Starting Position
|
Current Position
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Minimal number of moves.
The difference between Jemimah's dice decreased by 1 each roll.
How did the game go?
It is fairly easy to see that 5 moves are not enough, but there are a
number of 6-move solutions. In order to have 4 men sent back these must
follow this general outline:
- Player A leaves a forward blot
- Player B hits from the 24-point and also leaves a forward blot
- A hits B's forward blot when entering and again hits in his own board while leaving another forward blot on the 2 point
- B hits A's forward blot when entering his 2 men and again hits in his own board while leaving yet another forward blot on the 2 point
- A enters 2 men, hits and tidies up
- B enters and tidies up
It is clear that both players must also hit in their own boards on
moves 3 or 4. If the hitting man from moves 2 or 3 is left on the 3,4
or 5 points it can not go backwards in the last move to form the double
anchor, so it must be hit to reenter. If it is on the 2 point it will
necessarily be hit as the last blot must be left there so that we may
hit and tidy up on the last moves. (Actually, the 1 point is also a
contender for placing the last blot, but I've checked that there are no
variations where this work).
This means that moves 4 and 5 must be doubles. Then we can
already deduce that Jemimah was player A moving first, and that her
dice differed by 2, 1 and 0 respectively.
To be able to enter two blots and hit and blot on the 2-point
the 4th roll must be 22, and this move must be either bar/23*(2) 6/2*
or bar/23*(2) 6/4*/2, meaning that Jemimah entered in move 3 with a 2
or a 4. This means that her number that hit and left the blot on the
2-point must have been odd, so she cannot have moved from the 6- or
8-points. The only possibility is that she moved with a 5 from the
7-point, again meaning that she must have moved 13/7 in her first move.
Putting it all together the game played went:
Jemimah
|
Harvey
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64: 13/7 6/2
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41:
24/23* 8/4
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54:
b/21* 7/2*
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22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
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11:
b/23*(2)
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51:
b/24 13/8
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Show game
The following table shows all the other variations that go from backgammon to Nackgammon in 6 moves:
|
Player 1, roll 1
|
Player 2, roll 1
|
Player 1, roll 2
|
Player 2, roll 2
|
Player 1, roll 3
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Player 2, roll 3
|
a
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63/54: 13/4
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43:
24/21* 8/4
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22:
b/21* 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
b
|
63/54: 13/4
|
63:
24/21* 8/2
|
22:
b/23*/21 6/4*/2
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22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
c
|
63/54: 13/4
|
33:
24/21* 13/10 8/2
|
22:
b/23*/21 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
21:
b/24 10/8
|
d
|
65: 13/2
|
41:
24/23* 8/4
|
22:
b/21* 6/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
e
|
65: 13/2
|
61:
24/23* 8/2
|
22:
b/23*/21 6/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
f
|
65: 13/2
|
61:
24/23* 8/2
|
42:
b/23* 6/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/2*
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
g
|
43: 13/10 8/4
|
63:
24/21* 8/2
|
22:
b/23* 10/8 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/2*
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
h
|
43: 13/10 8/4
|
33:
24/21* 13/10 8/2
|
22:
b/23* 10/8 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/2*
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
21:
b/24 10/8
|
i
|
63: 13/10 8/2
|
61:
24/23* 8/2
|
22:
b/23* 10/8 6/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/2*
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
j
|
32: 13/10 6/4
|
43:
24/21* 8/4
|
22:
b/21* 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 10/6
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
k
|
32: 13/10 6/4
|
63:
24/21* 8/2
|
22:
b/23*/21 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 10/6
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
l
|
32: 13/10 6/4
|
33:
24/21* 13/10 8/2
|
22:
b/23*/21 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 10/6
|
21:
b/24 10/8
|
m
|
43: 13/10 6/2
|
41:
24/23* 8/4
|
22:
b/21* 6/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 10/6
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
n
|
43: 13/10 6/2
|
61:
24/23* 8/2
|
22:
b/23*/21 6/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
22:
b/23*(2) 10/6
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
o
|
54: 13/8 6/2
|
61:
24/23* 8/2
|
62:
b/23* 8/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/2*
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
p
|
54: 13/8 6/2
|
41:
24/23* 8/4
|
64:
b/21* 8/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
q
|
54: 13/8 6/2
|
61:
24/23* 8/2
|
22:
b/23* 8/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/2*
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
r
|
64: 13/7 6/2
|
61:
24/23* 8/2
|
52:
b/23* 7/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/2*
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
s
|
64: 13/7 6/2
|
41:
24/23* 8/4
|
54:
b/21* 7/2*
|
22:
b/23*(2) 6/4*/2
|
11:
b/23*(2)
|
51:
b/24 13/8
|
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