Questions tagged [game]
A puzzle that asks for determining the winner in a multi-player game.
205
questions
12
votes
2answers
1k views
Who would be the first to defeat an abundant number?
Rupert and Jenny are playing a game. Each player's score starts out as the number $94083986096100$, which is the square of the product of the first 8 primes and therefore has a lot of divisors. We'll ...
0
votes
3answers
117 views
playing “Coins on a table” against a distracted friend [duplicate]
This puzzle is a follow-up of Coins on a table (warning: the link contains the answer to the original question).
You are playing a game against your friend Alice:
first Alice places one coin on a ...
12
votes
3answers
323 views
Equal distribution of coins to pirates
Ten pirates are sitting around a table. Each of them has an even number of coins.
At order of the captain, each pirate passes half of his coins to the neighbor to the right. After that round, each ...
9
votes
1answer
386 views
99 numbers on the blackboard
The numbers 1,2,3, ..., 99 are written on the blackboard. Alice and Bob play the following game, taking turns. Alice starts.
At every turn, each player removes one number until two numbers are ...
0
votes
0answers
210 views
A Logician's Game of UNO Flip
Two players are in the middle of an ongoing one-on-one game of UNO Flip, with all its standard rules in effect.
Play is currently Light Side Up. It is Player B's turn. Player A has 3 cards remaining, ...
8
votes
2answers
544 views
How many people are there?
This is a variation of an old puzzle.
The game starts with several people sitting in a circle, everyone facing the back of another person. They are all wearing blind folds, so nobody can see anyone ...
23
votes
11answers
10k views
The 100 soldier problem
I saw this problem many years ago. I am sure many puzzlers will know its original name. I was reminded of it when reading about Conquering of Regions problem. A Strategy Game Involving Conquering of ...
7
votes
2answers
301 views
Marbles on a Mancala Board
I would like to introduce an ancient African board game I've just invented.
Until someone comes up with a better name, it's called Marble Mancala.
The rules are pretty simple:
There are two ...
7
votes
2answers
453 views
Alice and Bob play at cards
To pass the time Alice and Bob play a simple game of chance where cards are drawn in pairs from a shuffled standard 52-card deck. If two red cards are drawn Alice wins the round. If two black cards ...
6
votes
2answers
147 views
Positioning cards labeled with numbers from 0-9
Ann and Bob play a game. On a table there are 10 cards which are labeled with number from 0 to 9 each. Bob is allowed to change the position of the cards with a sequence of his preference. When he is ...
5
votes
2answers
126 views
A pile of chips involving powers of 2
Ann and Bob play alternately on a pile of chips. On each play, any number of chips, which is a power of 2 (including 1=$2^0$), can be removed from the pile.
Obviously the number of chips to be removed ...
6
votes
1answer
175 views
A pile of chips involving primes
Ann and Bob play alternately on a pile of chips. On each play, either 1, 2 or 3 chips can be removed except if the number of chips is a prime number. In that case either 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 chips can be ...
16
votes
1answer
351 views
Masyu-making game
Two players are playing a game on a $4\times4$ board. The players take turns adding either a white circle or a black circle into any empty square, so that the board makes a solvable masyu puzzle (with ...
7
votes
1answer
254 views
Game Night at the Binomial Elks Club
The Binomial Elks Club, being predominantly composed of ambitious and competitive personalities, often held game nights in which members enjoyed battling each other for high stakes and bragging rights....
10
votes
1answer
293 views
Reverse dots and boxes – Guess the last move
Alice and Bob are playing a game of reverse dots and boxes.
The players take turns adding one horizontal or vertical line of size 1 in one free spot on the grid (marked with light gray lines ...
3
votes
1answer
364 views
Need help with an online puzzle / riddle
I found this online riddle at m4tr1x.ws, but now I am stuck. It seems you need to gain deeper and deeper access to this virtual Matrix-style computer system. First you need to create an account via ...
12
votes
1answer
667 views
Reverse dots and… cubes? - Snowflake edition
A Reverse dots-and-boxes puzzle inspired by @jafe
Albert and Robinson are playing a game of reverse dots and boxes.
The players take turns adding one plane in one free spot on the grid (...
8
votes
2answers
722 views
Reverse dots and boxes, swastika edition
Alistair and Roberta are playing a game of reverse dots and boxes.
The players take turns adding one horizontal or vertical line in one free spot on the grid (marked with light gray lines in ...
14
votes
2answers
714 views
Reverse dots and boxes
Alice and Bob are playing a game of reverse dots and boxes. The rules are simple:
The players take turns adding one horizontal or vertical line in one free spot on the grid (marked with light ...
4
votes
1answer
250 views
Tactical Domino Placement Game
Alice and Bob take turns to place regular dominoes into a $7\times8$ board. The first player who cannot go loses.
Is there a winning strategy for either player?
Note that in this version the pips on ...
6
votes
1answer
220 views
I'm a Proper Divisor
Ann and Bob are playing a number game. Ann starts with the number 60. Then she subtracts a proper divisor of 60 from it. Bob then takes the number Ann made and subtracts one of its proper divisors ...
8
votes
1answer
295 views
No point shuffling, just pick your cards
Alice and Bob are playing a card game with the following rules:
Alice selects two piles of 3 cards from a standard 52-card deck and places the piles in front of her, face up. Bob can see these ...
10
votes
1answer
310 views
Birthday girl's casino game
My daughter's birthday is coming up. Here's a fun party game we can play to celebrate. (Bring your wallet!)
I have a pair of 6-sided dice, and a standard deck of 52 cards.
You place your ...
8
votes
3answers
369 views
Four-in-a-line Puzzle
Disclaimer: This is an open-problem, I don't have a complete solution for this puzzle yet.
We are playing a $2$-player game: you as a challenger and me as a judge. Initially, there is an empty ...
3
votes
1answer
524 views
The Sphinx puzzle - Heroes of might and magic II
What is the answer?
The Sphinx asks you the following riddle:
I'm a brook that continues, an old woman or two, when misspelled
I'm a trinket, do I confuse you?
I'm inane at each moment, ...
8
votes
3answers
652 views
Double or Take game
Double or Take is a two-player number game. Alice starts by selecting any positive integer. Bob's options are to:
subtract a positive perfect square
subtract a positive perfect cube, or
double the ...
7
votes
3answers
425 views
Writing differences on a blackboard
The numbers 25 and 36 are written on a blackboard. At each turn,
a player writes on the blackboard the (positive) difference between two numbers
already on the blackboard, if this number does not ...
4
votes
1answer
425 views
Is it Basic Physics?
Which number is next in the sequence?
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10 ,11 ,12 ,13 ,14 ,15 ...
Describe why and how your answer applies to the given problem.
9
votes
5answers
1k views
How long will my money last at roulette?
I'm at the casino, standing next to a roulette table with a \$10 minimum bet. I want to stay here as long as possible, so I'm going to repeatedly make the minimum bet until I run out of money.
I'm ...
0
votes
1answer
93 views
A short nim game [duplicate]
There are 50 lucifers on the table.
The rules are:
-You must take 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 lucifers each turn.
-After player 1 has taken some amount of lucifers, it is player 2's turn, and vice versa.
-...
4
votes
3answers
252 views
Praser 5 - Help
What is the answer to the Griffon's riddle? So tired of beating my head against this one. I've solved the Sphinx, Unicorn, and Pegasus, but this one is killing me.
...
13
votes
3answers
1k views
Spider and fly on a cube
A spider and a fly play a game with a cube of side length $s=1$ and with a positive real number $d$.
First, the spider picks its starting point $S$ somewhere on the surface of the cube.
Then the fly ...
3
votes
1answer
292 views
Another variation of the game of Nim
Two players set several piles of chips. The piles are arranged in a row from left to right. By turns each player takes one chip from one of the piles and adds at will as many chips as he/she wishes (...
4
votes
3answers
226 views
Drawing loops on a sheet of paper
Two people are playing a game, in which each player takes turns drawing closed loops on a sheet of paper. Each new loop must intersect each of the other loops exactly twice. When one player has no ...
10
votes
3answers
656 views
Fight Battle 21
Based off a very, very well-known puzzle
The new RPG, Fight Battle 21, is now here! Now with the same three characters as the previous 20 editions!
Knight: 6 HP, 60% chance to deal 3 damage
Archer: ...
5
votes
1answer
146 views
The Faerie Army is coming!
Well, we're all in trouble, yet again. The fabled Faerie Army has come to take over our dimension.
This is the battlefield:
However, their soldiers don't work quite like ours...
Their pawns ...
4
votes
3answers
603 views
Conway's Game of Life… Chess Edition
Here's a new interesting game.
Here's the starting position:
and here's how it works.
Before I even start explaining this, adjacent includes diagonally adjacent. Thank you.
White goes ...
14
votes
2answers
1k views
The Number Guessing Game
Two people are playing an interesting form of a number guessing game, with the following rules:
One person is the guesser, and one person is the thinker.
The thinker thinks of a number from 1 ...
2
votes
1answer
218 views
Master and Slave versus Bob: easy version
Continuation of: "Sub-puzzle: Master and Slave versus Bob the Violent but Honest Psychopath"
Continued in: "Master and Slave versus Bob: hard version"
Previously I described a game that is played ...
2
votes
1answer
335 views
Master and Slave versus Bob: hard version
Continuation of: "Sub-puzzle: Master and Slave versus Bob the Violent but Honest Psychopath" and "Master and Slave versus Bob: easy version"
The hard version is identical to the easy version (see ...
0
votes
3answers
364 views
Sub-puzzle: Master and Slave versus Bob the Violent but Honest Psychopath
[I created this as a sub-puzzle to "Strategy to beat the Casino reversed", that has been sitting unsolved for months. You may wish to read that puzzle first, but this is self-contained. My answer to ...
0
votes
3answers
115 views
It's a serious game when six-packs are at stake
I'm playing a small-stakes game of a casino poker variant called Okay You Can Stop Holding 'Em. The rules are simple: the player and the house are both dealt two cards face down, there is a round of ...
10
votes
2answers
191 views
make it to the top of the triangle
Suppose you have a triangle that extends infinitely downwards, with circles inside, arranged in this arrangement:
...
5
votes
1answer
579 views
Can you tie in 3D Tic-Tac-Toe?
In 3D Tic-Tac-Toe, there are 3 2D planes, each 3x3 in size, stacked on top of each other. A winning line can go through each of the layers (in addition to the standard winning lines of normal Tic-Tac-...
43
votes
4answers
5k views
Rock, Paper, Scissors and Trump
Alicia and Robert are two high-stakes gamblers who are playing a match of rock-paper-scissors. Each winning throw is worth 10 €, paid by the other player. These players have deep pockets, so matches ...
7
votes
6answers
1k views
Single-pile Nim with Three Players
Three perfectly rational logicians (Alice, Bob and a Quetzalcoatlus) are playing a game. (Charlie couldn't make it, so he asked the Quetzalcoatlus to fill in for him.)
The rules are very simple:
...
2
votes
5answers
407 views
A Very Odd Game
Barry, John, and Caleb, all perfect logicians, were very bored one day and they decided to come up with a new game (they haven't got a name for that game yet). The rules were quite simple :
The first ...
6
votes
1answer
429 views
The Knight Checker or Football Chess
Both Players uses 8 Knights on this chessboard game : The Knight Checker.
All pieces starts in Rank 1 relative to players. White to move first. The Knight pieces makes regular moves as in a chess game ...
7
votes
5answers
270 views
Selecting the starting player [closed]
The board game is about to begin. And suddenly we realize that we need to decide the starting player. The dice procedure is tiresome. And we can't find our dice right now. Or any other artifact that ...
13
votes
3answers
559 views
Strategy to beat the Casino reversed
Let's consider Strategy to beat the Casino puzzle, but reverse it - fix number of losses and ask a question about amount of rounds:
Two players, A and B, and the Casino play a game. The game ...
