Who doesn't know the Malta Cross game?
This game - which seems easy at a first glance - has in fact so many combinations that it is still an enigma.
A game can have 90 turns, considering 10 possibilities at each turn, it makes around 10^90 possibilities, which is - much - more than even the superest calculator could evaluate...
Will your instinct be smarter than the machine??? Does this game always end???
Rules
Let's talk about rules, which are extreamely easy :
The goal is to draw as many lines as possible, each line is composed of 5 points.
-Starting points are 36, in a shape of Malta Cross.
-A line can only be drawn if at least 4 of its points already exist (i.e. you can only add a single point a each new line).
-A line can be draw vertically,horizontally or diagonally.
How to play?
(this game uses java and javascript, it means that your navigator should allow these 2 languages...)
Click on the "Go!" button at the bottom of this page to start playing.
To create a new line, just click on a grid point (a red square shows the selected point), and then click in the wanted direction. A line is then drawn. (its color changes according to its order of creation).
You can move the grid (right click + movemouse), or zoom in/out (idem, with shift pressed).
The game has 2 modes, User mode and CPU mode. The first one let you play your game, the second let you see the solution found by the computer (which is also trying - as you are thinking - to make a high score!). User mode :
- SCORE : display the number of drawn lines. Click on SON to (des)activate sound when computer find a new solution, click on COUL to (des)activate the changing color of lines according to their order of creation).
- PARTIE : allows you to restart the game, or to go one turn back.
- AIDE : display all the lines you can create (specialists will click on the little flag to desactivate) CPU mode :
- SCORE : display the maximum number of drawn lines the computer has found.
Click on the little arrow to get its solution in the User mode. (the game you are playing will be lost)
Click on the little histogram to display statistics about solutions found by the computer based on the 1000 last games (in red, the best, in green the worst).
- PARTIES : display how many games the computer has calculated
- VITESSE : display how fast computer calculates games (in games/sec). Click on arrows to lower or raise priority of CPU (cool if you want to let him work in background...)
- STRATEGIE : you can choose what the computer will do at the end of a game : it can go back to the current User game, restart from scratch, or randomly go back some turns trying to find a better ending (by default).
In the fist case (restarts from your User game), statistics could give an idea of how many tuns are left...)
Le Top Ten
Click here to see Le Top Ten, the 10 best players of all over the world!
FAQ
Q I want to get one of the TopTen games to understand its secret,is it possible? R - Sure, it's easy, in 1 click : in the TopTen, click on "Recup",
in the game, be sure to be in User mode, and you will see this game (Then you can go back to see if it's not possible to find a better ending...) Q I've found a mega solution, how can I tell the whole world that I am a master at MaltaGame? R - Easy, 2 clicks : one here on the "Get the solution" button (the text field should fill in), another one on "Send my solution" ans it's all done!
This game - which seems easy at a first glance - has in fact so many combinations that it is still an enigma.
User mode :