WE PLAY a card game called 鈥淥h Hell!鈥�. In the first round eight cards are
dealt to each player, in the next round seven each, and so on, until in the
eighth round each player gets just one card.
Then in each round each player looks at his or her cards and predicts how
many 鈥渢ricks鈥� he or she will get when the cards are played in a whist-type
fashion. At the end of each round each player gets the number of points equal to
the number of tricks he or she has won plus a bonus of ten points if their
prediction was correct.
Players keep their own scorecard, and here is an example of a recent one of
mine, giving me a total of 56:
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In another game my total after five rounds was again 41, and again my final
total was even, but I noticed that the eight 鈥渢otals so far鈥� were all different
two-figure numbers such that the reverse of any one of the 鈥渢otals so far鈥� was
another of the 鈥渢otals so far鈥�.
What was my final score?
A 拢10 book token will be awarded to the sender of the first correct
answer opened on Thursday 20 June. The Editor鈥檚 decision is final. Please send
entries to Enigma 875, 快猫短视频, King鈥檚 Reach Tower, Stamford Street,
London SE99 0BB. The winner of Enigma 869 was D. Vincent of Watford, Herts.
Answer to Enigma 869
Solitaire
