Samesby
a fair race - a race code builds the identical board for both players, so any difference in the result comes from how they played, not from which board they got
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Samesby is a penguin. He waddles across the League Field with a cheerful, rolling walk, and in each flipper he holds up a small square board of tiles. The two boards are exactly the same. Every hidden square in one matches a hidden square in the other, in exactly the same place.
"Two racers," Samesby says, lifting the boards high. "One board each. The very same board."
Samesby runs the races in the League, and he takes fairness very seriously, in the most cheerful way possible.
It started the day two young otters, Brook and Ripple, wanted to race. They each grabbed a random board, started at the same time, and played as fast as they could. Ripple finished first, whooping with joy.
"I win!" Ripple shouted.
Brook frowned. "That's not fair! Your board had a giant empty patch that opened up half the board at once. Mine was full of tricky numbers. You got an easy one!"
Ripple's whoop faded. "I didn't pick an easy one on purpose," Ripple said, feeling suddenly guilty about a win that had felt so good a moment ago.
Samesby waddled over, beaming. "Nobody did anything wrong," he said. "But Brook's right that it wasn't a fair race. You were racing two different boards, so you can't tell who played better. Maybe Ripple was faster. Or maybe Ripple just got lucky with the board. There's no way to know."
He held up his two identical boards. "Let's do it properly. I'll make you a race code."
He tapped out a short code. "When you both type in this code, the League builds the exact same board for each of you. Same mines. Same numbers. Same free opening. Square for square, identical. Brook, you'll play one. Ripple, you'll play the other."
The otters typed in the code. Two identical boards appeared.
"Now," said Samesby, "whatever happens, it's all about how you play. Neither of you can get a luckier board, because there's only one board. It's just in two places."
The race began. This time it was close, really close. Brook, who had been so frustrated, found a clever proof near the middle and pulled ahead. Ripple used a chord to catch up. They finished just a few seconds apart, with Brook in front.
Brook grinned. Ripple laughed. "You got me," Ripple said, "and that one counts. Same board, fair and square."
"And here's the best part," said Samesby. "You can compare more than just who was faster. You can compare your clicks too, and your efficiency, because it was the same board. Maybe one of you was quicker, and the other wasted fewer clicks. On the same board, all of it means something."
"Can we race again with a new code?" asked Brook.
"As many times as you like," said Samesby happily, already tapping out another. "No leaderboard, no rankings. Just two friends, one board, and a good race."
Samesby feels most like Samesby at the start of a race, when both racers look down at their boards and know they're exactly the same. It is a bright, bubbly, even feeling, like two friends lining up side by side on the same starting line, both with the same chance.
You have a bit of Samesby in you whenever you make sure a contest is fair before it begins. Next time you race a friend, share a race code, and say it the way he does: "Samesby hands both racers the very same board."
Then may the best game win.
The Sweep League ensemble
Samesby is part of Sweep League's distributed-narrative cast. Each character embodies a different curricular primitive; together they teach the full subject.
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Surefoot
(Mentor, a mountain goat) - only steps where she is SURE; asks which square the numbers prove
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Bevvy
A bee who knows the fewest clicks a board could take - its 3BV
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Clicksy
A cricket who counts every wasted click - efficiency is 3BV divided by clicks
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Oddsley
An owl who weighs every arrangement the numbers allow - the exact odds of a mine
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Chordy
A crab who opens a whole ring of squares at once when a number's mines are all flagged
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Floody
A duck who knows a zero opens its whole empty region in one go
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Knowsley
A red panda who knows every board can be solved by knowing, never by guessing
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Rewinda
A squirrel who checks a run by re-playing every move, never by trusting it
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Sumsy
A hamster who knows the total number of mines shapes the odds of every hidden square
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Tickwell
A hare who knows your speed is shown only AFTER you finish, never while you play
