This game is similar to the game called ``Clue'' or ``Cluedo''. There
are items.
of those items (
) are set aside, and the
reamining
items are distributed randomly (and evenly) among
players. (We'll choose
,
, and
, so that
is a multiple
of
, to avoid uneven distributions of items.) We'll label the
items
through
.
Players are organized in a circular sequence, and take turns according
to that sequence. A turn for player consists of:
During the course of the game, players accumulate information about
the holdings of the other players. Eventually, players should be able
to identify the missing items. Players are ranked in the order in
which they correctly identify the missing items. Players that
incorrectly guess the missing cards are ranked below the
correct-guessers, in the reverse of the order with which the guess was
made.
There will be a limit to the number of turns; we will discuss the precise value for this limit in class. Any players remaining after this limit will be forced to guess the missing cards. This limit will be large enough that it is reached rarely, only to finish games in which one or more players never attempt to guess the missing cards.
Your task is to write a player that will play this game well. We will provide a moderator/arbitrator, the details of which will be described later.