"Sorry, again," Finn muttered, almost as much to himself as to his teammates. He still felt responsible for the risk they'd taken in the previous round. Maybe it had been too much. Maybe he should have stuck to the original plan.
Greg gave him a reassuring pat on the back. "Hey, it's not over yet. We're still in this."
Finn appreciated Greg's optimism, but it wasn't enough to shake the feeling that he had put them in a precarious position. The next round would be their chance to make things right. It was time to focus again.
As if reading his mind, the voice from the speaker cut through the tension in the room. "Teams, you will have three minutes to strategize before the next round. Please reset your tokens on the wheel."
"Damn it, we don't have much time. We gotta decide on our next move," Lucas said, his voice sharp as always. "Alright, we need to think this through. They're likely going to stick with their strategy of blocking the high-value sections. The +50 is probably off-limits for us, but we can't let them get too comfortable with the high numbers."
Finn nodded, his mind already working through their options. "Right. Things worked out perfectly for them last round, so they'll likely stick to their plan of blocking the big numbers, especially +50."
"Three minutes isn't a lot of time, guys. We have to decide our strategy and figure out who's going to play the mini-game," Lyra added, tapping her foot impatiently. "I think I should go next. As for our strategy, if they're going to block +50, then we should block +40 so they don't get that either. The modifier tokens are making this game more than just luck now—they're controlling the chances."
"I think I know how to control this game," Greg said, surprising everyone. He hadn't said much up until now, but his calm voice held authority. Everyone turned to look at him.
"We don't have much time. Only two minutes remain. Say what you want to say, Greg," Lucas muttered, his impatience mounting.
Greg took a deep breath and looked around at his teammates. "I worked as a carpenter and a mechanic before. When we entered the room, the arrow was initially pointing to the -10 section. After the first spin by Ronald, the arrow stopped at +40, which was actually swapped—the +20 was initially there. Then Finn pulled the lever, and the arrow stopped at +10. The sections on the wheel were in the order: -10, +10, +40 (swapped), +30, +20 (swapped), +50 (blocked), -50, -40, -30, -20, and -10 again. What I'm saying is the mechanism has a tendency to stop on the section closest to the one the arrow initially pointed to before the wheel spins. I don't know whether it's something planned or just a flaw in the mechanism, but I'm pretty sure the mechanism isn't completely random."
There was a brief silence as the team processed what Greg had said.
"Hey, there's a chance that's not the case, though," Lyra said, her tone skeptical.
Greg was adamant. "I'm sure about what I'm saying. We pull the lever to spin the wheel, so the force that spins the wheel is fixed. Unless we manually spin it, I'm pretty certain that the wheel should stop on a section close to where the arrow initially pointed."
"Meaning if we pull the lever, your theory holds true, but if we were to spin the wheel ourselves, it should be truly random," Lucas said, his brow furrowed in thought. "That's a risky theory, though. If we're right, we can control the game, but it also means we might land on -10 or -20 by mistake."
"1 minute and 10 seconds remain. We should decide on our strategy," Finn reminded them, his eyes locked on the wheel, calculating.
The tension in the room was mounting. Every decision counted now, and the pressure was on. Greg's theory was intriguing, but it also came with huge risks. If they played it safe, they'd probably end up with a standard outcome, but if they followed Greg's lead, they could control the wheel in their favor—if they were lucky.
Lucas broke the silence. "So, what's it going to be? Are we playing it safe, or are we going all in?"
Lyra took a deep breath. "I'm not sure about this theory, Greg, but I'm willing to try it."
"We can make up for the last round," Finn finished for her. "I think I have a plan. But It might result in us revealing to the other team about the problem with the wheel mechanism."
"1 minute remaining." The voice announced on the speaker.
"This is my plan. We might or might not end up in revealing the mechanism problem but we will obtain as many points as we can in this round." Finn shared his plan.
"Time is Over! Players from both teams please come forward." The voice announced on the speaker.
Lyra comes forward and her opponent is named Clara.
Doors open in front of both Lyra and Clara and something is raised. There is a puzzle on the platform being raised.
The voice from the speaker came on again. "Mini-game begins now. The rules are simple. The first player to solve the puzzle wins. Ready! Start!"
Both start at the same time. The puzzle wasn't complicated, but time was always the biggest factor. They had to work fast and the person solving the puzzle first wins. Lyra is trying her best but Clara is the one to solve the puzzle first.
"Clara wins! She will go second when placing the modifier token." The voice on the speaker announces.
Lyra gets the modifier token with "Double" written on its face and places it on the +30 section.
Now I can only hope that they don't block this. Lyra thought to herself. This round is a complete gamble. Their whole plan is based on an unproven theory.
Clara sees action taken by Lyra. They are doubling that? Are they thinking that we might be blocking +40 or +50? Well they are not wrong. Clara then goes and puts the token with "Block" written on the +50 point section thus blocking it for both teams.
Finn and Lucas were right. They went with the same strategy as before. Lyra comments in her mind.
The voice from the speaker cut through the tension. "Lyra will spin the wheel first."
As we suspected. The person that loses the mini-game is the one to spin the wheel first. Before the round started the voice from the speaker ordered us to reset our tokens. Meaning it wanted us to take the token we already placed on the wheel and put them on the table belonging to our team. While removing the tokens the wheel didn't spin so the arrow is pointing to the last result which was for my team, +10. If Greg's theory is true then there is a high chance that the roll will result in us getting +30. As for the first roll, the arrow was on -10, but stopped on +40 - which should have been +20 if Finn didn't swap it. So originally, the points on the wheel in the clockwise direction were -10 (arrow pointed), +10, +20, +30, +40, +50, -50, -40, -30, -20, -10 again. Based on all this, if we start at +10 then there is a high chance that we will stop at +30. Thus, we have decided to double that. Lyra contemplated. She then goes to the lever and pulls it.
The wheel spins and slows down. On the last spin, when the momentum was about to run out the arrow was in +30 (Double) region but was moving close to +40. It then clicked and stopped in the +30 (Double). There was a moment there, where it might have entered into +40 region. It only stopped because the momentum ran out.
Phew, It worked as we expected and Greg's theory was correct. Lyra muttered in her mind and became happy. Her teammates as well showed that they were happy as well.
Her opponent Clara and her team were not happy though.
"Damn It! They scored +60 because they doubled the +30, which was originally on that section." Clara muttered. "Their total is now +70 points. If we want to win then we either have to get +30 and tie or get +40 now to be 10 points ahead of them."
What they don't know about is that because the arrow has stopped at +30 then it will stop between +20 and +50. But because they blocked +50 then either they will be asked to spin again if they land on that or the next section after that will be considered for their points. Lucas thinks to himself. He then looks at Finn and whispers "We have gotten a massive advantage. If the arrow stops at the blocked +50, they will be either asked to re-spin or -50 which is the next section will be chosen as their points. Whatever the case might be, their points will be between +40 and -40."
"We have an advantage but there is still a chance for them to turn things around. The mechanism, although faulty, still has some randomness. For example, for us, although it landed on +30 like we predicted, it was moving to +40 and only stopped once all the momentum ran out. Meaning, there is randomness to it that might either push the arrow a little further or apply less force than expected resulting in the arrow stopping at 1 section before the predicted one." Greg got between Lucas and Finn and explained.
Clara then put her hand on the lever. She was tense and she pulled the lever. There really is some randomness to the force applied. The arrow stopped at -50 at the end. It was gonna stop at +50 but at the last moment it entered into the -50 section with a click.
"Oh no!" Clara screamed. Her team was not happy as well.
Lyra went back to her team and did a high five with Greg.
"Team Finn leading with +70 points. Team Ronald dropped to -10 points. Both teams have 3 minutes to plan for the next round." The voice announced on the speaker.