unknown number of groups

[interestedintacos]

This game struck me as an interesting type. I suppose it's an open assignment - no repeats game, but while at first it doesn't seem so remarkable, after taking a deeper look the very nature of the game is quite different from others I've faced.

That's because we don't know how many groupings we are going to create. We learn rules restricting what various size groups each variable can go into (A can only go in a 2 or 3 variable group, etc.), and that all 7 variables will be placed into groups. From that information we have to consider the different possible numerical distributions, and from there figure out who could go where.

Is this game sort of a pure numerical distribution game? Are there other games like this where we don't know how many groups we'll be making?

[interestedintacos]

I suppose part of this game was to realize, as part of the numerical distribution issue, that there could only be 3 or 4 groups. Once that's done (or in general once you figure out the only 3 possible groupings) it's not so hard. But I still found it unsettling at first--I suppose if there are more games like this the trick is looking at the numerical distribution, and it'll probably be a lot more limited. However, I still mean to ask: are there more games like this?

[giladedelman]

That's a very thoughtful analysis. I agree that identifying the numerical possibilities is crucial in this game. Off the top of my head, I can't think of other games that quite fit this mold, but it's a good reminder that whenever we have numerical uncertainty in the setup, it's important to ask ourselves what the possibilities really are. Most often, they're more limited than it seems at first.