On my first trip to the International Space Station, I was invited on a mission to Venus!
Reluctantly I accepted, not realizing the trip would take six months. Oh well; one of the crew, Morty, was also a bridge player, so we used the time for bidding practice. Little did I realize how fortuitous this would be, and I don’t mean as a puzzle source but financially.
Upon entering the Venusian gravitational field we encountered another spacecraft, and after establishing radio contact it requested permission to dock. Oh dear! At first we were all suspicious, fearing we would perish, but Mission Control left the option to us, and we decided to take the chance for the benefit of science. A wise decision.
Welcome aboard! Eek and Meek from Ishtar Terra were quite familiar with Earth and even some of our games, like chess and bridge. Delighted by the latter, Morty and I asked if they’d like to play a round for fun. “Negk!” came the reply, as they would only play for a venk a point, and by their rules. We had no idea what a ‘venk’ was but agreed. Their scoring was like our Chicago style, but a round was just three deals, honors did not exist, and the vulnerability was decided by venk toss. Whatever! We couldn’t be picky at 160 million miles from home.
Luck went our way, as Morty and I made a contract on each deal. Poor Eek and Meek were unhappy, but after the round they honored their agreement, paying us nearly a billion venks apiece! Say what? It turns out that under Venusian rules, scores are multiplied instead of added. Wow! Scary to think we could have lost beyond belief, though they might have had trouble collecting.
As an almost venkabillionnaire, I expect to retire soon but don’t know what that is in dollars.Please, somebody, enlighten me before I lose my mind! Or maybe that’s happened already.
How close can you come to winning a billion without going over? The venk toss has been made, and you are vulnerable on Deals 1 and 3. Each contract level, strain, risk (plain, doubled, redoubled) and number of tricks won (7-13) must be unique (no two alike).
1. Challenge yourself, or make your best guess:
Quit
Congratulations to Grant Peacock, who was the first “almost venkabillionnaire” in the clubhouse. Grant is a clever solver, especially when related to mathematics (as this puzzle) and a good sport with my inane remarks of his NBC affiliation and plumage. (To be sure, I consider him a fine, feathered friend.) Grant’s previous wins include Keep the Ship Afloat, Ever More, St. Valentine’s Hand and Victory Celebration.
Ties in the ranking are broken by date and time of entry.
Scoring exactly 1 billion is impossible, and all products must end in 000, so 999,999,000 must be the closest if possible. Prime factors of 999,999 are [37,13,11,7,3,3,3] so the goal is to combine them into three legal bridge scores (divided by 10) that have unique properties. Trial and error shows three combinations that work: 7 × 3 × 3 = 63 (3 NT+1 Vul 630); 13 × 11 = 143 (1 ××+6 NV 1430); 37 × 3 = 111 (4 ×+2 Vul 1110). Verification: 630 × 1430 × 1110 = 999,999,000.
Tina Denlee: The only perfect solution is 3 NT+1 Vul 630, 1 ××+6 NV 1430 and 4 ×+2 Vul 1110, except you can swap the minor suits, or Deals 1 and 3.
Dan Baker: 3 NT+1 Vul 630, 1 ××+6 NV 1430, 4 ×+2 Vul 1110. Since all scores end in zero, an obvious starting point is 999,900,000 = 990 × 1010 × 1000 (4 ×+1, 6 +1, 3N××=). I wrote a quick script to generate factorizations of 999,901 through 999,999 and looked for combinations of three valid scores. Most have a prime factor too large, and many that qualified were tripped by the vulnerability or uniqueness restriction; e.g., 999,922,000 = 430 × 1510 × 1540 (1 ××+1 NV, 7 = NV, 6 × Vul) requires two NV deals. Besides the ultimate score, the only one I found better than 999,900,000 that meets the restrictions is 999,936,000 = 1860 × 420 × 1280 (6 ×+1, 4 =, 2 NT××+1).
Charles Blair: Your data file of Bridge Result Scores was very helpful.
Grant Peacock: Factoring numbers is right up my alley. Thanks Richard!
Tina Denlee: I guess this could totally happen in the Ishtarian bidding system!
Jean-Baptiste Courtois: Good thing you brought a scoring table on the journey, and your ship had prime factorization technology.
Richard Stein: Hopefully this will land me closer to the top than Pay No Taxes! which I did quickly and sloppily.
Sloppiness works! Pay your taxes in venks, and the Feds will be none the wiser.
© 2018 Richard Pavlicek
by Richard Pavlicek by Richard Pavlicek