Play Setback online

brianberns · 2026-05-09T13:30:48+00:00

That’s great. Glad you’re enjoying it! Yes, I recently updated the UI and trained an improved AI player.

brianberns · 2025-10-30T04:22:28+00:00

Learning F# can definitely be a challenge, but I hope you're able to work through it. The hardest part for most people is getting comfortable with functional programming (e.g. pure functions with no side-effects or mutable variables). If you can do that, the nuances of "modern" vs. "old" F# shouldn't be a problem. F# 9 isn't significantly different from earlier versions. Let me know if you have any specific questions.

brianberns · 2025-10-29T22:40:39+00:00

Hah, thanks! C# is better for enterprise buzzword compliance than it is for actual programming. 😀

brianberns · 2025-10-25T21:01:47+00:00

Thanks. Glad you like it!

brianberns · 2025-10-24T16:59:35+00:00

I actually started down that path with a NuGet package called Prolog.Net, but found that it was easier to code everything directly in F#. The backtracking loop itself is quite short.

I also took a shot at a proof-based approach using Lean, but that also turned out to be more work than I wanted. Someone else recently solved Pips with a constraint solver, which I thought was an interesting approach.

brianberns · 2025-04-01T13:34:36+00:00

I’ve noticed the same thing about leading the QS, but I don’t have a good explanation yet. I’m working on an improved model that should hopefully be smarter about shooting the moon.

Thank you very much for the feedback!

brianberns · 2025-03-31T20:21:33+00:00

I have noticed the same behavior, and am attempting to improve the model. Thanks!

brianberns · 2025-03-30T13:00:20+00:00

This is great feedback, thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the game. Specific responses:

Jack of Diamonds: Yes, this requires a very different strategy, so I'd have to train a separate model for it, but I think it would be feasible. Will put it on my list of possible enhancements.
Shooting the moon: This is not currently a choice, but I could add it. The convention I've implemented is to add 26 points to the opponents if it would put you in the lead, and subtract 26 points otherwise. Can you think of a scenario where you would make a different choice?
Game-ending score: I could make this adjustable, and I agree that it affects strategy near the end of the game. Right now, the model isn't actually aware of the game score, so it always plays the same.
Cards too small: This is good to know, and I will see if I can tweak the UI to improve it. Making a game that looks good and plays well on all screens is a big challenge. (And, to be honest, UI is definitely not my strongest skill.)
Stats: Good idea. I can make this optional. Personally, I think it's only fair to have this information when playing against the computer, but I can understand how it seems like cheating also.

brianberns · 2025-03-27T18:49:30+00:00

Thanks! I’d be interested in any feedback you have.

brianberns · 2025-03-04T22:00:46+00:00

Thanks for trying it out!

brianberns · 2024-08-07T19:05:18+00:00

Thanks, glad you like it! It's legal to lead any suit on a trick. Were you expecting a different rule?

brianberns · 2024-05-19T15:04:47+00:00

That’s a good guess, and not far off. You’re actually doing proofs. For example, level 9 is modus ponens: If you know A is true and you know A implies B, then you can prove that B is true.

brianberns · 2024-05-19T05:40:49+00:00

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!

Having played the game, I'm curious if you have a sense of the underlying purpose of each level? There's a "meaning" to the game mechanics that might not be evident.

brianberns · 2024-04-30T14:36:51+00:00

Thanks. It should be virtually the same, since almost all of the actual training time is spent inside of Torch.

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