Insomnia

In what seems to be a strenghthening trend, I'm up at 4am wondering what I can do to make myself tired enough to go back to sleep. Not knowing, I went downstairs and drank some milk. Refreshing, yes. Sleep-inducing? Not so much. I played a couple of games of Yahtzee. Again, didn't really make me tired but I did get a 282 without a Yahtzee bonus. That's a pretty big deal folks and I'll tell you why. I've decided to never use Yahtzee bonuses. It's a quest I'm on, to get the highest score I can without it. I came close with a 282. 290 is the best I've ever done. Some of you may be wondering what the best score is. Rather than forcing you into the depths of your childhood memory banks, wondering "is a large straight worth 40 or 50?" I'll just tell you. And explain.



Category Max Explanation Running Total

Ones: 5 add up only the ones 5

Twos 10 add up the twos 15

Threes 15 same, but with threes 30

Fours 20 see the trend 50

Fives 25 again... 75

Sixes 30 yay, soon different 105

Bonus 35 If all the above > 62 140

3/kind 30 Add up all the dice 170

4/kind 30 add up all the dice 200

Full house 25 3 of something, 2 of another 225

Sm Str 30 4 in a row 255

Lrg Str 40 5 in a row 295

Yahtzee 0* 5 of a kind 295

Chance 30 Add up all the dice 325



Now, understanding statistics and the actual probabilities involved in getting the necessary bounces of the dice of which a "holy grail" 325 calls for, getting a 282 is pretty damned impressive. I didn't crunch the numbers or anything like that (yet? Maybe if I really can't sleep one night...) but I liken it to waking up and going golfing and getting a hole-in-one. On the way to lunch, you are caller 9 on a radio station and win a trip around the world. You get to lunch only to find you're the restaurant's millionth customer and you get that for free. On your way home from lunch, you stop for gas and because of a special promotion, win a free tank of gas and are entered in a drawing for free gas for a year. You go home and mow the lawn, only to hit something with your mower. In a fit of rage, you stumble across a small box and find a buried box of money from your grandparents who "didn't trust no bank but the dirt one behind my house." You are about to start mowing again when your phone rings. You won aforementioned free gas for a year. And all of this before 4pm. You plan to go out to dinner to celebrate, but it's still early. To pass the time, you and your family play some games. You finish off your luckiest of lucky days by rolling a 325 in Yahtzee. THAT'S how rare it is. Remember elementary school? Never use the word you're defining IN the definition of the word, i.e. it is not acceptable to define "driving" as "the art of going for a drive." But Yahtzee writes its own rule book.



I'm tired now. I may figure some numbers out, I may go to sleep. I'll let you know