My loop won't work, but I'm positive it should.

[Matt Tacular]

I'm going to have to include a lengthy bit of code, but its every necessary part for you to see what I need.

[php]import random

availableCountries = range(20) # <--- Used at games start, player's countries taken from here
firstTurnsCountries = [] # <--- Player one's country possesion
secondTurnsCountries = [] # <--- Player two's country possesion

pL0 = " "
pL1 = " "
pL2 = " " # Stores initial blank values for visual display of the continent
pL3 = " "
pL4 = " "
pL5 = " "
pL6 = " "
pL7 = " "
pL8 = " "
pL9 = " "
pL10 = " "
pL11 = " "
pL12 = " "
pL13 = " "
pL14 = " "
pL15 = " "
pL16 = " "
pL17 = " "
pL18 = " "
pL19 = " "

playerInitialList = [pL0, pL1, pL2, pL3, pL4, pL5, pL6, pL7, pL8, pL9, pL10, pL11,
pL12, pL13, pL14, pL15, pL16, pL17, pL18, pL19]

def continents(): #<--- Visual Display of the 3 continents
print " __ ____"
print " N.A. | \ / ."
print " \__| \ 2 | ____"
print " ____________ |" + str(pL2) + " / __ Eu / | |"
print " / | 1 | \ \| /13\ ___/ | |"
print "/ 0 |__" + str(pL1) + "__|_/ |\ ." + str(pL13) + "_// 14 / |"
print "| " + str(pL0) + " | 3 | 4|__|5\ / " + str(pL14) + " / |"
print " \/ \|__" + str(pL3) + "_|_" + str(pL4) + "__|_" + str(pL5) + "_\ __ |_/|_/| 19 /"
print " / | 6 | 7 / /15\ __/ | " + str(pL19) + " /"
print " |__" + str(pL6) + "__|_" + str(pL7) + "_/ ." + str(pL15) + "_/ | 16 | /"
print " \ 8 | / _" + str(pL16) + " | |"
print " \ " + str(pL8) + " \ /\ / \/\ |"
print " \ \ /17|18/ ||"
print " _\_ |" + str(pL17) + "_/ ." + str(pL18) + " \|"
print " S.A._/ 9 \__"
print " /___" + str(pL9) + "____|"
print " | | /"
print " \ 10|11/"
print " |" + str(pL10) + " |" + str(pL11) + "/"
print " |__|/"
print " |12/"
print " |" + str(pL12) + "/"
print " |/"

def countryDivider(countryNum):
while True:
if not availableCountries: # check if list is spent/empty
break
q = random.choice(availableCountries) # pick one available country
firstTurnsCountries.append(q) # add it to first list
availableCountries.remove(q) # remove it from the available list
q = random.choice(availableCountries) # repeat for second list
secondTurnsCountries.append(q)
availableCountries.remove(q)
firstTurnsCountries.sort()
secondTurnsCountries.sort()

player1 = raw_input("What is player 1's Name?")
player2 = raw_input("What is player 2's Name?")
countryDivider(len(availableCountries))
print "\n" + player1 + ", you have been given the following countries:",firstTurnsCountries
print player2 + ", you have been given the following countries:",secondTurnsCountries

playerInitialCounter = 0 # <--- This is the trouble making loop.
while True:
if playerInitialCounter in firstTurnsCountries:
playerInitialList[playerInitialCounter] = player1[0]
if playerInitialCounter in secondTurnsCountries:
playerInitialList[playerInitialCounter] = player2[0]
if playerInitialCounter == 19:
break
playerInitialCounter += 1

# if 0 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL0 = player1[0]
# if 0 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL0 = player2[0]
# if 1 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL1 = player1[0]
# if 1 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL1 = player2[0]
# if 2 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL2 = player1[0]
# if 2 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL2 = player2[0]
# if 3 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL3 = player1[0]
# if 3 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL3 = player2[0]
# if 4 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL4 = player1[0]
# if 4 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL4 = player2[0]
# if 5 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL5 = player1[0]
# if 5 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL5 = player2[0]
# if 6 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL6 = player1[0]
# if 6 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL6 = player2[0]
# if 7 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL7 = player1[0]
# if 7 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL7 = player2[0]
# if 8 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL8 = player1[0]
# if 8 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL8 = player2[0]
# if 9 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL9 = player1[0]
# if 9 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL9 = player2[0]
# if 10 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL10 = player1[0]
# if 10 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL10 = player2[0]
# if 11 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL11 = player1[0]
# if 11 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL11 = player2[0]
# if 12 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL12 = player1[0]
# if 12 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL12 = player2[0]
# if 13 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL13 = player1[0]
# if 13 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL13 = player2[0]
# if 14 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL14 = player1[0]
# if 14 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL14 = player2[0]
# if 15 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL15 = player1[0]
# if 15 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL15 = player2[0]
# if 16 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL16 = player1[0]
# if 16 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL16 = player2[0]
# if 17 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL17 = player1[0]
# if 17 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL17 = player2[0]
# if 18 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL18 = player1[0]
# if 18 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL18 = player2[0]
# if 19 in firstTurnsCountries:
# pL19 = player1[0]
# if 19 in secondTurnsCountries:
# pL19 = player1[0]

continents()
[/php]
If you uncomment all those lines of code near the bottom it will work flawlessly. But the problem is it's so much code. I tried to cut it down with the loop above it. But it won't work and I don't know why.

It's supposed to change the variables one at a time to the correct first letter depending on who got which countries in their list.

I have looked it over and over, but can't find why it won't work while the large section of code does.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.

[Ene Uran]

I played wit it for a little while and came up with these obvious shortcuts:
[php]# changed playerInitialList to pL to save on typing
# changed pL1 etc. to pL[1] etc.
# What do you do if initials of the two players match?

import random

def continents(): #<--- Visual Display of the 3 continents
"""
list pL contains the inital letters of the players
the index coincides with the number of the country
"""
print " __ ____"
print " N.A. | \ / ."
print " \__| \ 2 | ____"
print " ____________ |" + pL[2] + " / __ Eu / | |"
print " / | 1 | \ \| /13\ ___/ | |"
print "/ 0 |__" + pL[1] + "__|_/ |\ ." + pL[13] + "_// 14 / |"
print "| " + pL[0] + " | 3 | 4|__|5\ / " + pL[14] + " / |"
print " \/ \|__" + pL[3] + "_|_" + pL[4] + "__|_" + pL[5] + "_\ __ |_/|_/| 19 /"
print " / | 6 | 7 / /15\ __/ | " + pL[19] + " /"
print " |__" + pL[6] + "__|_" + pL[7] + "_/ ." + pL[15] + "_/ | 16 | /"
print " \ 8 | / _" + pL[16] + " | |"
print " \ " + pL[8] + " \ /\ / \/\ |"
print " \ \ /17|18/ ||"
print " _\_ |" + pL[17] + "_/ ." + pL[18] + " \|"
print " S.A._/ 9 \__"
print " /___" + pL[9] + "____|"
print " | | /"
print " \ 10|11/"
print " |" + pL[10] + " |" + pL[11] + "/"
print " |__|/"
print " |12/"
print " |" + pL[12] + "/"
print " |/"

def countryDivider(countryNum):
while True:
if not availableCountries: # check if list is spent/empty
break
q = random.choice(availableCountries) # pick one available country
firstTurnsCountries.append(q) # add it to first list
availableCountries.remove(q) # remove it from the available list
q = random.choice(availableCountries) # repeat for second list
secondTurnsCountries.append(q)
availableCountries.remove(q)
firstTurnsCountries.sort()
secondTurnsCountries.sort()

# create playerInitialList (pL) of 20 spaces
pL = [" "] * 20

availableCountries = range(20) # <--- Used at games start, player's countries taken from here
firstTurnsCountries = [] # <--- Player one's country possesion
secondTurnsCountries = [] # <--- Player two's country possesion

player1 = raw_input("What is player 1's Name?")
player2 = raw_input("What is player 2's Name?")
countryDivider(len(availableCountries))
print "\n" + player1 + ", you have been given the following countries:",firstTurnsCountries
print player2 + ", you have been given the following countries:",secondTurnsCountries

for x in range(20):
if x in firstTurnsCountries:
pL[x] = player1[0]
elif x in secondTurnsCountries:
pL[x] = player2[0]

continents()
[/php]

[Matt Tacular]

Thanks for your help, you have no idea how much shorter you've made my code, haha.

And yeah, the initials being the same scenario: I was going to work on that next, after I cut that down.

[Matt Tacular]

I just thought I'd add in, that I have solved the identicle first initial scenario. What I did was if the first letter of both names are the same, first player gets a capital of that letter, while the second player gets a lower case version. I also tell the users who gets what so they aren't confused.