Good ol’ Duck, Duck, Goose. I have fond memories of playing this. Kids sit in a circle facing inward, and one other kid is outside of the circle. The kid outside walks around the circle tapping each kid on the head while saying “Duck”. If, instead of saying “Duck”, he says “Goose”, then the kid who got tapped is “Goose” and has to chase the other kid around the circle. If Goose catches the head-tapping kid, then play starts again. If Goose manages to make his way around the circle and sit in the Goose’s position, then Goose is now supposed to tap heads. Hence, the name of the game is Duck, Duck, Goose. Unfortunately, this puzzle has nothing to do with the Duck, Duck, Goose mechanic. It utilizes the name. There are four solutions, all solvable by hand. Can you find the largest value for \(\mbox{GOOSE}\)?
Were you able to figure out yesterday’s puzzle? There were a lot of solutions.
Other maximal solutions can be had by swapping some digits (\(U \mbox{ and } W\), for example). In total there were four ways to get to a sum of \(10340\).
And here’s today’s puzzle!
Want a hint?
