Asking Who is Left Efficiently

[andrewgong01]

I find the who is left question to ask helpful in both grouping and ordering after coming up with a new game board. However, sometimes I find myself scrambling in finding out who is left (i.e. I don't know who is left) without taking the time to go back to the initial list of elements and start crossing out who is left which seems to take time sometimes and holding it all in. Does anyone have a faster way of keeping track or just knowing who is left after drawing a game board without going back to the original list of elements and crossing it out? Thanks!

[ohthatpatrick]

The sort of thinking we encourage during the Big Pause is, in part, meant to assist with this process.

By actively reciting to yourself your hierarchy of concerns, you build in a mental checklist that makes it easier to think who's unaccounted for.

For example, if I'm saying to myself,
"Okay, first I gotta figure out the HJ chunk.
Then whether P is 1 or 7.
Then the M - T rule.
And then F is a floater."

I'm continually reciting my list of concerns on each problem, so it's easier for me to know which concern hasn't yet been addressed.

Some question in Grouping games we (un)affectionately call "Who's Left" questions.

They are like
"Which of the following could be the group that goes to Mexico?"
(A) Frank, Lionel
(B) Frank, Mark, Patty
(C) Lionel, Patty, Sam
(D) Lionel, Mark, Reggie
etc.

I will take 3 secs to copy down a roster of F L M P R S
right near that question, so that my eyes don't have to look far.

That way I can quickly commit to the busy work of writing who's left for each answer.

(A) Frank, Lionel
I think: F L M P R S
M P R S are left.

(B) Frank, Mark, Patty
I think: F L M P R S
L R S are left.