What do I mean by “cracking solitaire?” Well, I want to know if there are rules and strategies that can help win solitaire. I want to know how many winnable games there are. I want to write a program which can play an optimal game of solitaire, not using random guesses and backtracking (if possible). If a game is not “winnable” I want to be able to tell this from the initial deal of cards. I want to know if there is no possible way to win the game, or if it is just a result of getting stuck in an irreversible situation. And lastly, I want to use whatever means – logic, maths, experimentation, programming – or combination of means will get me there. This quest was largely inspired by this post on the "Odd Thinking" blog. Thanks, Julian.
Why do I want to crack solitaire? There are many reasons. Mostly I want to stretch my mind, and I am positive that even if I hit a wall on this one, that the experience will make me a better programmer and problem solver than I am now. I also want to collaborate with great minds. I don’t know whether great minds will want to collaborate with me, of course, but in part this is a fishing expedition, with a particularly meaty problem as bait. For me this problem is an “Everest” at present, but there are probably some minds out there for which this more like a distant hill, requiring no more than a brisk stroll and a slight uphill walk. Anyone that makes a contribution that helps get to the goal will receive recognition on this. Who knows, it may end up as an academic paper. My last reason is final proof of my inherent geekiness or craziness, but I want to do it for fun.
How? Well this is the interesting part – I don’t know. I have some ideas, of course, but no idea if they will lead through to a successful conclusion. The idea that excites me the most is to start with the simplest possible version of the problem, work out rules and probabilities for that level, and then add a single layer of complexity on to that and repeat, until the whole game is described.
When? Ha ha ha. Great question. There will probably be short bursts of activity and inspiration, followed by long periods of stumbling around. If you are going to follow this, it would probably be better to subscribe to the RSS feed than to check the home page.
I also face the standard blogger’s mystery at the moment – will anyone be interested enough to stumble upon this and join in the journey, or will I be a crazy man talking to himself in an empty room? Well, if I develop multiple personalities, I suppose I could simulate some conversation ;-)
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