Author: Jason Juang
The puzzle presents a tennis tournament where 5 sets are played in every match, but strangely, not every set is played to 6 games. The key is that the five set scores belonging to a given player actually form a Yahtzee roll. The blank "points" column in the puzzle is determined by finding how many points the player scored in his Yahtzee game.
First, fill in the missing set scores, using the information about the number of games won and lost by each player in the 5th sets of their matches. There are 12 highlighted boxes, one belonging to each player. Indexing into the player names, and reading in the order in which the players are listed in the statistics table, gives the phrase "ROLL THE BONES"; in addition to being a pretty sweet Rush song, "roll the bones" is a clue that dice are involved.
For each player, take the player's 13 match scores—11 round robin, plus 2 playoff—and find the optimal Yahtzee score achievable with those rolls. The last two digits of each score fall between 01 and 26. Again using the order given in the statistics table, convert the Yahtzee point totals to letters to find the answer STRAIGHT SETS.
These are the maximum attainable Yahtzee scores for each player. There is more than one way of achieving the maximum score.
Type | MURRAY | GAUDIO | TILDEN | LARNED | RAFTER | HEWITT | EDBERG | BECKER | COOPER | MARTIN | MUSTER | AGASSI | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Aces (Ones) | 3 | 61511 | 3 | 11451 | 2 | 16314 | 3 | 14311 | 1 | 46514 | 3 | 14161 | 0 | 46442 | 2 | 52141 | 3 | 11451 | 3 | 11561 | 2 | 11664 | 1 | 12546 |
Twos | 6 | 65222 | 6 | 62252 | 4 | 22664 | 4 | 42521 | 4 | 66225 | 6 | 32252 | 4 | 22664 | 4 | 24525 | 6 | 22642 | 6 | 65222 | 6 | 54222 | 6 | 65222 |
Threes | 9 | 63533 | 9 | 63363 | 3 | 12643 | 12 | 13333 | 9 | 33136 | 6 | 36311 | 0 | 42664 | 12 | 53333 | 6 | 63113 | 9 | 35633 | 12 | 33633 | 12 | 33335 |
Fours | 16 | 44344 | 12 | 24443 | 4 | 14265 | 8 | 21464 | 16 | 44244 | 12 | 44124 | 16 | 44424 | 12 | 41445 | 12 | 44146 | 4 | 16416 | 16 | 44443 | 12 | 44164 |
Fives | 15 | 51545 | 15 | 55145 | 5 | 41265 | 10 | 25152 | 15 | 51355 | 10 | 55231 | 0 | 62264 | 15 | 15355 | 15 | 35155 | 10 | 11556 | 15 | 25255 | 15 | 22555 |
Sixes | 18 | 66226 | 18 | 23666 | 12 | 62163 | 18 | 66126 | 18 | 26636 | 12 | 21661 | 18 | 24666 | 18 | 61266 | 12 | 66115 | 18 | 21666 | 12 | 66331 | 12 | 64162 |
Three of a Kind | 26 | 64646 | 23 | 46454 | 22 | 34555 | 14 | 16511 | 25 | 66436 | 17 | 22652 | 24 | 62466 | 0 | 42462 | 21 | 46443 | 23 | 66416 | 23 | 65444 | 22 | 45535 |
Four of a Kind | 22 | 44644 | 21 | 54444 | 0 | 26325 | 17 | 53333 | 22 | 44446 | 18 | 63333 | 22 | 44446 | 0 | 23442 | 0 | 26323 | 18 | 44424 | 0 | 21442 | 22 | 44644 |
Full House | 25 | 66333 | 25 | 61616 | 25 | 22555 | 25 | 44242 | 25 | 33555 | 0 | 52141 | 0 | 64224 | 0 | 34623 | 25 | 16611 | 25 | 11551 | 25 | 62622 | 25 | 55222 |
Small Straight | 30 | 41635 | 30 | 34532 | 30 | 25243 | 30 | 15634 | 30 | 54336 | 0 | 34111 | 0 | 46224 | 0 | 16425 | 0 | 51533 | 30 | 14365 | 0 | 23642 | 30 | 41263 |
Large Straight | 40 | 42153 | 0 | 35235 | 40 | 24356 | 40 | 15423 | 40 | 43256 | 0 | 41422 | 0 | 62424 | 0 | 64221 | 0 | 66114 | 40 | 21453 | 0 | 63612 | 40 | 32645 |
Yahtzee | 50 | 44444 | 0 | 31336 | 50 | 33333 | 0 | 32151 | 50 | 44444 | 0 | 53112 | 0 | 62642 | 0 | 43234 | 0 | 16522 | 0 | 42133 | 50 | 33333 | 0 | 32463 |
Chance | 24 | 63636 | 23 | 45356 | 21 | 23664 | 20 | 35336 | 19 | 34426 | 23 | 46643 | 24 | 64626 | 22 | 64165 | 19 | 21655 | 19 | 66223 | 24 | 46464 | 22 | 35365 |
Upper half bonus | 35 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 0 | ||||||||||||
Total | 319 (S) | 220 (T) | 218 (R) | 201 (A) | 309 (I) | 107 (G) | 108 (H) | 120 (T) | 119 (S) | 205 (E) | 220 (T) | 219 (S) |