- Thu Apr 29, 2021 4:35 pm
#86719
Hi Greg,
There could be multiple reasons distributions are hard for you, from recognizing the distribution aspect of the game to actually making the correct distributions. I'll talk a bit about both major concerns.
Recognizing distributions comes with some practice. If you tend to overlook distribution aspects of a game, a good practice is to check EVERY game for distribution. I do this after reading the rules in each game. Most of the time, the game is balanced. I write 1-1 to show that I checked, and I know that there is exactly one variable in each slot. Before I do that, I make sure I'm not making any assumptions. Just because there are seven variables for seven slots doesn't mean that each variable is used in exactly one of the spaces. They need to tell us that somehow in the rules. By checking each game for distributions, I can make sure I don't miss any game with a distribution aspect.
The second issue is how to actually make the distributions themselves. I typically start with the extremes. What's the most extreme distribution I can get? Is that consistent with the rules? And then break it up down further from there.
For example, let's imagine a game where we have seven reviewers for four movies. Each movie is reviewed by at least one reviewer. Each reviewer can only review one movie. That's a 7 reviewers into 4 movies. The most extreme we can get under these rules is to put as many reviewers as possible in one movie, while leaving enough for the other three. 4-1-1-1. From there, I break up the 4 bit by bit. I could take 1 away from the 4, and end up with 3-2-1-1. I could take 2 away from the 4 and end up with 2-2-2-1. Those are the only way to split that 7 up according to the rules.
So in summary, how do you deal with distributions? Practice, and consistent methods each time.
Hope that helps!
