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Penny, Sheldon, Howard and Leonard are chilling. Sheldon comes up with an idea to play a dartboard game. Like always, he has his own rules. He brings a weird dartboard from his room, sets the bullseye on fire and hangs it on the back of the door. He then announces: Score exactly 15 points to win the game.

No one has any clue about the points system, so they just go with it.

Penny goes first but doesn't hit any bullseye. She still scores 21 Points. Leonard goes next and manages to hit a bullseye on his first attempt. He goes on to score 16 Points.

It's Howard's turn now and he has hit two darts already when, suddenly, he realizes what's going on and hits the last dart at the right place to win the round.

Can you tell me where Howard hits the last dart?

Three targets - Penny, Leonard, and Howard, from left to right - showing where their darts hit

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2 Answers 2

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The key to solving this question is noticing

that the middle of the dartboard was set on fire.

This is a hint to what the dartboard actually represents:

We have eight rings, all around a circular fiery object in the middle - this represents the solar system!

So the scoring is given by

the total number of letters in the objects each person hit. Penny hit MERCURY, JUPITER, and NEPTUNE, making 21 points. Leonard hit the SUN, SATURN, and JUPITER, making 16 points. Howard hit EARTH and URANUS, making 11 points: to get the last four, he only has one option - to hit the fourth ring from the center, MARS!

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    $\begingroup$ Quick and precise! Well done. Good to see you :) $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Commented May 17, 2023 at 19:07
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Howard's last dart doesn't land since he's realised that he's dreaming, given that lighting a fire indoors would be a breach of the Pasadena ordinance prohibiting the lighting of an uncontrolled fire in an enclosed residential building.

An open fire occurs when material is burned in an open, outdoor area or in a receptacle without a stack or chimney.

Now, you might argue that this was an act of momentary recklessness on Sheldon's part, but we know that he's a stickler for these things, even down to holding an annual fire drill, as mandated for all dwellers of high rise buildings.

enter image description here

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  • $\begingroup$ The same would also hold true if Sheldon came up with a game honouring the 'top 10 engineers in history' or hosted an episode of Sheldon Cooper's Fun with Flags where they spent the hour looking at pennons $\endgroup$
    – Richard
    Commented May 18, 2023 at 17:08
  • $\begingroup$ The puzzle might have broken the roommate agreement :D $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Commented May 18, 2023 at 18:09

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