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Well, yesterday's puzzle was solved ridiculously quickly. Props to both love1another and MayorITC for their completely different approaches to arrive at the same solution. TL is damn good with numbers. So, for today's puzzle there will be none of that.
This is a difficult variation of the popular "two paths with two guards one of which always lies and the other tells the truth" puzzle.
Let's begin!
You're Mike Morhaime and in your hand is an SC2 beta key. You held a contest to determine who gets it and now you're down to 3 finalists. Two of them are starcraft players and one is a Heroes of Newerth player. Obviously, you want to give it to one of the SC players but you don't know who is who.
Here's what you know:
-These starcraft players are special -- one always tells the truth, the other always lies.
-The HoN player really wants that beta key -- he could choose to do either.
-The contestants are complete strangers, they don't know anything about each other at all
You can ask ONE person a single yes/no question. What do you ask to guarantee that you can give the beta key to one of the starcraft players?
GL!
edit: bolded/emphasized a point -- only ask one person! that means you're only getting one yes/no answer.
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One of them should look like this + Show Spoiler +
so that's your hon player. Give the key to any of the other two guys who you can contact by PM-ing me.
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England2674 Posts
I can do it in one question:
"Did you enjoy warcraft 3, and would you say it was the best RTS ever?"
The liar will say yes, the HoN player will say "OMFG OF COURSE BLIZZARD RULEZ. EVERYGAME THEY MAKE IS AWESOME LIKE DOTA." and the Starcraft player who tells the truth will say "Lol? are you serious. No, War3 was nothing compared to Starcraft".
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Can't you just ask him something none of them would know and the two starcraft players are obligated to say nothing to ensure they stick to their rules and the hon player can say whatever he wants?
So if the person answers he is the hon players?
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why not just ask them if they are starcraft players, and give the key to the only one that says no
or yes in case the hon player decides to be honest. point is the only answer that is given by only one guy is the a starcraft player's answer
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+ Show Spoiler +Ask all 3 the same yes or no question, 2 of them will either say yes or no. 1 of them will say whatever the other 2 didn't say. Give the beat key to that guy.
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you can only ask one of them a question
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Ok just to emphasize a point in the OP.
You are only allowed to ask ONE person ONE question. You're not asking all of them. Consequently, you're only hearing ONE answer.
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Ask one of them if they always tell the truth. If the answer's yes, there's an SC player. The HoN player will answer no to try to appear humble and thus more relatable, thinking s/he is increasing the chances of obtaining the beta key.
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When you have three people and only 1 question with yes or no i can't think of a solution.
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On February 13 2010 00:18 ocho wrote:
Ask one of them if they always tell the truth. If the answer's yes, there's an SC player. The HoN player will answer no to try to appear humble and thus more relatable, thinking s/he is increasing the chances of obtaining the beta key.
If i would want the beta key i wouldn't say no.
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Ask player A "Should player B receive the beta key?"
Only the SC player that lies would give an answer "Yes". Then give the beta key to him.
If the answer is "No", give the beta key to player C. Why? Because only the truth telling SC player or the HoN player would answer "No" to this question. If player A was the HoN player than both B and C are SC players and you still give the beta key to a SC player. If it was the truth telling SC player, then either B or C are SC player and you have a 50% chance to select him.
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I wanna give this to a true SC fan, If I spoke to you last week you would've said you were too busy watching the SC BSL final right?
Both SC players would say no, the HoN guy would say yes (but of course a SC player would know there is no BSL)
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Not totally satisfied with this but:
"would you lie for this beta key?"
SC player truth: no
SC lier: he would lie so he lies and says no
HoN player: Really wants it, presumably doesn't expect any trickery so he will say yes.
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There isn't a "pure" mathematical answer so although my answer is a bit dodgy I think it's the best you can do.
Whatever solution you choose you have to somehow use the fact that the HoN player knows nothing about SC or will perhaps give a more "standard" answer since he isn't forced to say yes or no.
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Klive, Wouldn't the lying SC player say yes?
"Oops. Turns out this was an extra Lich King beta key. Sorry guys we miscalculated! We do, however, have Flash and Jaedong ready to play their bo15 exhibition match. Would you like to watch?"
Truthteller: Yes
Liar: No
HoN: Leaves in a fit of rage.
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Call them A, B and C, arbitrarily.
Ask A 'Would B and C sometimes both agree that B played SC?'
If the answer is 'No', then give the key to B
If the answer is 'Yes' then give the key to C
Edit: No real trick to it other than faffing around with truth tables until you get a question that eliminates the right two possibilities.
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Whatever solution you choose you have to somehow use the fact that the HoN player knows nothing about SC or will perhaps give a more "standard" answer since he isn't forced to say yes or no.
+ Show Spoiler [a minor hint] +I will say that this is not the route to the answer. Don't try to psychoanalyze these people and see them as gamers trying to get a beta key. That's just a frame so you can relate to the puzzle better (as opposed to the original frame of thief policeman and spy or whatever). So the whole "appearing humble" or "not expecting any trickery" isn't the way to go. In essence, they're just a liar, a truthie, and a person who can do both.
I'm sure you all know that already, I'm just throwing it out there. Some of the answers so far are pretty cute though xD
I'm quite happy at least this puzzle isn't solved immediately!
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On February 13 2010 01:23 LTT wrote:
Klive, Wouldn't the lying SC player say yes?
"Oops. Turns out this was an extra Lich King beta key. Sorry guys we miscalculated! We do, however, have Flash and Jaedong ready to play their bo15 exhibition match. Would you like to watch?"
Truthteller: Yes
Liar: No
HoN: Leaves in a fit of rage.
Look at how I phrased the question: "I wanna give this to a true SC fan, If I spoke to you last week you would've said you were too busy watching the SC BSL final right?"
Last week the SC liar would have said "Yes" because he always lies, so today he has to say No. It plays the double negative.
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EPT![[image loading]](http://www.meetyourmakers.com/gfx/testie2.jpg)
