Some Puzzles about Cafe International: Answer 2

     2.   Is it possible for a player to have no legal play? If so, show how; if not, prove it?

Answer

Yes. The player must have a hand containing only one or two jokers of a single gender. There must be no legal seats for guests of that gender, which is possible. This can be constructed with more than four tiles left in the bag quite easily. Jokers cannot be played at the bar. They cannot be used to replace a tile. In this case, they cannot play. So the player has no legal move. I figure the player's turn is just skipped.

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Jeff Goldsmith, jeff@tintin.jpl.nasa.gov, Jan. 4, 1999