hint

cindylynn1

Game: freecell
Game #: 486602762

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What would you like to see?

cindylynn1

a hint before giving up on a game

Sage

David and Jim can correct me, if I'm wrong, but the computer program that runs the games on this site only deals the cards the same way you'd deal a game, from a pack of cards, yourself. There's nothing, no algorithm(Is that the right word?), that's dealing the cards a certain way, or dealing a game that will win or lose, or dealing a game that is easy or difficult. Nor does it know the best way to, or even how to, complete a game, so as to be able to give hints, as you play. The best way to find out if a game's winnable or not is to click the high scores button, to see how other players have scored. This is a very basic site: no bells and whistles, but your screen isn't half filled with distracting and tasteless ads, or annoying noise and pseudo music, either. Those of us who are regulars, here, love it this way!

david

@Sage, That is correct. The code shuffles the deck then deals out in the same way that you would if you were playing with a physical deck of cards.

To get a hint would require a solver, which we don't have as part of our code.

That said I often wonder if by "hint" people just mean "show me the list of legal moves I can make right now regardless of whether it will help me win the game". That's actually pretty easy (though don't read that as a commitment to implementing it ).