A scratch game has 16 covered squares, below which are, in some order, symbols representing 9 players (a pitcher, a catcher, and so on), 3 strikes (strike 1, strike 2, and strike 3), 1 hit, 1 home run, 1 bat, and 1 ball.

You start scratching squares randomly, and if you manage to get the hit and the home run you win (never mind other symbols) unless you already got the three strikes, because then you're out!

What are the odds of winning at this game?

Computer solutions welcome!

Without checking the others first:

We can ignore the 11 squares with nothing of importance on them.  We need only focus on the 5 that do matter - as if the game had only 5 squares.

If all 5! possible orders of scratchings are considered we would have a winning order if one of the strikes were last.

The other 4 square can come in any order so there are 4!*3 winning combinations.

4!*3/5! = 72/120 = 3/5 = .6

What computer?

Posted by Jer on 2005-10-18 10:44:23