: : they really are an interesting variant, though. : I do not agree on this. I've stopped playing 13x0 some time ago now and have dubbed the variant "freecell lite", because once you've grasped the basics, 98% or so of the games are easy, and the rest are unwinnable. There are no difficult games here, and therefore there is no intellectual challenge. High streaks are almost solely a matter of luck, and not of skill. Compare this to for example the much debated 10x1, also a variant which has a number of unwinnable deals, but also one with quite a number of games that require solving skill.
: But then, as I've stated before in an earlier post, the beauty and attraction of variant play is that anyone can choose a variant that suits him/her.
After my other post, I began to wonder: "Now, Joe, How does 13x0 stack up against other 13-sums?" If zyzak is correct in his thesis, then the winning persentage of 13x0 in 10-level games (the games played by the better players, who advance to the "random deals", leaving the rest of us in their wakes) should be higher than comparable 13-sums. My research revealed the following. (Columns 2-4 are "yesterday results" as on Aug. 23, and the remaining are the important ones, "all time".
Decide for yourself.
13x0-10 97 95 97.94% 8339 7658 91.83% 7288
12x1-10 59 59 100.00% 16553 16369 98.89% 12866
11x2-10 25 24 96.00% 29848 29623 99.25% 19063
10x3-10 130 130 100.00% 74772 73320 98.06% 26839
9x4-10 35 32 91.43% 58229 56683 97.34% 25559
The next-to-last columns are winning percentage (all-time). I realize that columns will not be apparent in this posting, so you will just have count over in each one, and figger it out on your own. I am also including a link to the Cumulative Stats page at the bottom of this post.
What the heck, I will now show only the variant and level number and the all-time winning percentage of each. I would still recommend that readers use the link. It reveals some very interesting insights.
13x0-10 91.83%
12x1-10 98.89%
11x2-10 99.25%
10x3-10 98.06%
9x4-10 97.34%
I hope that using the 10-level eliminated much of the "learning curve"; considering that generally better players advance to level 10, there should be some validity in this comparison. It would appear that 13x0 is not an easy variant, as compared with other 13-sums. It seems that having more columns is very valuable in winning percentage, as long as you have at least one freecell. But when you go to "no freecell freecell", then the difficulty factor really ratchets up.
We just don't have enough data yet, as to how many difficult solvables are in 13x0, as opposed to difficult games. (Games with many plays but few wins.) ...or how many games are tested and proven to be unsolvables.