Push Pin

How to play

You complete Push Pin when repeated legal comparisons reduce the original fifty-two-card row to exactly two surviving cards. The full Push Pin position determines the outcome; visual shortcuts never replace the documented Push Pin terminal rule.

• Push Pin begins with the complete deck exposed as an ordered line and a removal area that records cards eliminated by valid neighbour comparisons. The Push Pin deal identity and PySolFC Push Pin v1 are stored together. Restarting Push Pin reproduces this opening exactly.
• During Push Pin, you compare cards separated by one or two positions and remove the card between them when the outer pair shares rank or suit, then close the line. The Push Pin engine rejects profile violations, unavailable material, and every action attempted after Push Pin reaches a terminal result.
• You complete Push Pin when repeated legal comparisons reduce the original fifty-two-card row to exactly two surviving cards. The full Push Pin position determines the outcome; visual shortcuts never replace the documented Push Pin terminal rule.

Strategy tips

• A reliable Push Pin plan is to look beyond the first available match and choose a removal that creates another compatible outer pair after the line contracts. A Push Pin hint is legal and deterministic. The next Push Pin hint exposes one bounded action; it never claims a forced Push Pin win.
• A costly Push Pin mistake is to preserve a particular Queen and King as in Royal Marriage; Push Pin has no fixed endpoint cards and judges only the final survivor count. Undo supports studying that Push Pin decision, while restart preserves the original seeded Push Pin opening.
• In the Push Pin endgame, calculate the last two contractions together so the penultimate removal leaves one legal outer comparison and exactly two survivors. Check every remaining Push Pin action before committing because its terminal rule is enforced immediately.