load on any computers. EDIT: I was able to get the Daily Duel to work, but no luck with games I want t...
by Steve Balog
Thu Jul 12, 2012 7:44 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Should This Yankee Try To Apply?
Replies: 14
Views: 5136

Re: Should This Yankee Try To Apply?

I was actually considering trying to use this as a way to justify a trip to England but if I remember I looked at the application form and thought I read that only citizens of the UK could apply. I might be (and honestly hope that I am) mistaken, though. I mean if there's no citizenship restrictions...
by Steve Balog
Fri Jun 22, 2012 10:08 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Highlander Tournament
Replies: 12
Views: 4486

Re: Apterous Highlander Tournament

Bullet Hyper Numbers Attack gogogogo
by Steve Balog
Thu Jun 07, 2012 3:03 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Words You Would Have Thought...
Replies: 479
Views: 164152

Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

I had INSINCERENESSES for 15.

INSINCERENESSES? No, I'm afraid not.

...

We managed to find a 13 in SINCERENESSES.

Image
by Steve Balog
Wed May 30, 2012 10:51 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Is Apterous down? [DO NOT POST IN THIS TOPIC FOR ANY OTHER REASON]
Replies: 604
Views: 307968

Re: Is Apterous down?

Ha, that's a useful site, and I've not seen it before now. Thanks :)
by Steve Balog
Sun May 06, 2012 12:12 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Words You Would Have Thought...
Replies: 479
Views: 164152

Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

BOOMBOX is apparently no good, quite surprised at that.

Also you can be a SKYWRITER, but you can't SKYWRITE.
by Steve Balog
Tue Apr 24, 2012 12:25 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Official thread of scrag
Replies: 328
Views: 50766

Re: Official thread of scrag

Pop quiz: You have the following numbers left on the input screen of a hypernums game where the target is 9352: 1330 25 7 4 1 3 Solve this game. Hint: 1330x7=9310. How does your decision change when this is round 20 of a game you're on for a max in? EDIT: I botched round 20 on track for a 200 two mo...
by Steve Balog
Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:25 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Finding art within Apterous
Replies: 19
Views: 5652

Re: Finding art within Apterous

And in trying to max more numbers attacks my mild synesthesia is proving a nuisance more than a help in Lockdown. In the selection, the mandatory number had a red background, the others get blue ones. The red background is very, very similar to the "3" color. I'm finding it much harder to ...
by Steve Balog
Sat Mar 24, 2012 1:58 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Finding art within Apterous
Replies: 19
Views: 5652

Re: Finding art within Apterous

Numbers have always been red (3, 6, 9), blue (2, 5, 0, and sort of 4), purple (7, this one stands out to the point it gets its own group), and white/black (1 and 8). The larges... 25 is like a slightly lighter version of 2, 50 is a slightly darker blue than 10, and 100 is pretty similar to 10, but 7...
by Steve Balog
Fri Mar 23, 2012 7:24 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Finding art within Apterous
Replies: 19
Views: 5652

Re: Finding art within Apterous

Not sure if this counts as art, and it might sound a bit crackpotted, but I actually "see" colors in the small numbers selected in numbers game selections. Like, they don't appear colored on the screen, but my imagination kind of sees them in color in the back of my head. 1: White. Can app...
by Steve Balog
Wed Mar 21, 2012 7:28 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Frustration
Replies: 157
Views: 23501

Re: Frustration

the final result is 180 attempts

max game brought to you by Vyvanse, which, while it functionally serves the same purpose as alcohol in that it makes me want to play numbers attacks, differs from alcohol in that in does not cause me to play badly or misenter a solve once a game.
by Steve Balog
Wed Mar 14, 2012 4:43 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Frustration
Replies: 157
Views: 23501

Re: Frustration

First ever numbers attack I played I got a 190, missing round 18,

200 attempts later

http://www.apterous.org/viewgame.php?game=651087

that's not even a remotely hard round :cry:
by Steve Balog
Sun Mar 11, 2012 6:44 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: May-June 2012 Tournament... you decide the format
Replies: 33
Views: 7796

Re: May-June 2012 Tournament... you decide the format

I'd comment on that but as a lower ranked player who is way, way better at numbers than letters with a vastly preferred numbers selection, :D

It's not 4L or 6S at least
by Steve Balog
Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:02 am
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Code Puzzle
Replies: 21
Views: 7545

Re: Code Puzzle

I've been trying to apply binary logic (AND, NOT, XOR) to various pairs of bits and getting nowhere. Hmmmmm.
by Steve Balog
Mon Jan 09, 2012 9:53 pm
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Bank Job
Replies: 27
Views: 5594

Re: Bank Job

Yea, that's the rub with prisoner's dilemma for money splitting -- share is a dominated strategy, so there's not any real reason to choose it. I mean, there's the entertainment factor of trying to convince the other person to pick share, but it's still never going to be more profitable. I agree with...
by Steve Balog
Thu Dec 29, 2011 4:39 pm
Forum: Games and Puzzles
Topic: Saturday quickfire quiz I
Replies: 35
Views: 5522

Re: Saturday quickfire quiz I

Err, knowing the capital of Idaho isn't easy at all and Antimony is a pretty obscure element, never mind knowing it's strange symbol. This whole thing is a good idea IMO, but the 2 quizzes have been far too difficult. These were two that I got almost immediately, but it helps to be from America and...
by Steve Balog
Tue Dec 20, 2011 12:30 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: aptoSOS.02 - signup and shiz
Replies: 76
Views: 21430

Re: aptoSOS.02 - signup and shiz

Sure, I'll play.
by Steve Balog
Sun Dec 18, 2011 7:19 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Carl Williams
Replies: 50
Views: 10245

Re: Carl Williams

I have seen someone in the studio with the 75x table written out on their hand ... now that's cheating! Pretty sure that 75 times X up to its remotely reasonable for the show 14 is memoriseable in less than 5 minutes. This is hilarious and I suspect this player didn't make it far in their respectiv...
by Steve Balog
Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:21 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: C4C/apto/Countdown Dreams
Replies: 758
Views: 400168

Re: C4C/apto/Countdown Dreams

Don't remember much else, but I had a dream where I distinctly remember trying to solve the game 9 5 3 10 6 8 -> 932 for a reason. Didn't get it in the dream, looked at it for about 2 minutes and still didn't. Throw it into a solver, it apparently has a "darrenic" solution that is not at a...
by Steve Balog
Sun Dec 18, 2011 3:54 am
Forum: Countdown - Spoilers
Topic: Spoilers For The Stelling Swansong (Series 65 Grand Final)
Replies: 73
Views: 15820

Re: Spoilers For The Stelling Swansong (Series 65 Grand Fina

Congrats, Graeme. Couldn't catch it live so I had to wait for the recap to see what happened, a shame because it looked to be a very good contest.

A bit miffed that ^badugi (An obscure poker variant) is no good in round 7.
by Steve Balog
Sat Dec 03, 2011 5:53 am
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Only Connect
Replies: 169
Views: 93694

Re: Only Connect

I've written about 6-7 of these or so in the past, search in the late 1300s numberwise for anything by Insane Steve and those are there.

I might make up a couple more actually, ideas for things like this come fairly easily for me.
by Steve Balog
Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:58 pm
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Occupy this thread
Replies: 9
Views: 2665

Re: Occupy this thread

This is a relatively new movement, so it's really that most people are just not happy with the way things have been the last few years. Major corporations in America have tons of taxpayer money when they had bad years (~2008), but normal people don't get this "insurance". A lot of major co...
by Steve Balog
Mon Oct 10, 2011 4:19 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Exam results
Replies: 151
Views: 17851

Re: Exam results

exams ended like a month ago here failed my exit exam for my stats Master's (not sure what an M.S. is equivalent to in the UK) -- though to be fair it's a bit hard to pass a graduate stats exam when you completely forget what an ANOVA is during the oral defense. Worst marks in my classes in pretty ...
by Steve Balog
Mon Oct 10, 2011 4:15 am
Forum: Off-topic
Topic: Occupy this thread
Replies: 9
Views: 2665

Re: Occupy this thread

G/f and I just donated 30L of water to our local large city's (Chicago) version of the protests. The g/f (she's a self-proclaimed "socialist", and I feel weird being to the right of her both economically and socially somehow) and I also are sending a box of useful stuff to New York City's ...
by Steve Balog
Sat Oct 01, 2011 6:34 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Jez Robinson
Replies: 6
Views: 3015

Re: Jez Robinson

Yea. If someone isn't responding to a challenge, there's a decent chance they've left temporarily and forgot to put their away status. In that case, they will not be able to respond if you ask them in chat, unfortunately. Also, yes, people you've never seen or met will insult you, especially on the ...
by Steve Balog
Sat Oct 01, 2011 6:30 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Autumn Tournament
Replies: 186
Views: 35520

Re: Apterous Autumn Tournament

I've been really busy with an important stats project so I've not been logged on to apterous very much the last couple days. I'll try and get the matches played tomorrow or Monday sometime, maybe today if there's some of the people I'm playing this round on.
by Steve Balog
Sun Sep 25, 2011 3:21 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Bug reports
Replies: 2157
Views: 436747

Re: Bug reports

In this game, Thomas's connection was not very good at the beginning and he was disconnecting after pretty much every round. What I noticed is that this caused the letters selector to spit out more Qs than humanly possible. A decent number of the rounds that were selected but not counted due to disc...
by Steve Balog
Thu Sep 15, 2011 5:57 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Autumn Tournament
Replies: 186
Views: 35520

Re: Apterous Autumn Tournament

I might be one of the people having time zone issues -- I've logged on all the times I've been available (which have spanned about 14 hours of the day) and haven't seen any first week opponents online yet. Well, actually, I did see one of them, but he'd just finished the Duel when I logged on and in...
by Steve Balog
Mon Sep 12, 2011 5:28 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Good idea for a variant?
Replies: 277
Views: 38132

Re: Good idea for a variant?

If you wanted to play 2 vs 1 type games, etc, you can always use a voice-chat program like Skype if you want more real-time feedback from the spectating player than just a IM chat. At least for me, meeting people in real life to play might be a bit of a stretch :x
by Steve Balog
Sat Aug 27, 2011 3:43 pm
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Lowest possible max in a letters round
Replies: 15
Views: 5079

Re: Lowest possible max in a letters round

Looking at the stats board, it doesn't seem like a game with a max of 2 is possible with the letters distribution. I don't see why not, though; it seems like with a single vowel dump and creative consonant picking it should be feasible. There's probably a way to make a round with no declarable words...
by Steve Balog
Wed Aug 24, 2011 9:21 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Apterous Autumn Tournament
Replies: 186
Views: 35520

Re: Apterous Autumn Tournament

Sure, why not. In
by Steve Balog
Mon Aug 22, 2011 6:14 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Bug reports
Replies: 2157
Views: 436747

Re: Bug reports

Apologies if this is a known bug: I got 10 points for declaring '1' in this game . Not sure whether this also applies to other variants or scorings. Yea, scoring in starpath for Octorock numbers games with no way to score is weird. Like, you'll get 10 points or a point in stepdown/maxes scoring, bu...
by Steve Balog
Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:16 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Duel conundrums
Replies: 17
Views: 4390

Re: Duel conundrums

In that case, never mind -- the bizarre 1s I've seen probably all fall into that category then.
by Steve Balog
Fri Aug 19, 2011 5:40 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Duel conundrums
Replies: 17
Views: 4390

Re: Duel conundrums

http://www.apterous.org/lexplorer.php?word=ambisonic

Actually I think this was the word that made me wonder why these words are being given to 800 level players.
by Steve Balog
Fri Aug 19, 2011 3:12 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Duel conundrums
Replies: 17
Views: 4390

Re: Duel conundrums

If it's possible, I would recommend that unrated conundrums be more likely, but not ALL of the Duel's conundrums for normal duels. Like, untested spots are more likely, but aren't most rounds. There should be some semblance of ability for "typical" conundrum solving in duels, but at the sa...
by Steve Balog
Tue Aug 16, 2011 12:01 am
Forum: Other game shows
Topic: Only Connect
Replies: 169
Views: 93694

Re: Only Connect

And I can't watch this show here either due to regional stuff even though I want to and US game shows on average make Deal or No Deal look really fast-paced. Any ideas for a UK proxy or something for me to watch older episodes of this (or perhaps other UK game shows, also)?
by Steve Balog
Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:17 am
Forum: Countdown - General
Topic: Nick Hewer, YOU'RE HIRED!!!
Replies: 204
Views: 38624

Re: STELLING TO GO!!!!!!!!

Graeme Cole wrote:Image
Snap accept the deal and get GLACIALLY for 9
by Steve Balog
Thu Aug 11, 2011 1:44 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Good idea for a variant?
Replies: 277
Views: 38132

Re: Good idea for a variant?

For now, one can play Hyperletters attacks and just agree to pick 6 vowels and not declare any words with Es in them which is kind of close.

Like, you might have some rounds with more letters but it still hits that part of the dictionary.
by Steve Balog
Fri Aug 05, 2011 9:42 pm
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Words You Would Have Thought...
Replies: 479
Views: 164152

Re: Words You Would Have Thought...

Thank you, girlfriend's obsessive fiber arts hobby, for making me think that DESTASH^ is a much, much more logical and sensical word than STASHED.
by Steve Balog
Wed Aug 03, 2011 2:22 am
Forum: apterous.org
Topic: Feature requests
Replies: 1956
Views: 432949

Re: Feature requests