my $best_score = 9999;
my $best_combo;
my @list = qw(1 1 1 2 3 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 6 7 7 8 8 8);

while (my $combo = get_combo(\@list)) { # hard to do well??
  $score = get_score($combo); # easy
  if ($score < $best_score) {
    $best_score = $score;
    $best_combo = $combo;
  }
}

print $best_score.': '.Dumper($best_combo);