# Strategy of a numbers choosing game
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strategy-of-a-numbers-choosing-game/1017448
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [April 24, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strategy-of-a-numbers-choosing-game/1017448 "2025-04-24T16:19:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2025, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strategy-of-a-numbers-choosing-game/1017448/1 "2025-04-24T16:19:01Z")
I don’t know if this game has a more common name. When I encountered it, it was just called Numbers.
A quick (yet complete) rundown of the rules.
You get a group of players. They each get a sheet of paper and a writing implement.
Everyone secretly writes down a three digit number. You cannot use zero as a digit. You can use three different digits or you can repeat digits. So the lowest possible number is 111 and the highest is 999.
Everyone reveals their numbers. If any of the digits in your number appear in a number that is lower than or equal to your number, then you cross out your number. (You only have to compare the numbers written in this round. You can ignore the numbers written in previous rounds.)
You do this nine times. Then everyone adds up the total of their uncrossed-out numbers. The player with the highest total wins.
So what’s the strategy here? Higher numbers potentially score more points but run a greater risk of being crossed out and scoring nothing. So should you play safer low numbers?
Playing numbers with repeated digits means you will knock out fewer numbers above yours but also means you will have less chance of being knocked out by a lower number.
How much depends on the amount of players? I feel the best strategy in a two players game would be very different than the best strategy in a twenty player game.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2025, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strategy-of-a-numbers-choosing-game/1017448/2 "2025-04-24T20:10:10Z")
It seems like a slow motion rock paper scissors game, maybe like for penpals or prisoners?
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2025, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strategy-of-a-numbers-choosing-game/1017448/3 "2025-04-24T22:24:22Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> How much depends on the amount of players? I feel the best strategy in a two players game would be very different than the best strategy in a twenty player game.
Almost certainly. In a large game, you don’t worry about trying to knock off higher numbers, because someone else will probably do it for you. So a large game would favor repeated digits.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2025, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strategy-of-a-numbers-choosing-game/1017448/4 "2025-04-24T23:50:04Z")
In a small game, there’s a situational aspect to it, beyond jist the probabilities. Suppose you’re ahead by 800 points with one round to go. A good play would be 189. If another player chooses anything above 777, their number would be cancelled and they’d score nothing. But with 777 points they lose anyway.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strategy-of-a-numbers-choosing-game/1017448/5 "2025-04-25T03:30:17Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> In a small game, there’s a situational aspect to it, beyond jist the probabilities. Suppose you’re ahead by 800 points with one round to go. A good play would be 189. If another player chooses anything above 777, their number would be cancelled and they’d score nothing. But with 777 points they lose anyway
Or you could pick 119. That would eliminate any number greater than 888. And 119 is very unlikely to be eliminated (there are only eight possible numbers lower than it). So your eight hundred point lead would increase to over nine hundred points, which is more than they can score.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strategy-of-a-numbers-choosing-game/1017448/6 "2025-04-25T15:02:44Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#):
>
> It seems like a slow motion rock paper scissors game, maybe like for penpals or prisoners?
I’ll admit I’m not seeing the similarities. In Rock Paper Scissors, there’s a circular hierarchy; any choice has a choice it will beat and another choice that will beat it. But in this numbers game, the hierarchy is linear; lower numbers always beat higher numbers when there’s a conflict caused by a duplicated digit.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [April 25, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/strategy-of-a-numbers-choosing-game/1017448/7 "2025-04-25T17:18:23Z")
There’s a win, lose or tie. Like War or Uno?