Tyson Games / Pineapple
The Two Points I Threw Away in Fantasyland
Joyce made a straight flush for zero. Seven of us played the same three aces four different ways. And the eight-of-hearts hand from my last post had two more points hiding in it.
In my last post, I was pretty happy about the eight of hearts I played against Joyce. My straight helped me get into Fantasyland, I stayed for a second hand, and I ended up with 39 points off that deal. Then I went back and looked at the card I threw away on that second trip. It turns out I could’ve had 41.
Usually when I second-guess a Pineapple hand, I have the considerable advantage of knowing what card came next. In Fantasyland I already had all 14 cards in front of me. I had to put three on top, five in the middle and five on the bottom, and throw one away. The bottom has to be at least as strong as the middle, and the middle at least as strong as the top. Get that order wrong and the whole thing scores zero.
I checked the public daily boards for October 26 through November 1. Across 81 trips to Fantasyland, players got the most points possible 58 times. Here are three of the other deals. Each comparison uses the same 14 cards on both sides. The replays open on the final placement, so you can see exactly what each player did.
Thursday, October 29 · Hand 7 · First Fantasyland
Joyce had all 23 points on the table
Joyce put A♣, 2♣, 3♣, 4♣ and 5♣ together in the middle. That’s a five-high straight flush. She put five diamonds on the bottom, headed by the ace. An ace-high flush is a fine hand until you put a straight flush above it.
Jack high
Five-high straight flush
Ace-high flush
Jack high
Ace-high flush
Five-high straight flush
She could keep the exact same three cards on top and throw away the exact same seven. Swap the two five-card rows and the diamond flush earns eight in the middle, the straight flush earns 15 on the bottom, and she gets another trip to Fantasyland. That’s 23 points before playing the extra hand.
I got the same cards and beat Joyce, nine to zero. Before anyone gives me too much credit, I put the two aces on top and threw away the 5♣. Joyce was a lot closer to finding the best hand than I was.
Friday, October 30 · Hand 7 · First Fantasyland
What do you do with three aces?
Seven of us reached this deal. Troymail and Karlson used all three aces to make aces full of twos on the bottom. They each put a straight in the middle. Six points for the full house, four for the straight. I can see why you’d stop looking there.
Ten high
King-high straight
Aces full of twos
Pair of aces
King-high flush
Ace-high flush
Hao, Jlin and I split up the aces. The A♠ and A♦ went on top for nine points. We still had five spades for a king-high flush in the middle and five hearts, including the A♥, for an ace-high flush on the bottom. That’s another eight and four, for 21.
Two other finishes make this one worth a replay. Jhegeman also made two flushes, but used the A♠ in the spade flush. That left one ace on top and scored 12. Ddz found the same pair of aces and the same two flushes I did. The only difference was which flush went where. With the ace-high hearts above the king-high spades, the whole hand fouled. Same 14 cards, and the seven of us came away with 0, 10, 12 or 21.
Friday, October 30 · Hand 3 · Second Fantasyland
I should’ve kept the two
Back to the eight-of-hearts deal. The ordinary hand was worth 11, and my first Fantasyland was worth 16. On the second one I put kings on top, three tens in the middle and a five-through-nine straight on the bottom. That was another 12 points. I discarded the 2♠.
Pair of kings
Three tens
Nine-high straight
Pair of kings
Six-high straight
Jack-high straight
Look at what happens if I keep that two. I have 2–3–4–5–6 for the middle and 7–8–9–10–J for the bottom. I can still put my kings on top. The kings are worth the same eight points, and the bottom straight is still worth two. The extra two points come from turning the three tens in the middle into a straight. I could even throw away a ten.
Candice and Hoff both got this bonus deal too. They each made tens full of kings on the bottom and a straight in the middle for ten points. None of the three of us played the two straights. Either way my run would’ve ended here, but 11 + 16 + 14 would’ve gotten me to 41. Next time I’m about to throw away a two, I’ll at least count to six first.
How I checked the hands
The 47 public daily replays contained 81 player layouts on 35 distinct Fantasyland deals. For each 14-card pile I checked all 1,009,008 ways to divide the cards into a top, middle, bottom and discard. I used the game’s rules to reject fouls and score each legal layout. Card order within a row has no effect.
“Maximum” means the most royalties on that hand. Earning another Fantasyland is shown separately. In all 23 below-maximum plays it was possible to improve the immediate score without giving up an earned return. When more than one arrangement reaches the maximum, the comparison shows one of them.
You can play the daily Pineapple board on Tyson Games or get the iOS app through TestFlight.