Fun and games

[jatill]

1) What is the fewest number of cards I can play to win a game of Sorry?
Rules for Sorry: http://www.boardgamecapital.com/sorry-rules.htm

2) I really stink at Yahtzee. So I developed a strategy to maximize my score, assuming the dice will not cooperate. What is this strategy, and what is the minimum score I can get with this strategy?
Rules for Yahtzee: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahtzee

[Griffin]

For (1), I get 9 cards. It takes a minimum of two cards to get a piece out of the starting area and into home: a sorry card and the appropriate number to hit home. However, on the first turn a sorry card won't do any good, since there cannot be an opposing piece close enough to home for the two card thing to work. So for the first three cards, I think the best bet is a 1 card, a 4 card (moves backwards), and a 8 card. At that point, there could be opposing pieces in position to do the sorry/go home two card trick. This totals 3+2+2+2 = 9 cards.

[Trojan Horse]

For (2), I don't know what the full details of such a strategy would be, but if the dice don't cooperate, you might have no way of scoring more than 18 points. Perhaps two of the dice always roll 1's, two always roll 2's, and one always rolls a 3. Then you can only score 2 on ones, 4 on twos, 3 on threes, and 9 on Chance; everything else will get a 0. That's 18 points.

So I assume the minimum score you are talking about is 18.

[jatill]

(2) is right, but I think (1) can be improved.

[Zag]

I think that you could do worse on Yachtzee. For instance, if your first two roll ended up 12356, then the correct strategy would be to use them for your 1's and 2's, since you don't want to waste your higher numbers. Then you end up getting nothing but 11223, as you suggest.

[jatill]

[ChickenMarengo]

[ChickenMarengo]

For (1), you can do it in 8. Griffin's two-cards-per-pawn technique can work on the first turn if the player anti-clockwise from you starts with a 2 followed by 7 or more.

[Griffin]

ChickenMarengo -- I don't think that works, since that still takes two turns for an opponent to get in position, and there is a problem about what happens on the first turn. However, I think 8 is possible. You start by just playing a 1 or a two. But instead of playing a 4 to get in position to go home, you wait for an opponent to play an 11 card and switch you into position to go home. This effectively saves you a card, leading to an 8 card solution.

[ChickenMarengo]

But a 2 card is start a pawn and draw another card, so the opponent can play two cards and get into position before your first turn.

[Griffin]

Oh, you're right! I must say: Sorry!