This is one of the trickier solvers I have written. In order to get decent speed (especially for Double Nestor, which uses the same solver engine), I implemented logic to automatically make any "safe" moves that definitely won't lose the game if it's in a winning position, as well as excluding moves that result in some common patterns of blocked positions.
| Rectified? | Games Won | Win Rate % |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 597,159 | 59.72 |
| No | 139,172 | 13.92 |
Realistically, unless you spend a long time planning how to win, and/or you use the Undo button repeatedly, you can expect to win far less than my solver's win rate of 59.72%. Because the solver is super-human, I decided to create a simulator that plays similarly as an experienced human might if playing casually. It won the game 22.76% of the time, so if you win less often than that, there is room for improvement!
| Rectified? | Games Won | Win Rate % |
|---|---|---|
| Yes | 227,606 | 22.76 |
| No | 73,582 | 7.36 |
See the article Nestor and Double Nestor -- Rank Pair Discarding Games at Solitaire Laboratory for more discussion of Nestor.
In the process of thinking through optimations for my Nestor solver, I noticed something interesting about Nestor's mathematical properties. See my Dual-Sided Nestor article for the details.
For some games similar to Nestor, see:
Alcides
Double Nestor
Doublets
Full Parade
Heracles
Nestor's Revenge
Patient Pairs
Turkish Kerchief
Vertical
The Wish
Any comments are welcome, please send to Mark Masten at:
Last modified January 1, 2022
Copyright ©2022 by Mark Masten. All rights reserved.