# Game With No Instructions (Not That Hard) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 1, 2008, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-with-no-instructions-not-that-hard/439751 "2008-03-01T17:28:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-with-no-instructions-not-that-hard/439751/21 "2008-03-02T14:34:33Z")
[QUOTE=TellMeI’mNotCrazy] If anyone tries them, and manages to solve 6, I’d be really grateful to get a clue. Without spoiling, let me just say that I cannot figure out how to get it to work with only 4 nails. [/QUOTE] They’re long nails. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-with-no-instructions-not-that-hard/439751/22 "2008-03-02T16:52:26Z")
[QUOTE=1920s Style “Death Ray”] 10 minutes here too. Does it matter what order you do it in? After I figured out what was going on it seemed pretty simple but I half suspect that I was lucky in that there were always plenty of options for formulating the numbers. [/QUOTE] I think I did it from lowest to highest. I kept forgetting which button did what, and had to start over; after I was done I realized that the upside-down button “dumped” the number to the middle, and the right-side up button “received” the number. If I’d had that idea straight, it would’ve gone faster. But yeah, if you do lowest to highest, I think that’ll give the fastest results. Daniel ---
**Author:** ![Nesyut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b3f665/32.png) [@Nesyut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nesyut)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-with-no-instructions-not-that-hard/439751/23 "2008-03-03T08:14:47Z")
4 Minutes. The title of the game gave it away, and I worked lowest to highest. Might have been quicker if I wasn’t anal about keeping the lower numbers in the system. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2008, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-with-no-instructions-not-that-hard/439751/24 "2008-03-03T22:09:38Z")
15 minutes, though some time was wasted because I clicked the wrong button and had to start over. ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-with-no-instructions-not-that-hard/439751/25 "2008-03-04T00:52:17Z")
14 minutes, including all the time to screw around aimlessly with the buttons, figure out what was going on, reset quite a few times when I press the ‘in’ instead of the ‘out’ (I’m always confused by binary choices. Not going to be put in charge of the nuclear button any time soon) ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2008, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-with-no-instructions-not-that-hard/439751/26 "2008-03-04T07:33:29Z")
Took me 5 minutes; I wasn’t really hurrying. As soon as I got into it, the principles began to feel very familiar - I guess my computer architecture / processor design class finally paid off. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-with-no-instructions-not-that-hard/439751.md?page=1)