Numbridge — Strategy

Claiming givens

A given is a cell that is already solved. You can take it with no risk at all: there is nothing to work out and nowhere to miss. The price is a tile (two in blitz rooms), and the tile goes into the bag, not out of the game.

A claim buys a cell with material instead of with deduction. The question is always the same: is this cell worth that price?

What makes a given expensive

a given on the opponent's shortest path   — very dear: it is a cut
a given at a narrow spot on your path     — dear
a given joining two of your chains        — dear
a given in a contested block (Domains)    — dear: the fifth cell decides
a given at the edge, off both paths       — cheap, usually leave it

A good habit: at the start of a game run your eye over the givens and mark the two or three that sit at narrow spots. Those are the ones that will be fought over, and whoever remembers them first takes them unopposed.

A claim does not cure blindness

A common mistake: nowhere to place, so claim a given. That pays a tile for a cell you do not need, and impoverishes the bag for nothing. If you see nowhere to place, look again first (see Finding a cell for a digit); save claims for cells that really decide something.

In Blitz the price is different

There a claim costs two tiles and gives no refill: you play the next turn with what is left, and new tiles arrive only at the end of that turn. You pick only the first tile — the game takes the second itself, so you cannot pay with your heaviest ones on purpose.

The 6×6 field holds about ten givens, every one of them plain to see, and both players know which of them decide the game. So in Blitz a claim is not routine but a one-off sacrifice: take a given when it connects you immediately or cuts the opponent immediately. A claim made "just in case" almost always loses in Blitz.

Remember the threshold too: with a single tile in hand a claim costing two is impossible. If you are planning the sacrifice, make sure you still hold at least two tiles when the moment comes.

Free claims at the end

There is one concession: if you have no tiles left whatsoever, claiming is free at any price. That changes the endgame.

While a free given still stands on the field, a player with an empty hand and an empty bag is not helpless — they take it for nothing. So an important given that survives to the end of a game may decide it in favour of whoever ran out of tiles first. If such a given is a problem for you, claim it while your opponent still has tiles and would have to pay in full.

The detail people forget

The price of a claim goes into the bag, not out of the game. The discarded tile comes back into circulation — to you or to your opponent. Claiming does not reduce the number of tiles in play, it only hands over the tempo of holding them; a correctly placed digit, by contrast, takes a tile away for good. That difference is what makes the bag so thin at the end of a game.