Question for April 14, 2010

The origin of the game X is uncertain, though it is most likely German or Scandinavian in origin. The game became popular in France in the early 19th Century reaching England and America in the latter half. X was first mentioned in literature circa 1765. The earliest known recording of a game of X occurred in 1783 in the German game anthology Das neue Königliche L'Hombre-Spiel.

There is an old tradition in the German or Scandinavian countries to use "X" as a guide to what the near future has to offer, a kind of "luck" meter. This belief assumes that a person’s "luck" will vary from time to time and important matters should not be initiated or conducted when the conditions are not favorable. If there are no winnings in the game for a number of tries it spells caution in what you do. If a win at the first try times are good and “luck” smiles at you, thus the immediate future can be used for important decisions. Timing the game is a further indicator of the strength of the outcome.

For a "standard" game of X the number of winnable games is between 82-91.5%. The number of unplayable games is 0.025% and the number of games that cannot be won is between 8.5-18%. However, the theoretical odds of winning a standard game of X are currently unknown. It has been said that the inability for theoreticians to calculate these odds is "one of the embarrassments of applied mathematics”. What is X.