Calculate Total Possible Score for Wii Bowling, Power Throws

Needless to say I have too much time on my hands. I've become obsessed with two Wii games, Bowling and Tanks. I play over and over. I had a perfect game in bowling the other day which wasn't quite as exciting as I thought it would be.

I've also been playing the "Training" game of Power Throws (bowling). You are given 10 shots with another row added each frame. You start out with 10, then 15, then 21, etc. If you get all the pins, you get a bonus (total pins * 2). So far, my highest score has been 651.

I've never bothered to figure out what the total possible score is though.

SQL to the rescue.

Using analytics and the CONNECT BY LEVEL option (10g and higher), it's fairly easy:

SELECT
  pin_row,
  pins,
  running_total,
  rt_with_bonus
FROM
  (
    SELECT
      rownum pin_row,
      rownum pins,
      SUM( rownum ) OVER ( ORDER BY rownum ) running_total,
      ( SUM( rownum ) OVER ( ORDER BY rownum ) * 2 ) rt_with_bonus
    FROM dual
      CONNECT BY LEVEL <= 13
  )
WHERE pins >= 4

I had to set the filter on the outer query because you start with 4 rows (10 pins). And the results:

CJUSTICE@XE>BREAK ON REPORT
CJUSTICE@XE>COMPUTE SUM OF RUNNING_TOTAL ON REPOR
CJUSTICE@XE>COMPUTE SUM OF RT_WITH_BONUS ON REPOR
CJUSTICE@XE>/

   PIN_ROW       PINS RUNNING_TOTAL RT_WITH_BONUS
---------- ---------- ------------- -------------
         4          4            10            20
         5          5            15            30
         6          6            21            42
         7          7            28            56
         8          8            36            72
         9          9            45            90
        10         10            55           110
        11         11            66           132
        12         12            78           156
        13         13            91           182
                      ------------- -------------
sum                             445           890

Voila! 890 is the best possible score if I strike every frame. I did manage to pass my high score by 9 pins tonight as well. It's a great day!

So how come no one wants to hire a guy that can do this kind of fun stuff with SQL? ;)