Tankard

The Tankard is one of ten mugs used in the Drinking puzzle.

The tankard gives the player a 50 point bonus for each piece present in a completed row that was won by the opponent.

The tankard gives points based on game situations rather than a flat point bonus, so knowing how to use it well is essential. The obvious benefit from using this mug is that even when you lose a row it isn't a total loss. The best way to capitalize on this is to play rows aggressively. Normally, it is a risky proposition to place a piece in a row where the opponent already has more pieces, due to the fact that on their next turn they can reestablish their lead in the row, and are now two pieces closer to completion. With the tankard, however, playing to split rows is very advantageous. If the tankard player wins the split, that's three pieces/turns wasted by the opponent. If not, they still get a comparable score boost (150 to the opponent's 200, unstained). The situation gets even better when playing on already stained rows. In this situation either the tankard player gets the 100 points for completing the row, or the opponent gets 100 points and the tankard player gets 150! Of course, like with all mugs, kegs being played must cause an adaptation in strategy.

The tankard gains a small advantage from playing games that are significantly more than the standard 1500 points due to the fact that it is more likely as the game progresses that a row will be finished on a stained square. The tankard also gains a small disadvantage during games less than the standard 1500 points due to the fact that the mug relies on attrition throughout the game. A tankard will have equal potency with any number of colors/shapes. The tankard isn't strong or weak vs. any mug, and can be played effectively in a variety of situations.