Talk:21 Flags/@comment-26233531-20161127155033

I'm surprised this challenge was used so much in the past given that players with access to the Internet (or enough time to think about it themselves) can easily figure out the optimal strategy.

There IS a way to make challenges of this sort possible to use again, but it requires 2 things to ensure fairness:


 * Make it more complicated. For example, have some number of coins of 4 different types (platinum, gold, silver, and bronze) and allow players to remove 1 platinum, 1-2 gold, 1-3 silver, or 1-4 bronze or remove a platinum while adding a gold, silver and bronze, remove a gold while adding a silver and bronze, or remove a silver while adding a bronze. There will still be a winning position and a losing position, but the additional removal options and stratification of coins will make it harder to determine, and if someone does determine it it's more likely with their own effort than with just finding the answer online.


 * Have two identical games happening simultaneously, except that in one game Player A goes first and in the other game Player B goes first. In order for Player A to win over Player B, he must employ his strategic thoughts to win BOTH games. Similarly, Player B must win both games against Player A to win over Player A. If instead Player A wins one of the games while Player B wins the other, employ some sort of tie-breaking procedure, be it straight-up randomization (lame), a different challenge entirely (better), or a repeat of the same challenge (again with 2 identical games) but with a higher initial number of starting coins and/or shorter time limits on picking each option (and then if the players tie again then I guess go to random because Survivor must proceed at some point).