Can you cheat death by solving this riddle? - Shravan S K

Translator: Helena Martinez Reviewer: Pilar Ciriquian Esguerra

You and your best friend Bill are the greatest bards in the kingdom—

Tu i el teu millor amic Bill sou els millors bards del regne,

but maybe not the brightest.

però no els més llestos.

The hit song you performed at last night’s fair insulted the king,

La cançó estrella que vau tocar la nit del festival va insultar al rei,

and now your hours are numbered.

i ara les vostres hores estan comptades.

Just before your execution,

Poc abans de l’execució,

you’re approached by the princess, who happens to be a big fan.

se t’acosta la princesa, qui resulta ser una gran admiradora.

She slips you a pouch containing two magic, six-sided dice

I et dona una bosseta que conté dos daus màgics

that can land any way you wish.

que donaran el número que vulguis.

You have no idea how this could possibly help, but you thank her anyways.

No saps com això t’ajudarà, però li agraeixes igualment

As everything goes dark,

Quan ja és fosc,

you both suddenly find yourself standing in a deep cavern before a robed figure.

el teu amic i tu us trobeu en una cova davant d’una figura amb túnica.

It turns out that Death is a connoisseur of most excellent music.

Resulta que la Mort té un coneixement excel·lent de música.

He’s decided to give you a chance to escape your fate

Ha decidit donar-vos una oportunitat per escapar d’aquest destí.

by beating him at his favorite game: life-sized Snakes and Ladders.

Heu de guanyar-li al seu joc preferit: Serps i Escales.

The cavern has 100 rooms connected by passageways

La caverna conté 100 habitacions connectades per passadissos

as well as— you guessed it— snakes and ladders.

i a més a més, ho has endevinat, serps i escales.

Each turn one of you will roll a die, then advance that many rooms.

A cada torn tirareu el dau, avançant el nombre habitacions que surti.

Ending your move at the bottom of a ladder means moving up to the top,

Acabar el torn sota una escala significa pujar a dalt de tot,

while ending on a snake’s head will make you slide down to its tail.

però acabar al cap d’una serp significa baixar fins a la cua.

Each of you must make your way through the cavern

Cada un de vosaltres ha de moure’s per la caverna

and reach the exit in fewer turns than Death himself.

i trobar la sortida en menys torns que la Mort mateixa.

Before you can think twice, your host starts casting his die,

Abans de poder fer res, l’amfitrió comença a tirar el seu dau,

and within 6 rolls he’s reached the cavern entrance.

i arriba a l’entrada de la caverna en 6 tirades.

“Better get moving,” he says.

“Ja us podeu espavilar,” us diu.

“Oh, and by the way, once one of you uses a snake or ladder,

“Ah, per cert, una vegada feu servir una serp o una escala,

it’ll disappear and be inaccessible to the other.”

desapareixerà i serà inaccessible per a l’altre.”

You have no idea how you can possibly get lucky enough to win,

No tens ni idea de com podrieu tenir tanta sort com per guanyar,

but then you remember your magic dice.

fins que recordes els daus màgics.

Can you figure out a sequence of rolls that will get both of you to the exit

Pots esbrinar la seqüència de tirades que us portarà a la sortida

in 5 or fewer moves each?

en 5 moviments o menys?

Pause here to figure it out yourself. Answer in 3

[PREM PAUSA SI HO VOLS ESBRINAR TU] [RESPOSTA EN 3]

Answer in 2

[RESPOSTA EN 2]

Answer in 1

[RESPOSTA EN 1]

The cavern contains many routes to the exit,

La caverna conté moltes rutes cap a la sortida,

and it’s natural to gravitate to the ladders

i el més natural és pensar a agafar escales

that allow you to cover a lot of ground, quickly.

que et permeten cobrir més terreny, de manera ràpida.

Like this one— on turn 2 you’d be at 75,

Com aquesta, al segon torn ja series a la casella 75,

but without any further ladder boosts, you’d need another 5 rolls to get out.

però sense més escales, necessitaràs 5 tirades per sortir del tot.

Or this one— three ladders get you to 82,

O aquesta, tres escales et porten a la casella 82,

but then it would take another 4 rolls to get around the pesky snake at 88.

però et quedaran 4 tirades per rodejar aquesta serp de la casella 88.

In fact, there’s no path that can get you to the exit

De fet, no hi ha cap camí que et portarà a la sortida

in 5 moves using exclusively ladders.

en 5 moviments fent servir només escales.

So where does that leave you?

Aleshores, què et queda?

Snakes.

Les serps.

It’s counterintuitive to make moves that take you farther away

Va contra la teva intuïció fer moviments que t’allunyen

from your target,

del teu objectiu,

but snakes open up a surprising amount of opportunities.

però les serps et donen més oportunitats.

For instance, these three ladders would put you a single roll from the exit,

Per exemple, aquestes 3 escales et deixen a una tirada de la sortida,

but cost too many turns to reach by ladders.

però et portarà molts torns fent servir només escales.

These two are, however, only 5 and 12 rooms from snake tails, respectively.

Tot i això, aquestes dues estan a una distància de 5 i 12 d’una cua de serp.

So could you work backwards from those to find a 5 roll path?

Series capaç de trobar un camí que et porti aquí en 5 torns?

There are exactly two 5-turn routes you might find using these ladders:

Hi ha exactament dues rutes de 5 torns fent servir aquestes dues escales:

Ladder snake snake ladder exit,

Escala, serp, serp, escala, sortida;

and ladder ladder snake ladder exit.

i escala, escala, serp, escala, sortida.

So that’s it, right? Unfortunately, no—

Doncs, ja està, no? Per desgràcia, no.

the two paths share a snake and a ladder,

Els dos camins comparteixen una serp i una escala,

each of which will be unusable after the first of you slides and then climbs.

i cadascuna serà inservible un cop passi un dels dos.

You won’t find 5-turn moves anywhere else,

No trobaràs més rutes de 5 torns enlloc,

so is one of you doomed?

un dels dos està condemnat?

There’s one more possibility to consider:

Hi ha una altra possibilitat a tenir en compte:

the disappearing ladders and snakes can impede your progress,

les serps i escales que desapareixen poden impedir el teu progrés,

but could they also help it?

però també podrien ajudar-te.

There are two paths to the 94 ladder that almost work,

Hi ha dos camins que podrien portar-te a l’escala de la casella 94,

except for this snake,

si no fos per aquesta serp,

at exactly the midpoint between the two ladders.

just al mig de les dues escales.

If Bill were to take that snake on his route,

Si en Bill fes servir aquesta serp en la seva ruta,

you could then get past it and up to the exit in just 5 moves.

tu podries passar per allà i cap a la sortida en 5 moviments.

And good news— whichever path you choose,

Bones notícies, triïs el camí que triïs,

one of the 5-roll paths we found earlier does exactly that

un dels camins que havíem trobat abans fa exactament això

without using any of your snakes or ladders.

sense fer servir cap de les teves serps o escales.

So all you need is for Bill to go first and stick to the plan.

Ara només necessites que en Bill vagi primer i segueixi el teu pla.

You and Bill both reach the cavern entrance

Tu i en Bill arribeu a la sortida de la caverna

and climb back into the public square, to everyone’s surprise.

i escaleu fins a la plaça del poble, on sorpreneu a tothom.

Before the guards can seize you again,

Abans que els guardes us enxampin,

you wow the crowd— and king— with a song about your epic contest with Death.

sorpreneu l’audiència, i al rei, amb una cançó sobre la vostra aventura èpica.