In the Jolly Quizmaster a group of five people were playing a game of chance using playing cards. A game that we had never seen before so we watched closely to see how it worked.
They were using the Ace through to Ten of Hearts, so ten cards in total. The ten cards were shuffled and then dealt in a random way, spread out in the centre of the table. All the players put in the same stake, and then going around the table, each player selected a first card, and then a second card. With an Ace counting as one, the player with the highest total won, and took the pot.
As there was no skill involved, the game being pure chance, we lost a bit of interest; there were no tactics that we could discuss!
However, on the last hand before we left the five players held 16, 11, 4, 17 and 7 around the table. What cards did each player hold?
The 4 must be made up of 1 (Ace) and 3.
The 7 could be 1 and 6, 2 and 5 or 3 and 4. It must be 2 and 5 as the 1 and 3 are already accounted for.
The 11 could be 1 and 10, 2 and 9, 3 and 8, 4 and 7 or 5 and 6, and must be 4 and 7, the the others are not possible with the cards already used.
The 16 could be 6 and 10 or 7 and 9, with only the former still possible.
And thus the 17 has to be 8 and 9.
In summary, the five players held 6 and 10, 4 and 7, 1 and 3, 8 and 9, and 2 and 5.