Solve or Steal!
A calculus game by Group 1
Solve or Steal!A calculus game by Group 1
Solve or Steal! is similar to a game of Mahjong. In Mahjong, you must collect a certain pattern of tiles to win the game. In Solve or Steal!, you must answer the calculus problems in the given time with a card. If you fail to solve it in time, your opponents may Steal! the question and answer it. The objective of the game is to collect a certain pattern of cards. The first to complete a set wins.
This game must be played with four players. Each player must be dealt 13 cards while the dealer gets 14 cards. Then, place the remaining cards face-down in the center.
Play begins with the dealer. First, you must solve the mathematical expression shown on-screen. Then, once the time runs out, you must input your answer on the device. If it is correct, you may get a card in your hand that corresponds to the correct answer and place it on your answers mat on the difficulty indicated on the screen. If you do not have the card on your hand, you may use a wildcard. Otherwise, your turn ends. However, if you answer wrong, you must discard a card face-up in the discard pile and other players may steal your question. When your turn ends, the person to your right begins their turn (play goes counterclockwise).
Every turn after the first, you must draw a card at the beginning of your turn. You may draw from the top of either the face-down deck or the face-up discard pile. If the deck runs out, you may shuffle the discard pile and place it face-down to become the new deck.
When the player who answers the mathematical expression gets it wrong, Steal! buttons appear in front of each of the other players. Whoever presses their button first gets to steal the question. The person who stole it must answer it within the given time. Then, similar with when it is their turn, if they get it correct, they must put a card containing the answer on their answers mat. If you answer wrong, then you must discard a card and the remaining players may steal the question. Once someone answers correctly or all players answered wrong, play continues to the right of the original player.
When you answer corectly but you do not have the correct card, you may use a wildcard if you have it in your hand. The first wildcard is lasso. You may take one card from an opponent's answers mat and put it on your answers mat with the same difficulty. Discard a card from your hand afterward. The player who lost a card then draws a card from the deck (not from the discard pile). The second wildcard is heist. You may take a whole set from an opponent's answers mat and put it in your answers mat. Discard cards from your hand equal to the amount of cards in the set that you took. The player who lost the cards then draw cards from the deck equal to the amount of cards lost. The patterns for sets can be found here.
After using a wildcard, you must discard it. When drawing a card, if the top of the discard pile is a wildcard, you cannot draw it. You may only draw a card from the deck.
There may be some questions that are unanswerable. In that case, you must answer with a skull. However, using the skull does not mean you immediately get the answer correct. If a question is answerable, then the skull is an incorrect answer. You may only use it on specific questions that cannot be answered.
Unanswerable questions are those whose answers are not in a card. The answers within the cards include: 0-18, ∞, −∞, DNE, continuous, and discontinuous.
To win the game, you must have 14 cards of a certain pattern on your answers mat. You must have either four sets of three cards and a pair or three sets of four cards and a pair.
| Two cards | |
|---|---|
| Pair | 2 cards of the same difficulty |
| Three cards | |
| Flush | 3 cards of the same difficulty |
| Straight | 1 Easy, 1 Medium, 1 Hard |
| Four cards | |
| Royal flush | 4 cards of the same difficulty |
When using the online game tool, there are some things to keep in mind. First, to start the game, press the Begin button. The timer will automatically start from there. Once the timer runs out, an input box will appear. Place your answer there to check if it is correct. If you have not finished solving, you may input a random guess. Press Submit to submit your answer. If you answer correctly, the difficulty will be shown on-screen so you know where in the answers mat the card should be placed on. If you answered incorrectly, steal buttons will automatically appear facing each of the players.
Below are the codes to input for non-numerical answers
| ∞ | inf |
|---|---|
| −∞ | -inf |
| DNE | dne |
| 💀 | skull |