FYI This a slight variation on a fairly old board game called Can’t Stop.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/41/cant-stop

Yup, mostly surprised by the longevity of the website (1992-today). And of course being able to play it online

I wonder how it would work before Javascript.

HTTP POST can handle this readily. I'm guessing a frameset with targets circa late 90s based on the current layout

Was it always a website?

In 1992 it would have more likely been a telnet service.

This is also very achievable in hypercard or visual basic so it could have also been a downloadable application

I've got a Next and an HPUX so I've tried the early browsers and written code for them. (HPUX is for ViolaWWW) They're pretty buggy. Making them handle the game would take some serious work

now that i'm in front of a computer i can see it was registered in 2005. The 1992 is not related to the website but to the game.

I guess also the inspiration for the hit television program "Deal or No Deal."

Can't Stop and Can't Stop Express are mainstays of my family's COVID-era weekly game night on Board Game Arena.

Board Game Arena has a free implementation of Can't Stop with multi-player match making.

https://en.boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=cantstop

I can't figure out the instructions as written, either the simple or "really detailed" ones. Like, I just rolled 4, 6, 1, and 2. I'm presented with the options: 3, 5 and 8, 6, 7, or 10. Why can't I do, say, 10?

Sorry if I misunderstood, but did you not just say that 10 was an option? Any options that you aren’t presented with beyond that likely has to do with the rule that you can only build the columns for three numbers on each turn.

For instance, if the first roll in a turn is 3, 5, 4, and 1, then the options would be 5 and 8 or 4 and 9. Let’s say you pick 5 and 8. Then, let’s say your next roll is the roll you described: 4, 6, 1, and 2. In this case, your options would be, as you said, 3, 5 and 8, 6, 7, or 10. 3 and 10 isn’t an option because then you would be building the columns for 3, 5, 8, and 10 in the same turn, which is over the maximum of three per turn. Ditto for 6 and 7. 5 and 8 would be okay because you’ve previously built in those two columns and so this would keep your total at two. Any of the other combinations of two dice (3, 6, 7, or 10) are okay because selecting those would only build in one more column instead of two, keeping your total within the maximum.

Sorry for being so long-winded but I hope this helps.

> For instance, if the first roll in a turn is 3, 5, 4, and 1, then the options would be 5 and 8 or 4 and 9.

What about 6 & 7?

My mistake, 6 and 7 would also be an option.

If the roll is 4, 6, 1, 2, then your “base options” are 10&3, 5&8, and 6&7.

If you already have three white chits on columns, then numbers which are not those three are removed. So for example if you have chits on 3, 6, and 7, your options will be 3 and 6&7. Similarly, if you have two white chits, combinations that would result in 4 columns having chits are removed, possibly by splitting a pair into two options.

If a column is captured, options are further limited.

The rules aren't very clearly written, but your numbers are the 3 first columns you add to during your turn. Beyond that, if the numbers produced by the dice do not fit neatly into those three columns, you get busted.

I believe the numbers are added by adding two dice as pairs, so if you roll 3,4,5,6 you can have the options of 7-11, 8-10, 9-9

If the game doesn't let you do 3 & 10, it's because you've already moved in two or three other columns this turn. (Or somebody's completed those columns.)

- You can only progress in 3 different columns on your turn. The columns you've already progressed in this turn are highlighted.

- You can't make progress in a column that's already been completed by you or an opponent.

This somehow reminds me of some DOS games we had on computers in primary school.

I'm too stupid to understand the rules...

No, you aren't. The rules aren't instructional enough, without explaining the logic behind options effectively and demonstrating comprehensible examples...

The explanation is terrible —- and I’m not sure if I could do a better job —- but once you get it, fun, addictive game.

I skipped reading the rules and found it very fun.

Sounds like the ancient dice game Farkle. Great party game.

https://farkle.games/official-rules/

Is what?

Interface is bad enough that I couldn't figure out how to play.

Every time people reminisce about “the old web”, they’re forgetting about how pages like this used to put all the (non responsive) content in a <center> tag which made it much harder to actually read with human eyes.