Mini Cactpot



Click on a square to enter a digit.

About

Mini Cactpot is a scratchcard lottery where each of the numbers through are hidden in a grid. One cell is initially revealed, and after selecting 3 more to uncover one at a time, you may select any row, column, or diagonal. The sum of your selected line determines how much MGP you win.

SumMGPSumMGP
610,0001672
73617180
872018119
93601936
108020306
11252211,080
1210822144
1372231,800
1454243,600
15180

This calculator works by computing the expected value of selecting any line or cell. A strategy that doesn’t involve heavy computation is to first reveal a “Y” shape on the board.

Create any of these shapes. At least one of these is always possible.

Next, select a line as follows:

  1. If a line can be the line, select it.
  2. If a line can be the line, select it.
  3. Select whatever line can have the biggest sum (not payout).

This strategy gives an expected value of 1,259, whereas perfect play gives 1,484. Note that in steps 1 and 2, if a or line exists, you will always select it without ambiguity. In step 3, you may have to guess which lines may have a large sum.

A very similar strategy is to make a Tetris “T” shape, but this performs slightly worse on average.