God's Imitator

Yang Yuting said, ”Alright, the game is over. Everyone can freely discuss and speak your minds.”

Wang Yongxin hadn’t spoken all along. Now he was clearly holding back uncomfortably and couldn’t wait to speak:

”Actually, Dai Yifan’s strategy was still pretty good.

”The biggest advantage of his strategy is that he wasn’t limited by the ’expected values’ mentioned in the rules.

”Because the rules mentioned that numbers can be at most 100,000, and there’s at most one.

”Considering the attacker can view at most four times, once 100,000 is found they’re done for, so most players won’t put 100,000. You both thought of this.

”But at the same time, the game’s ultimate victory depends on net returns, so without being able to put 100,000, one must try to set the average to 10,000.

”Setting it too low means even if you win, the net return is very low. When calculating total net returns, you’ll be at a big disadvantage. This was Zheng Jie’s thinking.

”But clearly, this thinking isn’t necessarily correct.

”Dai Yifan was clever in that he used reverse logic. Since Zheng Jie believed ’10,000 definitely exists,’ Dai Yifan only put one ’1,000.’”After Zheng Jie drew 1,000, he’d think this was a relatively small number and would definitely choose to switch. But doing so would instead hand over this largest number to Dai Yifan.

”The number 1,000 should also have been deliberately placed in this position. Because it’s the most inconvenient, it’s most likely to be chosen first.”

Zheng Jie still didn’t understand, ”But that’s not right either. If I chose other numbers first, wouldn’t he be screwed?”

Wang Yongxin shook his head, ”You can’t think that way.

”Putting 1,000 in the most inconvenient position has two possibilities:

”First, if you randomly take according to feeling, you’d very likely never choose this 1,000 until the end. In that case, Dai Yifan would win.

”Second, if you deliberately took the most awkward position at the start, it would lead to you very likely getting 1,000 on the first draw, making you mistakenly think this is relatively small and you’d definitely switch it.

”Adding these two possibilities together, the probability is still not low.

”Actually, when you expected ’there’s at least one 10,000,’ as long as you didn’t happen to draw this 1,000 when ’switching slips,’ Dai Yifan’s strategy would be considered successful.

”When drawing slips the second time, your luck was still pretty good. You drew a 100 the first time and 100 again the second time, which resulted in a draw.

”But according to Dai Yifan’s arrangement, the remaining slips at that time were 100, 100, and 10. After you took one 100, what remained was 100 and 10. If you happened to draw 10, Dai Yifan would have won.

”Or if you first took a 10 and chose to switch to 100, that would be no different from the current result.

”That is, looking from the time point of the second draw, it’s roughly like this: draw 100 switch 100, draw 100 switch 10, draw 10 switch 100, these three possibilities are all ×2, for a total of 6 possibilities.

”You had a 2/3 probability of a draw and 1/3 probability of losing.”

Zheng Jie felt somewhat defeated.

Yang Yuting consoled, ”Actually, it’s okay, because the fact that you happened to choose 1,000 the first time also has a certain element of chance. After choosing it, you were destined to be at a disadvantage. Calculating later probabilities doesn’t mean much.

”I think just from this game, Zheng Jie’s strategy was actually better, because it can indeed guarantee the defender obtains stable positive returns.

”Dai Yifan’s strategy actually isn’t that stable, but as long as you make the opponent establish an expectation and choose to switch away 1,000 at the very beginning, the chances of winning are very high.

”Overall, this was actually a very simple, rough simulation. What’s important is opening up thinking and understanding the underlying principles. Winning or losing was the least important part.

”Of course, if the game rules changed slightly, the superiority of the two strategies might become different again.

”For example, this game could be more complex. If we removed the restriction of ’must be whole numbers like 1, 10, 100’ and could freely set numbers, there might be more game theory involved.

”If everyone is interested afterward, you can also play privately and practice. Perhaps you’ll have some new insights.

”Alright, that’s all I’ve prepared. Thank you all very much for your support and cooperation.”

Yang Yuting stood up and bowed.

Everyone applauded.

”Thank you!”

”Ah, this was really excellent teaching. I learned so much.”

”Mastered a new piece of knowledge. Thanks!”

Everyone’s response was quite enthusiastic.

Li Renshu said approvingly, ”Not bad. Our community’s first practice session was a complete success. The puzzle Yuting prepared this time was just right. The principle itself is very simple, but many derivative strategies can be built on it.

”For ordinary players, it’s both easy to understand and can provide improvement after personal participation.

”I think everyone can do more similar practice sessions afterward. If you have any good ideas, be sure to share them promptly.

”Alright, today’s game ends here. Everyone worked hard.”

Everyone got up and left. Quite a few people were still immersed in the previous game strategies.

Zheng Jie said, ”I still want to play again. Does anyone else want to try?”

Zhou Guifen raised her hand, ”I’d like to try.”

Zheng Jie nodded, ”Okay, Auntie Zhou, let’s go play somewhere else.”

...

Li Renshu was still seriously thinking about this game. She said to Yang Yuting with appreciation, ”Even after understanding most of the strategic variations of this game, it’s still very interesting. An excellent design. Looks like you have great potential to become a God’s Imitator.”

Yang Yuting organized the props used for teaching, ”From the current situation, I still have a big gap compared to those excellent God’s Imitators. But if the Gallery is willing to give me such an opportunity, I wouldn’t mind becoming an excellent God’s Imitator like Yinzhang.”

Yang Yuting had always been very proactive about various opportunities and wouldn’t be overly modest like other players.

Li Renshu asked again, ”The information I asked you to prepare before, is it ready?”

Yang Yuting nodded, ”Mm, it’s ready. I’ll go get it right now.”

A moment later, Yang Yuting retrieved a stack of handwritten materials from her room and distributed them to everyone.

Previously, the four players Lin Sizhi, Wang Yongxin, Cai Zhiyuan, and Wei Yinzhang had actually already distributed similar materials to other players.

These included different elements like numbers, colors, playing cards, chess pieces, animals, plants, shapes, and tarot cards, along with 10 related professional knowledge questions for each.

Now, since Yang Yuting had been confirmed as the new game core, she naturally also had to select some information to let other players know in advance.

Dai Yifan glanced briefly. Yang Yuting’s choices were basically all within his expectations.

The playing card was ’Queen of Hearts.’ The two types of chess pieces were ’Horse’ and ’Queen’ respectively. The animal was ’Dolphin.’ The tarot card was ’Empress.’

Dai Yifan said with emotion, ”Thank you for your choices. They’re easy to remember. This is very important to me.”