Nim

[davieddy]

In case you haven't heard of this two player game before:

You have some piles containing various numbers of objects.
At your turn, you remove some objects from one pile.
The player to remove the last object wins.

What is your strategy?

[akruppa]

I take all objects.

Alex

[bsquared]

... visions of my 2 yr old grabbing everything and shouting Mine! Mine! She'd win every time.

[Zeta-Flux]

Alex,

If I understand the rules correctly, you can only take objects from one 'pile'. So if there are two piles of objects, taking an entire pile will lose immediately (the other player just takes the other pile).

[bsquared]

I take one object from one pile. (I like a drawn out game...)

[akruppa]

Ah! You're probably right. The game of Nim I remembered had one pile, but restrictions on how many objects you could take. I guess "remove some objects" means "1 or more objects"? Otherwise no one will take anything when there are two piles of one object each left.

Alex

[davieddy]

You can only remove objects from one pile at your turn.
This version of the game starts with more than one pile.

[davieddy]

I see now why the usual version says the player
to remove the last object loses

[Uncwilly]

The piles start off with 3, 5, and 7 items each.

[davieddy]

Originally Posted by akruppa

Ah! You're probably right. The game of Nim I remembered had one pile, but restrictions on how many objects you could take. I guess "remove some objects" means "1 or more objects"? Otherwise no one will take anything when there are two piles of one object each left.

Alex

If we say the person removing the last object loses, considering
one pile is a good place to start looking for the strategy.
As in chess or any other game one must make a move at one's turn,
and yes: some <> none.

David

[davieddy]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

The piles start off with 3, 5, and 7 items each.

If you like. Does the first player win or lose?