araver

Technically, copyright belongs to Molly Mae. All I got was a T-shirt with a HOLA (Host-Once-Licence-Agreement). Seriously now, I hope people won't take offense about this one as it is only a game with no base irl. No one gets offended about fantasy-universe Mafias or by words "kill" or "lynch" in the context, right? Or at least they should not. But just in case: Disclaimer: Although inspired by actual historical events, this story is fictional and not intended to depict any actual person or event.

Plainglazed, your strategy works . I had not believed for a moment that the last case can be dismissed due to symmetry as it looks asymmetrical: one of the sides has the defaulter on it. But it does work out with those exact second and third weighings and mirror heavy/light arguments.

GEORGIA 88885478 HAWAII 67742467 IDAHO 46675466

A few rules to add: - Day/Nights end at 11 pm EST (6 am in my timezone). Night can end earlier if I get all actions in red but the following day will be longer and end at 11 pm EST as usual. - We can make days/nights longer on 24th/25th/26th - let me know. Otherwise, I’d recommend putting in an early action during the day when you vote. If you make it during the night, you change it. If you don't make it, it will count as being active and still help your team. - Order of actions: imprison > invulnerability > save > kill > block > spy/message intercept/ message transmission. - Night Kill is stopped if target is imprisoned or saved. NK is also stopped if all members of the Secret Alliance are blocked or imprisoned that night. - When a single faction remains, all surviving players from that faction automatically win. Questions for host in red.

Eleven people awoke at the same time to find themselves in a dimly lit room. A round doughnut table with 11 chairs was in the center of the room. Each of them began recognizing familiar faces, some of them friendly. Some of them were dressed casual, some were in their pyjamas. Shock was on almost everyone’s face. Chatter errupted almost instantly in all areas. Everybody wanted an explanation for their presence there. A few fists were even exchanged before… … a flash …. A hooded person appeared in the center of the table. “Gentlemen, if you please have a seat, I’m sure we can find a more civilized way of talking to each other and …” “I demand an explanation!” said the President of the United States furiously while massaging his eye who had started to swell as he had just received a sneaky blow while trying to get to the British Prime Minister. “You are in no position to make demands. Take a seat or be silenced permanently!” replied the hooded figure. Slowly, one by one, all the eleven took a seat at the table. “Gentlemen, I have been watching your past actions and I think I saw enough. Each of you recklessly plays with forces beyond his control in an attempt to win a global game with no apparent rules. You are endagering your species and all the other species. This non-sense will stop now…” “… Your games of diplomacy are now obsolete. I’m replacing those games with a simpler game with close similarities to some of your historical events. I think it was called Mafia. You will have plenty of time to study it and come up with an adequate winning strategy. Nothing exists outside this room unless I tell you to. So you’d better start thinking for yourselves since you will be playing for your lives. And for your nations as well.“ “Getting you all here was an example of my powers. And your nations are not aware that you they're missing their heads of state. Don’t break any of the rules, or I will be forced to make other similar displays. I can at any time replace you with the next in line in your nation’s hierarchy, so unless you think that person is much smarter than you, I suggest you behave. Study the materials and learn how to play the game.This is your one and only attempt to win this. You will find confortable quarters along the hallway. We’ll adjourn in the morning!” The hooded figure dissapeared. They continued to discuss for a while, suspicious glances were thrown, yet no one dared to break the rules. One by one they retreated through the hallway to their corresponding rooms. Studying was in order and after a while it became obvious that some of them have forgotten the notion long ago. Secret Alliance Have BTSC and a night invasion (kill). China -- The size of the country allows for vote manipulation (x0, x1, or x2). Also, if China can successfully guess the Nation who is to receive a message from S. Korea, China may read the message OR replace it with a message of his own, but not both. WINCON: Secretly wants revenge for the destruction of Nanking. Can only leave the game if Japan is dead. North Korea -- Nuclear devices were just a cover for North Korea's top secret project: building a better Google Earth. They have satellites that cover the whole globe. Can spy 1 player per night, even if that player is dead. If they spy Russia, Russia learns their identity as well. WINCON: Doesn't like their Southern brethren and will do anything to see them eliminated. Cannot leave the game until South Korea is eliminated. Afghanistan -- Their dirty bomb threats and scuds keep a country occupied (blocked) for a night. If they target the US, their identity will be published that night. WINCON: They hold a grudge against Russia for their past occupation. Can only leave the game if Russia is dead. UN Alliance USA -- Can survive through countless tragedies. Cannot die at night. WINCON: As a firm supporter of democracy, the USA dislikes the idea of vote manipulation. Says one thing and does another--if they directly reveal their role, they are the next lynch victim regardless of votes. Must correctly RID China before leaving the game. Russia -- Has hundreds of satellites floating in space. Can use one per night to spy a player's role and target. If either the spied player or his target that night is NorthKorea, then North Korea also learns Russia’s identity. WINCON: Must spy one of the three baddies before leaving the game. Japan -- Has trained many ninja assassins and is known for their stealth and technology. If spied by North Korea, Japan will appear to be South Korea. Once during the game, at night, Japan can target a player. If that player is in the baddie BTSC, he is assassinated -- removed from the BTSC and replaced by a back-up. Any information the original player had is not transferred. If the target is not a baddie, he is still replaced by the back-up and no previous information is transferred. (Any actions for that night are likewise not transferred). WINCON: Must successfully assassinate one player before leaving the game. South Korea -- Has a hard time dealing with their pesky northern neighbors. Silently monitors activities and can tell which player targeted which nation (instead of the other way around). S. Korea can also send a message (through the host) to one Nation. The message will be delivered the following day. WINCON: Must successfully deliver two messages to friendly nations. The contents of the messages do not matter, as long as the messages were never intercepted by China. After the second message is delivered, S. Korea may leave the game. England -- Has worldwide influence among its colonies. Has no action unless the USA, Australia, or Canada (AUSCANUS) is/are dead. When one of those countries dies, England takes over the actions or abilities of that nation. Every night, England must choose only one ability to use from the available list. (Note: While America's invulnerability ability is passive, England must choose in order to use it). WINCON: Cannot leave the game until at least one of the AUSCANUS have left the game AND at least 2 of which are no longer playing UNLESS all three are dead. (For clarification, the only way for England to leave is if two AUSCANUS players have left the game OR if one has died and one has left the game OR if all three have died.) Australia -- As a penal colony, Australia can imprison one player per night, but not the same player two nights in a row. Imprisoned players cannot act that night or vote the following day. They hire Canadian contractors to guard their prisons. WINCON: They try to prove that they are just as worthwhile as their allies. Cannot be the first of the AUS/CAN/UK/US to leave the game (they can leave, however, if at least one of the alliance is dead). Canada -- Maintains that social healthcare is a benefit, even though they know it isn't. Saves a player on odd nights and kills on even nights. Learns the faction of players imprisoned by Australia. WINCON: Before leaving the game, Canada must either successfully save a team mate or successfully kill an enemy. Indy Sweden -- A rounded nation with nothing to contribute to war. Must choose two actions to replicate per night, but can only use the same set once per game and cannot repeat an action more than twice in a row. Message transmission or interception cannot be replicated. WINCON: Survive as long as possible. May leave the game only after at least 4 players are dead. Leaving the game: All WINCONs are to leave the game. In order to do so, each nation has a goal that must be accomplished. To leave the game, the player must sacrifice his night ability and declare that he wishes to leave the game. After this declaration, he must survive that night and following day. He will be allowed to vote, but his vote will count x0 at the end of the day. If he survives both, he may leave. Blocks do not prevent a player from leaving, but an imprisonment does. An imprisoned player must be freed before attempting to leave. If a player attempts to leave without completing his assigned goal, he will be informed that he cannot leave, but only AFTER the night and day cycle have completed. In this case, his vote would still count in the lynch. Further, a player who has met his conditions for leaving does not have to do so immediately and may stay in the game for as long as he chooses, unless he is killed. Created by Molly Mae, hosted by araver (as the Hooded Figure): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Special backup (replacement for assassinated player) 12. Other backups. 1. 2. 3. ...

I'd like any feedback on my solution, especially if it's about something I can/cannot do. Thanks. A general comment, you cannot go down on the station. Some comments on your proposed solution:

No amount of video evidence alone is convincing enough as a basis. E.g. since you weren't around from the beginning, anyone of them could have hidden a ball and inject the serum into the ball instead of themselves. And please

ALASKA 55666655 ARIZONA 75477667 ARKANSAS 77666666

And for the 10-piles, 2 fake, 10 coins in each pile variant:

Well for 9 piles, I have a solution that only requires 9 coins in each pile.

I updated the spreadsheet. Regarding the next Mafia: UN Mafia, I'm waiting on Molly's response if he wants to host it now as he is currently missing and expressed a willingness to let someone else host it. I'm currently available for hosting it. If it's OK with him / everyone I'll post signups today (19 December). I am willing to host it over Christmas where depending on the activity and players availability we can have a days/ nights last for 48 hours on some of the Christmas days.

Adding 2 more examples to the challenge (since I forgot yesterday) 4 */* 2 = 5 12 */* 17 = 28 30 */* 10 = 36 100 */* 93 = 186 42 */* 35 = 72 100 */* 21 = 116 12 */* 11 = 22 19 */* 29 = 48 ------------------ 48 */* 73 = ?

It is not that simple as infected people can lie and are smart enough not to inject themselves.

FORUM

SHOTS, just to start it off.

Three more. WESTVIRGINIA 87543585 WISCONSIN 54677644 WYOMING 77854787 I'm interested in how this is going to play out but I'm probably not going to find out until after the weekend.

SHIRR +30 maurice +11 araver FRAME - 0 MORAL - 0 SPLIT - 1 SPAMS - 1 SEAMS - 1 FOAMS - 0 SCOOP - 1 STEAM - 1 SHALL - 2 SMALL - 1 SHUCK - 2 SHIRR - 5 Glycereine - 788 plainglazed - 649 maurice - 574 Cherry Lane - 532 Maquis - 395 Izzy - 386 Vineetrika - 384 araver - 377 Unreality - 284 dawh - 220 t8t8t8 - 190 NickFleming- 180 Framm - 177 golfjunkie - 170 woon - 141 Fabpig - 116 JarZe - 96 Blablah99 - 89 Harvey45 - 77 MollyMae - 46 Hirkala - 36 yuiop - 21 Abhisk - 20 PVRoot - 20 Filly - 19 Prince Marth - 15 DudleyDude - 15 phaze - 15 Kac_cotu - 5

S H _ _ _ +10 maurice FRAME - 0 MORAL - 0 SPLIT - 1 SPAMS - 1 SEAMS - 1 FOAMS - 0 SCOOP - 1 STEAM - 1 SHALL - 2 SMALL - 1 SHUCK - 2

S H _ _ _ +10 maurice FRAME - 0 MORAL - 0 SPLIT - 1 SPAMS - 1 SEAMS - 1 FOAMS - 0 SCOOP - 1 STEAM - 1 SHALL - 2 SMALL - 1

S _ _ _ _ +5 maurice FRAME - 0 MORAL - 0 SPLIT - 1 SPAMS - 1 SEAMS - 1 FOAMS - 0 SCOOP - 1 STEAM - 1 SHALL - 2

Three to start... TEXAS 66565665 UTAH 55665566 VERMONT 68887546

Crack the Code 10 - Shades of Gray Game Description One player plays the Evil Mastermind (that's me) who nukes the states of the USA 3 at a time, the other players play Hackers who seek to stop the Evil Mastermind. Anyone can join in at any time as a Hacker. The Evil Mastermind plays by posting commands which activate missile strikes. Each command has a unique password, which is derived from the command by a hashing algorithm. The Evil Mastermind devises a different algorithm at the start of each game, and posts the passwords along with the commands. The Evil Mastermind wins the game if he is able to post all the 50 commands. The Hackers will see the commands and passwords in the thread and from this they should try to deduce the hashing algorithm. The Hacker who does this first, and correctly figures out the password to the command "ABORT", stops the Evil Mastermind and wins the game. Game Restrictions Since hashing algorithms can be exceedingly difficult to crack, there are restrictions placed on the kind of algorithm that the Evil Mastermind is allowed to use: Game Play The Evil Mastermind posts 3 commands at a time, with their passwords. The interval for doing this is undefined, no point in imposing restrictions. The Evil Mastermind chooses the commands. Hackers can also request specific states as the Evil Mastermind next targets, if they hope to get more information about the algorithm through these states' passwords. Each Hacker may make one guess at the password for "ABORT" each time the Evil Mastermind posts commands. If someone makes multiple guesses in between clues, only the first one counts, but if they make a mistake and correct it, the Evil Mastermind can accept the correction. More than one Hacker can make guesses in between Evil Masterminds attacks and the Evil Mastermind is forced to acknowledge and respond to all the input (limited to 1 per Hacker). There is no need for spoilers when guessing the password, although please use spoilers if you reveal the algorithm. Hackers can cooperate in the thread and share what they figured out so far with the rest of the community, but only if they use spoilers!. The first Hacker to get the password for "ABORT" wins. The Hacker that stops the Evil Mastermind can choose to share his credit with other Hackers if he acknowledges being helped by others' findings. Alternatively if you've cracked the algorithm you can just use it to blow up more states if you're that way inclined (**per original Evil Mastermind's rules!) instead of posting the "ABORT" command. A successful input of a batch of 3 states (which were not played before) grants you the title of Evil Mastermind Apprentice. The game continues until either the states are finished or a Hacker inputs the "ABORT" command. Game Commands There are 51 commands, these being the names of US states (used by the Evil Mastermind to nuke each state), plus the word "ABORT" (used by Hackers to stop the Evil Mastermind). All commands and passwords are UPPERCASE. Game History This game thread continues the tradition of the other games, but it is not directly related to any of them. Each challenge is a new independent algorithm. However, you can read and try for yourself any of the previous challenges:

S _ _ _ _ +5 maurice FRAME - 0 MORAL - 0 SPLIT - 1 SPAMS - 1 SEAMS - 1 FOAMS - 0 SCOOP - 1 STEAM - 1

A small scientific base was established on a planet. Scientific missions were scheduled where five people were on the base at a given time, while one was left in cryogenic stasis aboard the ship orbiting the planet. The first team that discovered the planet has suffered an infection from an alien parasitic life-form that was able to control the persons it infected. Incident video logs had shown that an infected host did not show any external symptoms and that the infection was transmitted only by direct skin contact. Since then, contamination protocols were in place in the base and a bio-contamination alert would automatically awake the person onboard the orbiting ship and give him full-control over base operations. A serum that cures the infection without killing the host was developed. A vaccine is not available, but personal medical scanners can detect the infection. Filters that detect (but cannot cure) the infection were placed on the outer doors. You have been awaken by a contamination alert and discover that: A) There are still five lifesigns in the base, each lifesign is in a separate area of the base. All areas of the base have stockpiles of the serum and personal medical scanners. B) The log from the base has been partially deleted but the recovered log shows that there were two separate filter alerts at two outer doors. The alerts were almost simultaneous which suggests that only two infected persons have entered the base. C) The automatic lock-down protocols have engaged before any two persons could have come into contact. D) You still have control over the automatic doors sealing the areas and you can create a corridor between any two areas by remotely opening and closing the doors. E) You have control over the air ventilation system and are able to induce short-term sleeping gas in any area of the base you choose to. Any person in that area will become unconscious in less than 10 seconds. F) Video and audio communications are intact and bidirectional with all areas of the base. You know that any non-infected person would be able to scan and disinfect another unconscious person while an infected person will most likely lie about the scan and infect the unconscious person. You can assume that in order to avoid detection, everybody will follow your orders, in order to be let out of the base and possibly infect a larger population. Can you come up with a strategy that cleans everybody on the base? If so, what is the minimal number of doors you need to open? Please use spoilers for your strategies! P.S. While writing the background story for this puzzle, I figured that such an unlikely contamination incident can be analysed beforehand and handled in the "Guide for Scientists Stranded on a Far Away Planet". If that particular thought has crossed your mind, please assume the above scenario is taken from the final exam before being allowed to become a "Scientist (Potentially Stranded) on a Far Away Planet". And that any form of cheating / exploiting weak points in the scenario might be frowned upon and lead to the denial of your application. And that this is not a Kobayashi Maru scenario, no need to Kirk your way through it I will however answer any questions you might have regarding what can and what cannot be done in the scenario.

S _ _ _ _ +5 maurice FRAME - 0 MORAL - 0 SPLIT - 1 SPAMS - 1 SEAMS - 1 FOAMS - 0 SCOOP - 1