Bust a Move Experiment

[Granjell]

Sorry if this seems like I am wringing this subject dry of any interest whatsoever, but I'm still wondering about the cog golf restock game. I ran two middle sixes yesterday with Sally B. As we played the Bust a Move, I tried to watch what gags I got for solving games. (Of course I totally forgot the whole come-in-with-60-gags thing.) I probably played a little slower than usual, because of watching.

I noticed that I got a "bonus" gag at the end of the game, even though someone else solved the last puzzle. So in addition to getting gags for solving puzzles, everyone who plays gets a gag at the "Success!" I also noticed that I was getting fogs even though I never saw a fog as an award, I'd get a whole cream pie or a seltzer, but there I was with 3 fogs again. So somehow I was getting gags I didn't know about. Actually we ended up running out of elephant trunks before anyone ran out of fogs.

What I'd like to suggest, and I don't know if anyone else is as curious about this as I am, is that a few volunteers and I go through a middle six -- not someone who desperately needs options or wants to hurry through, please -- and play the Bust-a-Move each time, keeping track of the gags we are told we get and what we actually get. This may involve screen shots of our gag screens before and after, I don't know. Anyone who has a suggestion on how best to conduct this experiment is welcome to post it.

What do you think? Is this information totally irrelevant because it's pretty random anyway? Are there any takers on the experimental middle six? What good can possibly come from all this?

 

[Little Sadie]

What is the purpose of your experiment? I'm really just curious so don't take it the wrong way! LOL! What do you want to prove or show from it? Are you trying to see if sitting out completely still gets you gags? I know if I enter the game but don't play it I will still get the bonus gag at the end for a successful completion. Even if I just sit there and don't solve a puzzle. If I do not engage and just stand offside from the puzzle without even seeing it I do not get the bonus gag. If I play the games and do it quickly I won't see half the gags I have won til I am out of the puzzle and can check my gags. I know there were plenty of times that no gag showed up as won when I completed a puzzle but it was indeed in my bag when I looked afterward. I still maintain that letting others do most of the puzzles is best if you have 3 fogs. Even if I have two fogs I still let others play a bit first in case they have less fogs then me.

 

[Trish]

I'm assuming from her post it's to find out how we obtain the gags we ourselves don't win.

If I play the games and do it quickly I won't see half the gags I have won til I am out of the puzzle and can check my gags. I know there were plenty of times that no gag showed up as won when I completed a puzzle but it was indeed in my bag when I looked afterward.

The goal seems to be to make sure and pay attention, throw speed out the window and compare notes in the end. I love doing stuff like this (it's what got me into Stratics to begin with). I hope once a date and time is set I am available to join and help!

 

[Little Sadie]

I'm assuming from her post it's to find out how we obtain the gags we ourselves don't win.
The goal seems to be to make sure and pay attention, throw speed out the window and compare notes in the end. I love doing stuff like this (it's what got me into Stratics to begin with). I hope once a date and time is set I am available to join and help!

Well I kind of got that from her post. I guess I should have been clearer in my question. Why would you want to know how the gags are obtained if we didn't win them ourselves? What good could come out of knowing? I know I don't get any when I don't play at all but can get them if I stand in the puzzle game itself and of course by solving puzzles too. Some are a surprise at the end.

I am just wondering what I am missing by not knowing exactly where the gags from come. Is there some kind of benefit from knowing? What am I missing. I feel like this is going right over my head like there is something important I'm missing here. I don't see a reason to know except just for the heck of it. I need enlightment please!

 

[Trish]

To me, it would be figuring out more of the system to ensure getting more of the gags we want.

 

[Little Sadie]

OIC. I don't know how you can figure that out by how you are given gags but good luck! It would be interesting to find out otherwise.

 

[Granjell]

Well, see, that's what I mean.... I'm pretty new to the whole getting lots of options thing, so I'm trying to figure it all out. For those who have been doing it all for months, this is all old news, I guess.

I went back and read the guide Hile wrote, and it doesn't really go into whether or not the whole Bust a Move is a competition or should be cooperative, you know what I mean? I have always played it as fast as possible, without even thinking that someone might need gags more than I did. I never thought people would sit out on purpose to give others a chance (although I think I went once with Flippers and he said something like you take the rest or whatever, but that was just the two of us).

Anyway, I just wanted to know a little more about the way it works. Someone said that the faster you solved the puzzles the better the gag. Is that true? I still seem to get a firehose or cream pie. Someone else said it was the number of balls you used that determines which gag...which is it? or is that even a factor?

I guess I thought maybe this could be examined. But if it is totally and completely random except for playing or not playing, succeeding in beating the timer or not succeeding, then that is also valuable information. Also, I'm curious as to the number of puzzles - are there more puzzles per floor in a Back Nine? I think that there are 8 in a Front Three and 12 in a Middle Six, but I got discoed from the one and only Back Nine I ever tried.

These are the kind of things that could be included in a revision to the guide, maybe.... Trish said we could write a guide...Anybody?

 

[Little Sadie]

For me, it has never worked as being faster and getting a better gag. I can be slow and get fog or fast and get a cane. I have gotten fogs when using a lot of balls and cream pies when using just a few. I just think its random.

 

[Sally Bumblefoot]

I would love to help you too Marge. I'm not desparate for options, I only need 23,300!! I am interested in how this works too. It seems to me the speed and number of balls used doesn't matter. There have been times that I have immediately solved the puzzle with one ball and got a low gag. When we did those middle 6s I was watching that specifically. I think my problem is that, like Terri said, it doesnt always tell me what I win but when I got it quick it was like a hose. This would make it very difficult to tell which gag you got with each puzzle. Marge had a good idea in taking screen shots or maybe we can just use tally marks ahead of time to keep track of what our gags are before going into the bust a move. I think it would be cool to try to even expand the experiment a little and see the difference when you are carrying 80 gags as opposed to 50. Does that change the frequency of getting higher gags for sure? I think we are all agreed that it does but it would be nice to prove it!!

 

[Pinky Pepperpow]

i think that the whole gag thing is a hot mess in cog golf. It never seems to be logical or have any continutity.

I've had an extra toon stand by and sometimes get the fog and sometimes not. I've won 6 puzzles and got a caneand no fog while others got fogs. I've played with speed and got nothing and sometimes I have. I do notice that when others are getting fog I might get a piano (while it shows I got no gags in the display at the top). Not sure about any sense with any of this. There seems to be absolutely no logic in there (to me anyway).

They've already claimed to have fixes to this gag issue and I still don't think they have it resolved.

Of course, I'm not a statistic person like my "go to" friends Susan and Marge and usually look to them for this kind of info, but just thought I'd throw out my perspective on the topic here.

I need a ton of options too!

Hugs,