Dougal Campbell's geek ramblings

I learned about this little puzzle thing called Petals Around the Rose yesterday (via BoingBoing). It’s sort of a dice game where you have to figure out how to solve the puzzle as you go, and once you know how, you can’t tell anybody else. It took me a while to figure it out, because I tried to over-analyze it. In fact, it’s almost an accident that I figured it out at all, considering the line of thought I was trying to follow. Of course, now I’m sworn to secrecy, so I can’t tell you what that line of thought was…

The name of the game is Petals Around the Rose, and that name is significant. Newcomers to the game can be told that much. They can also be told that every answer is zero or an even number. They can also be told the answer for every throw of the dice that are used in the game. And that’s all the information they get.

The javascript app on the page listed above didn’t work for me in Firefox. I had to use the sample dice rolls detailed in the story about Bill Gates in order to figure it out. As I mentioned before, I’m sworn to secrecy about how to get the answers. But I will say that a child in first or second grade (or even a bright pre-schooler) could give you the answers, once they know the method.