That'll Tichu to Mess With Us
Aaron Fuegi
This was an event more than a puzzle and was pretty self-explanatory. Teams learned the partnership card game Tichu, sent two people to Mystery Mystery HQ to play against experienced players representing Dr. Awkward, and once they won a single hand (such as by a score of 55-45) without making a cumulative 3 rules mistakes (those making 3 mistakes were sent away for a period of 30 minutes to learn the rules better, at which point they could make another appointment), they were handed the answer word: UNHABITUAL
Here are some statistics on the results, for anyone who might be curious.
- 27 Teams Played - 58 people (some teams swapped people around a bit) - all eventually succeeded I believe
- 28% of people had played before. This included 5 full pairs and then one person of the pair from another 5 or so teams.
- # of times teams sent away for making three rules mistakes: 9
- Shortest game (some of these with brand new players): 1 Hand
Longest game (interestingly against both experienced players): 8 Hands - Number of games where we won the game by normal scoring rules (>1000 points) before they won a hand (not that this mattered in this format): 2
- Tichus Called/Missed
Dr. Awkward: 40/6 (Made 85%)
Teams: 15/5 (Made 66%) - Grands Called/Missed
Dr. Awkward: 5/0 (Made 100%)
Teams: 1/1 (Made 0%) - One-Twos (One team went out 1st and 2nd):
Dr. Awkward: 13
Teams: 1