Tracking number of attempts for drag and drop

Hi all,

I did research the answer to this question but could not find the simple solution I looked for (always a bad sign...).

Here goes, I have a drag and drop interaction with learners having to place countries in certain boxes (it is on a scale from high to low showing a certain propensity for something).

I want to show a hint after 2 wrong tries.
This I would do using states in a text box (normal = invisible, first state = hint)

So, in order to switch to the "Hint state" I need to track number of attempts.
I thought I could just use an AA to increment a variable by 1 for each attempt. But for that I need that number.
All solutions seem to have to do with an AA for each objects being dragged. But I have 5 drag sources and targets.

There has to be another way to track attempts, no?
Thanks for your help!