And yes, I did. We had a master who took an unholy delight in being difficult: the third game, he made the rule something like "AKHTBN if it has one large upright grounded piece OR it has a stack of at least three pieces with a small on top." I actually guessed the first half pretty early on, but when he presented me with a white koan that met the second half, I thought I'd been on completely the wrong track and had to start over. I'm ashamed to say it, but I actually gave up shortly after 'cause I was frickin' tired. When I glanced over at the table a bit later, there were eight stashes' worth of koans laid out and still no end in sight. And there were something like eight students, or at least there had been to start with.
Re: The word just jumps out at me...
And yes, I did. We had a master who took an unholy delight in being difficult: the third game, he made the rule something like "AKHTBN if it has one large upright grounded piece OR it has a stack of at least three pieces with a small on top." I actually guessed the first half pretty early on, but when he presented me with a white koan that met the second half, I thought I'd been on completely the wrong track and had to start over. I'm ashamed to say it, but I actually gave up shortly after 'cause I was frickin' tired. When I glanced over at the table a bit later, there were eight stashes' worth of koans laid out and still no end in sight. And there were something like eight students, or at least there had been to start with.