Geoff Crook from South Australia has sent us another conundrum from a recent game at Woodville. Please put your answers and comments in the ‘Leave a Reply’ box below.
The last 3 minutes
After a gap of at least 12 months, Woodville hosted a Sunday afternoon of Gateball on 7 November 2021. The last game of the day was pretty unusual, with Red storming to a 15-1 lead after 12 minutes, and White’s solitary ball in play was an out-ball [Ball 6].
However, White fought back and the result was the position below – 5 points behind with a couple of minutes left.
Ball 10 is to play, and assume Ball 6 plays last.
Can White win? Please explain the sequence of play leading to your answer.
Nice
I thought white can win if they have 3 min left. After ten next turn is 1 number ball. 1 ball is just enter in the field. If 2 number ball hit to number 5 ball and throw out. Then next to just close hit to number 8 and help to cross gate number 3 after that i can white can change the game.
White can win with a good player! 19 to 12.
Yes. White can clearly win from here.
The key element is to make sure ball 2 touches ball the red balls. Ball 10 should be placed with that in mind. There are a couple of possibilities. However, placing 10 just beyond ball 8 may be the right choice. This allows 2 to touch 8 (back to 6) and then set a nice rush towards ball 3 (10 back to 6). Touch 3, out, touch 5, out.
2 on pole. (2 points)
4 near 6.
6 sparks all balls through 3 (3 points).
Then 6 at pole (2 points).
7 extra points for white leads to a clear victory.
Then it’s about white scoring points.
bridging ball 2 to ball 5. Then with 5, you have a choice. A mid-court bombard of 3 may work – if there is no accidental peg out. A touch of 3 is ideal – but may be hard to achieve.
Sorry – my phone mucked up. Should end after “to a clear victory”.
Pretty much spot on Philip. In the game, 2 touched 8 but the spark was short and ended up near the gate leg. The rush off ball 10 was to ball 5 so 10 could be sparked through gate 3. 5 was used to bombard 3 off the court and finished with agari (3 points from that turn). Ball 4 set up to the right of 6 and a small rush with ball 6 towards the pole allowed ball 4 to be sparked through gate 3 [balls 3 and 5 were out-balls] and 6 also made agari (another 3 points). The game finished with a white win 17-18.