Lanternby and Maybelle

"We tested a rule where any card can go into an empty column," one of the squirrels said. "And we got lots of not sure yets. Our teacher says we should just count them as losses so we can finish our poster."

Maybelle tilted her head, one ear raised. "Hmmm," she said. "That's the one thing we mustn't do."

She set the tray down in the circle of Lanternby's light. "A not sure yet isn't a loss," she told the squirrels. "It's a maybe. It means the solver was still searching when its time ran out. Counting it as a loss would be saying we know something we don't."

"But then how do we ever finish?" asked a squirrel. "We can't leave them as maybes forever."

Lanternby held up his lantern. The light swung warmly across the tunnel walls. "That's where I come in," he said. "Maybelle keeps the maybes safe. I go looking for their answers."

He explained, while the squirrels leaned in close. The solver searches through possible moves, but it has a limit, a search budget, like a lantern that only lights so far down the tunnel. "Your rule allows more moves," Lanternby said, "so there are more tunnels to explore. A small lantern runs out of light before it reaches the end of many of them. That's why you got so many maybes."

"So a bigger lantern..." began a squirrel.

"...reaches further," said Lanternby, turning up the flame. "Same deals. Exactly the same. Just a brighter light."

They asked the solver to search again, five times as far, on only the deals in Maybelle's tray. The squirrels held their breath.

One by one, answers came back. Won. Won. Lost. Won. Won. Some maybes turned out to be wins, hiding just past where the small lantern had stopped. A few turned out to be real losses, now proven. And a handful stayed not sure yet, even under the bright light.

Maybelle sorted the new answers happily. "Look," she said. "Most of the maybes were wins all along. If we had counted them as losses, we'd have told everyone your rule was bad. It's actually good."

"And the ones still unsure?" asked a squirrel.

"They stay in my tray," said Maybelle, "and we say so honestly. Some deals need an even brighter light. That's allowed."