I Called In Sick Today

[Tactical Bear 3]

Has anybody here ever played Yahtzee for money? If so, what rules do you use? I have a few friends that like to gamble, and I spent most of my afternoon playing $.25/pt Yahtzee. We just played 1 column at a time, and contracted to play 50 games, summing our total scores. I'm pretty sure I understand Optimal Yahtzee Strategy pretty well -- I'd say my Yahtzee game right now is about 99% efficient; I probably average ~1.5 points away from Optimal -- and he makes some pretty big mistakes, so I'm a huge favorite. I've offered the following variations:1) Multiple column Yahtzee (Instead of playing one game at a time, you fill in an entire card; I believe this is a common gambling variant)2) Gammon Yahtzee (invented it on the spot, but I use a Gammon cube for everything; I have never even played backgammon, but I'm reasonably comfortable with the math and gambling, so I do a lot of beavering)Any other ideas?

This is a little too optimistic. I've been thinking about it, and my per-game mistake-delta has to be closer to double, maybe triple that. I was going through the 20 games I played today, and I noticed a few big mistakes that probably cost me a few points of equity if my math is right. Sadness.

high five!

I was hoping it would be you.

Over christmas break my wife and I were snowed in at her parents house. I think we played iPad yahtzee for four or five hours a day. It has a couple of interesting variations built in. One is called Rainbow Yahtzee where the dice can appear in one of three colors. You then have four extra slots to fill in: the three flushes, and a "color full house" (three of one color and two of another). These extra choices add a new layer of strategy. The other thing it has, which sounded good but turned out to be kind of stupid, is Duplicate Yahtzee. Here, you and your opponent always roll the same dice, so it all comes down to what you keep and how you score it. The problem is, whoever goes second can see what the first person ended up with, and so he gets quite a bit of information about what's possible with that round's dice. All this has nothing to do with gambling on the game, but the bottom line is that I am a Grand Master of Yahtzee.

How does Duplicate Yahtzee work? Like, what's duplicated? You and your opponent might keep different dice on the same roll, so at that point, the game diverges and is no longer "duplicate," so I guess I don't get it.

[speedz99 145]

I was hoping it would be you.

This sentence implies that there was ever a chance of it being someone else.

[vbnautilus 48]

How does Duplicate Yahtzee work? Like, what's duplicated? You and your opponent might keep different dice on the same roll, so at that point, the game diverges and is no longer "duplicate," so I guess I don't get it.

How each of the 5 dice will get rolled 3x each is duplicated. So if we both keep A and B but roll C, D, E we will have the same dice showing on turn #2. However, if I instead decide to keep only A and roll the rest, I will see the result of B's second roll (but you won't). If you had chosen to roll B you would have gotten the same outcome as me.

[Tactical Bear 3]

How each of the 5 dice will get rolled 3x each is duplicated. So if we both keep A and B but roll C, D, E we will have the same dice showing on turn #2. However, if I instead decide to keep only A and roll the rest, I will see the result of B's second roll (but you won't). If you had chosen to roll B you would have gotten the same outcome as me.

Gotcha. If I understand it correctly, this is the dumbest game ever. If both players play optimally, then they will have the same score. If I go after you, I should be able to outscore you. If the dice come off 6644x, you will hold 66. If the dice come off 241, 341, well, I'm not holding those sixes, am I? I'm going to hold the 44 and have a very obvious free-roll on you, right? Gay.

[vbnautilus 48]

Gotcha. If I understand it correctly, this is the dumbest game ever. If both players play optimally, then they will have the same score. If I go after you, I should be able to outscore you. If the dice come off 6644x, you will hold 66. If the dice come off 241, 341, well, I'm not holding those sixes, am I? I'm going to hold the 44 and have a very obvious free-roll on you, right? Gay.

Yeah, it might be worth playing if the game hid the results of the previous player from you, but it doesn't.

[ShakeZuma 585]

I was hoping it would be you.

This sentence implies that there was ever a chance of it being someone else.

has shakezuma become predictable? this cannot stand! time to start mixing it up a bit. off to the religion forum with randy!haha, just kidding. butts roof YELLING etc.

[Napa Lite 3,278]

Hey brv i was driving through Ames to Boone this morning and saw a "Rockets Transmission" sign. I can only assume it's the same Rocket that used to work at Huxley and told Mark and I we could listen to any music in the warehouse as long as it wasn't "that ****** rap shit". I'd start looking for another job because you guys are going down!

[leftygolfer 7]

Wang what's the poop on the game tomorrow?Leaning towards taking the points.

[Roll the Bones 74]

Over christmas break my wife and I were snowed in at her parents house. I think we played iPad yahtzee for four or five hours a day. It has a couple of interesting variations built in. One is called Rainbow Yahtzee where the dice can appear in one of three colors. You then have four extra slots to fill in: the three flushes, and a "color full house" (three of one color and two of another). These extra choices add a new layer of strategy. The other thing it has, which sounded good but turned out to be kind of stupid, is Duplicate Yahtzee. Here, you and your opponent always roll the same dice, so it all comes down to what you keep and how you score it. The problem is, whoever goes second can see what the first person ended up with, and so he gets quite a bit of information about what's possible with that round's dice. All this has nothing to do with gambling on the game, but the bottom line is that I am a Grand Master of Yahtzee.

If you were snowed in and didn't play strip Yahtzee it was a fail. Oh wait, you are married. Nevermind.

has shakezuma become predictable? this cannot stand! time to start mixing it up a bit. off to the religion forum with randy!

I can't help it if you don't stimulate my mind. I am more than just an e-body ya know!

[Theraflu 1,035]

So...how about Newcastle?

[El Guapo 8]

So...how about Newcastle?

I'll take one.

[Theraflu 1,035]

I'll take one.

Was a great day on Fox Soccer. Newcastle comes from 0-4 to get a draw against Arsenal, last place Wolves give Man United their first league loss since April. Go enjoy an Anchor Steam.

[El Guapo 8]

Was a great day on Fox Soccer. Newcastle comes from 0-4 to get a draw against Arsenal, last place Wolves give Man United their first league loss since April. Go enjoy an Anchor Steam.

I'm sitting at the Honolulu airport waiting on my hopper flight. If I have anything it will probably be a Mai Tai, but I will most likely wait until tonight.

[brvheart 1,752]

Hey brv i was driving through Ames to Boone this morning and saw a "Rockets Transmission" sign. I can only assume it's the same Rocket that used to work at Huxley and told Mark and I we could listen to any music in the warehouse as long as it wasn't "that ****** rap shit". I'd start looking for another job because you guys are going down!

I actually had to personally fire Rocket, because my boss didn't have large enough testicles. He's an excellent transmission rebuilder, but he's even "stupider" than that dude, in the article that Randy posted, that was ordered to not have sex. His business has little hope of survival. But if your transmission breaks, you should definitely take your transmission there. He always thought we were overcharging, because he didn't understand the concept of overhead. I'm guessing his prices might be as little as half of what AAMCO charges.

[ShakeZuma 585]

hey guapo or maybe brv (or anybody else with actual experience, since beans isn't here anymore, sad face), you've replaced a bathroom sink faucet before, right? I'm gonna need to here pretty soon since the hot water handle just broke off yesterday and it doesn't look like the jb weld is doing as good of a job as I'd hoped. is it a pretty easy job?also: wow, what a super bowl huh!! all those passes, runs, football moves... what a game! and the commercials were great! hilarious!haha, just kidding. I watched dexter then went to sleep at 8:30.

[AmScray 355]

He's an excellent transmission rebuilder, but he's even "stupider" than that dude, in the article that Randy posted, that was ordered to not have sex.

This is odd. Rebuilding automatic transmissions isn't exactly easy. Hard to believe someone 'stupid' would be an 'excellent transmission rebuilder'.

[Napa_Don 688]

This is odd. Rebuilding automatic transmissions isn't exactly easy. Hard to believe someone 'stupid' would be an 'excellent transmission rebuilder'.

Really? You don't think it's possible that somebody could have a particular skillset and not understand the larger picture of running a business? And I worked a decent amount with Rocket and can attest to Brvs statement, which is what I assume brv meant when he put stupid in quotes. I could pull out an unmarked planet gear from these giant boxes that were filled with transmission parts and Rocket could tell me to the year what transmission it went into. All the other builders would come to him for help when they had a question. He was "stupid" in the fact that he was no longer a builder because he decided to be the de facto leader of the builders and complained a lot about having to clean the bathrooms or something and so he got put into warehouse duty where he had to answer dumb questions from snot nosed kids like me and my roommate who also worked there with me.

[vbnautilus 48]

So is there anyone in Iowa that doesn't go by an engine-related nickname?

[Skeleton Jelly 2]

think I'm gonna start me an obsession with zooey deschanel. she's just freaking adorable.

And the good thing about having an obsession with her is that you get the same exact character in every movie she's in! Note: The only movie I remember her in is 500 Days of Summer. But I've heard this about her more than a few times. So I wanted to sound like I knew what I was talking about. But speedz is right, anyway. I liked 500 Days of Summer. There's supposed to be parentheses around 500, but then it just looks like a phone number.

[brvheart 1,752]

This is odd. Rebuilding automatic transmissions isn't exactly easy. Hard to believe someone 'stupid' would be an 'excellent transmission rebuilder'.

It feels to me like you haven't had a lot of interactions with mechanics, but I'm sure that's not true. In my experience "mechanics", even specialized ones like rebuilders, aren't super smart. There are a few smart ones, but it's not the norm. Rocket had been rebuilding since he was 18 at a local shop, and he worked with Napa and I when he was in his late 40's. With that much repetition I think most people could be good at it. Transmissions are much less complicated when you have a really good system in place, like we did. I mean, our dyno basically tells the builders exactly what they did wrong, and our apprentice builders were building transmissions that passed the dyno every time, within a few months of training. So while it's very complicated on your own, where most rebuilders learn, our system of training and testing made it much less complicated. Like Napa said though, Rocket had an exceptional amount of knowledge that he had gained over almost 30 years of rebuilding.I wouldn't even trust Rocket to run the business side of a lemonade stand.

[JubilantLankyLad 1,957]

Satellite of love!I just tried dialing Days of Summer but it didn't really work.

[Skeleton Jelly 2]

I just tried dialing Days of Summer but it didn't really work.

Forgot the area code obviously. Plus, you're in Canada and it's probably a totally different dialing system.Sometimes when I'm driving down a road lined by a lot of trees I imagine a T-Rex or Japanese movie monster bursting through them and letting out a big roar. I think I would slam on the brakes, but I wouldn't start driving away immediately. There's no reason to think it's going to attack me.Is Guapo going to Hawaii?

[qyayqi 11]

coworker: i was driving down an alley the other day and there was a dead squirrel. these two large birds were eating it. i had to slow down so they could fly away.q: why didn't you speed up and kill them?cw: what?q: think ahead. the next day you could have seen a wolf eating the dead birds.cw: <laugh> yeah, right.q: and if you ran THAT over, you would have seen a bear the next day eating the dead wolf!cw: what the--q: and if you somehow managed to run over a bear, the next day you would have seen a t-rex eating the bear!cw: <laughing>q: not funny. you cost us the chance to see a t-rex. i hate you.

[brvheart 1,752]

Ahhhh, Facebook."So I Say "Dumb Rat"..... She Says "Who?".... I Asked "What 2+2?"..... And Now Errbody Sayin I'm Wrong..... Shit Its Like This I Can B A Nice, Soft, Cuddly Teddy Bear.... But Don't Take Advantage Or Think That Ur Looks Are Goin To Get U Everything..... Do U... Cuz Dat Damn Sure Ain't How I Do!!! Sooo Thru!!!!"

[AmScray 355]

It feels to me like you haven't had a lot of interactions with mechanics, but I'm sure that's not true. In my experience "mechanics", even specialized ones like rebuilders, aren't super smart. There are a few smart ones, but it's not the norm. Rocket had been rebuilding since he was 18 at a local shop, and he worked with Napa and I when he was in his late 40's. With that much repetition I think most people could be good at it. Transmissions are much less complicated when you have a really good system in place, like we did. I mean, our dyno basically tells the builders exactly what they did wrong, and our apprentice builders were building transmissions that passed the dyno every time, within a few months of training. So while it's very complicated on your own, where most rebuilders learn, our system of training and testing made it much less complicated. Like Napa said though, Rocket had an exceptional amount of knowledge that he had gained over almost 30 years of rebuilding.I wouldn't even trust Rocket to run the business side of a lemonade stand.

I didn't allow for the possibility of systems (automated and process-oriented) that professional transmission houses might have that would make rebuilding them an accessible task for dumb people, but now that I think about it, I can see how that might be the case. All I know is that I can intuitively accomplish anything with anything mechanical absent any formal training-I was disassembling and reassembling mechanical wristwatches when I was 10 using my moms eyebrow tweezers- yet the first time I tried to work on one of those bastard motherfuckers, I almost cried. . .