Wizardry 7 beans
The first time I played Wizardry 7 and got to Monkharama, I bumbled
around and got the spindle right. Every time since, I've had a very
hard time getting it. So, the last time I got to Monkharama, I remembered
permutations from my statistics class. 4 ways for the first, 3 ways for
the second, 2 ways for the third and 1 way for the last. 4*3*2*1=24
24 ways to arrange the beans. All the permutations are shown below.
When you get the spindle right, you get 2,000 experience points, 139 gold,
and a wall in the room with an alcove containing a chalice (R3) in the
southeast corner opens.
Your goal is to get all the slit colors black by placing each bean in the
correct chalice. The black slits show the number of correctly placed
beans. The slit colors do not provide any information on which beans are
in the correct chalice. The slit colors only tell the number of correctly
placed beans.
Bean of Swords - BS
Bean of Wands - BW
Bean of cups - BC
Bean of Pentacles - BP
The rooms refered to below are the 2 by 2 rooms with the alcoves in the
wall containing a stone chalice.
The rooms from the top left (northwest) Clockwise: R1, R2, R3, R4
R1 R2 R3 R4
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BS BW BC BP
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BS BW BP BC
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BS BP BW BC
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BS BP BC BW
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BS BC BP BW
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BS BC BW BP
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BW BS BC BP
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BW BS BP BC
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BW BP BS BC
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BW BP BC BS
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BW BC BS BP
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BW BC BP BS
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BC BS BW BP
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BC BS BP BW
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BC BW BS BP
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BC BW BP BS
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BC BP BW BS
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BC BP BS BW
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BP BS BW BC
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BP BS BC BW
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BP BW BS BC
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BP BW BC BS
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BP BC BS BW
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BP BC BW BS
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How to Solve the Puzzle of the Spindle
First go through and clear out the monsters. Get all four beans. Go to
the North-West room facing the chalice. Save the game. Whenever the
spindle has one or more white slits, you "Quit - No Save" and restore the
game. You are now ready to try a new combination.
The last time I tried to solve the spindle, I started with the very first
combination in the table.
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BS BW BC BP
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The spindle showed all whites. All whites was fortunate because it told
me all four of the beans were incorrectly placed. All the combinations
that started with BS could not be the correct combination. All the
combinations that had BW in the second positon could not be correct and
so forth.
After eliminating all the combinations that could not be the solution the
remaining eight possibilities were:
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BW BS BP BC
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BW BP BS BC
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BW BC BP BS
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BC BS BP BW
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BC BP BS BW
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BP BS BW BC
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BP BC BS BW
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BP BC BW BS
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I'd tried the first combination last time, so I tried the last one this
time.
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BP BC BW BS
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Once again the spindle showed all whites. This left three combinations:
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BW BS BP BC
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BC BS BP BW
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BC BP BS BW
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With the first combination, the spindle showed 2 blacks and 2 whites.
The spindle showed 2 black and 2 whites with the last combination.
I knew the middle combination must be the solution. When I tried it, the
spindle came up 4 black slits. Success in five attempts!
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