The First Round

With a screen between them, neither side could see which ball the other chose. Number 73 called out loudly, "Friend, let's both pick the white ball. That way, we'll both be safe. Who has to do the task this round will come down to luck!"

The black, white, and yellow balls represented task difficulties of 75%, 25%, and 50%, respectively.

If both sides chose either the white or black ball, the task difficulty would be the same, and which person went first would be decided at random. In that case, choosing the white ball together was the safest option.

First, it had the lowest task difficulty. Second, a player's first-round choice determined the starting point for the later matchups. If that starting point was too high, then when teammates rotated, the only option might be to kill each other. If Number 73 chose the black ball in the first round, he would have to choose black every round afterward. Even if he got lucky and managed to kill his teammate this round, the replacement teammate would have no choice but black—and he would be the next to die.

But there was also the yellow ball. Although its task difficulty was 50%, if both sides chose to complete the task together, the difficulty would drop to 25%—the same as a white-ball task—and they would complete it at the same time.

Based on the rules they knew, choosing the yellow ball and then choosing to complete the task together was the safest option.

But there was a problem: both people would have to share the risk of the very first task in the first round. If they chose to leave it to chance, they might avoid the risk altogether in the first round. And who knew how many people would still be