Questions tagged [pencil-and-paper-games]
A puzzle whose solution is characteristically worked out using a pencil and paper. Common examples include connect-the-dots, hangman, dots-and-boxes, fill-in-the-blank, and SOS. Note that crossword, Sudoku, tic-tac-toe, and logic grid puzzles all have unique tags.
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Toroidal tic-tac-toe
Part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #10: Möbius Strips, Klein Bottles, and other unusual topological surfaces
Warm-up for topological thinking. You are playing tic-tac-toe with the usual 3x3 grid,...
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Man of War: A Numbers Problem
The story is set in an alternate universe, where magic prevails.
A man breathes heavily, muttering inaudible words while hunched over a spellbook. This person is a castle mage, tasked with determining ...
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What is this number square puzzle called? (10x10 grid with numbers 1-100)
Does anyone happen to know a name for this traditional(?) number square puzzle/game?
The puzzle has a board of 10x10 squares that are initially empty. The player starts the game by entering the number ...
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A game of some consequence
This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #3: Pencil and Paper Games
Last night, I played a game of Consequences with seven friends. In our particular version of the rules*, a game consists ...
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We're just hanging out, man
This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #3: Pencil and Paper Games
I'm a bit unsure who to ask about this...
You see, there's this guy I know. I say 'know' - we're not close mates, come ...
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They are all linked!
Seems like this month's topic is not getting enough attention. Here is a simple puzzle to revive the challenge.
This 'mess' is hiding some words/phrases. Find them all.
.. and, what do they all ...
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Pigpen Tic-Tac-Toe
This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #3: Pencil and Paper Games
Introducing a new tic-tac-toe variant of my own devising (at least I haven't found an equivalent anywhere online).
...
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Reconstruct the lost labyrinth of Knossos
A contribution to the Monthly Topic Challenge #3: Pencil and Paper Games series
This is another improbable story. If you want to skip it scroll to the bottom. The story is not necessary or even ...
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Noughts and Crosses and... there's more?
Having been beaten at your favourite pencil and paper game, Noughts and Crosses, repeatedly by your friend, you decide to give up on your dreams of becoming Tic-Tac-Toe world champion.
However you ...
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Dots and boxes, 2 against 1
To start the Monthly Topic Challenge #3: Pencil and Paper Games :
A simple question (not necessarily with a simple answer).
3 fanatic dots-and-boxes players come together.
Of course no one wants to ...
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Decision Paralysis
This puzzle is part of the Monthly Topic Challenge #1: Restricted Title: xkcd 1xxx and is based on https://xkcd.com/1801/.
Protip: If you ever need to defeat me, just give me two very similar options ...
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The Hand of God
This puzzle is dedicated to the great Diego Maradona.
Maradona has the ball and is going for an amazing run. He must get around all his opponents and score the ball into the goals (gray cells). At ...
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Can you produce a wolf's template? Part 2
Here is the first question.
You are given a square piece of paper with no marks on it. With this paper, you have to make a wolf's template.
You are given no tools such as a ruler or scissors, and all ...
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Word Chain (Word-ladder?)
You've heard of the change LEAD to GOLD by changing one letter at a time. A player has suggested another, and we're having a hard time with it. BITTER to SWEETS.
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What Goes Round (Begriddled logic puzzle)
Join adjacent numbers in the below grid to reveal the hidden content.
The rules are:
1: Join all pairs of vertically and horizontally adjacent numbers that are the same.
2: Join all pairs of ...
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Eat all the circles MAZE
I made this maze-puzzle for my students.
The goal is to draw a line through all of the circles.
The rules:
Start from the star
At each intersection are arrows. You can only move through the ...
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The Wee County begriddled puzzle
Update: This puzzle is NOT UNIQUELY SOLVABLE. I meant it to be. Red face. (Nick Rice, 17 Oct.)
I live in Britain's smallest historic county - Clackmannanshire, in Scotland.
It is often referred to ...
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Match the blocks
This puzzle is pretty easy but sure and entertaining one. so take your pencil and start matching the columns. don't look into another answer to enjoy it.
well, what you need to do is to draw a line ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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What is the fewest amount of clicks needed to create a tier 5 tile?
PLEASE NOTE! A different problem that uses this same ruleset that can likely only be solved with brute force and a computer program has been posted to math.se, viewable HERE. I was unaware of the ...
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Paper, pencil and a bunch of bars
An entry for the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #40.
Alice and Bob are two rational players who are playing a simple pencil-and-paper game.
In the beginning, there are fifteen small vertical bars on ...
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Another 'Find the Path' Puzzle
Based on user477343's Find the Path puzzle I have produced a slightly larger puzzle based on a similar mechanic. Goal is as follows:
Draw a continuous path between the two red dots.
The path must ...
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A "Find the Path" Puzzle
I invented a puzzle, inspired by Simon Tatham's Portable Puzzle Collection. Is there anything that it could improve on? Was it too easy, or was it too hard? Anything I could add? What must I call it?
...
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Coding puzzles with pen and paper
At work we are doing a coding competition on hackerrank – it is real coding – you are given input and you have to code a program that produces the correct output.
Now, I would like to promote this ...
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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-...
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$\verb|Eight Circles|$
An entry in Fortnightly Topic Challenge #37: Rare and Endangered 1
Materials
Pencil;
Eraser;
Blank A4 sheet of paper; and
A ruler (also to use as a straightedge).
Puzzle:
Draw a square with a side-...
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Domino Tiling Game
Two players are presented an $n\times n$ grid. They take turns placing a piece on the board until no more moves are possible. The last player able to make a move is the winner. The pieces are $2\times ...
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Can you draw a path visiting the numbers in order without crossing itself?
The rules of this challenge come from a recent Reddit post and are restated here.
Rules
Given a numbered grid, the challenge is to draw a path through the points in the grid subject to the following ...
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A Strategy Game Involving Conquering of Regions
This is a game that I saw in a book long ago. Unfortunately I cannot find the book now, and even if I can as I recall it does not provide a strategy. I will be very grateful if you can provide me a ...
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Dot-Placing Puzzles
Here are some interesting puzzles that I came up with. If these aren't original and have come from somewhere else, please let me know.
The goal of each puzzle is to place dots on some intersections ...
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Coins in a row, without the usual restriction
I had been asked the following question:
n coins are placed on a line such that they touch each other. A move consists
in taking either one coin, or two adjacent (touching) coins. Solve the standard
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Tic Tac Toe Recursive
Related: Connect 4 Recursive
We have a mega tic tac toe grid. Each of the nine cells of the mega grid has a smaller tic tac toe grid. In total we have 81 cells that can be filled. (Maybe imagine a ...
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Oct - Dots and Boxes on Steroids! [closed]
This game originally came about as the solution to the question: "How can I make Hex with more than 6 directions?"
After playing a couple of games of 'Hept' and 'Oct' on their respective tilings of ...
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25 square puzzle
You have a 5x5 grid filled with 25 zeros. Your objective is to convert the grid into 25 ones. You must do this by a series of special moves.
On each move, you select a single cell. All four ...
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Draw without lifting / going on the same line? [duplicate]
Draw this without lifting / going on the same line the following figure.
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Can you draw a "Four Roofed Crossed Square" without lifting your pencil? [duplicate]
The puzzle I am trying to solve is where you must successfully draw a geometric object without lifting your pencil or running over previous lines. Can you solve it for the following:
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OE Challenge - Solve faster than fast! Help Steve get out of hell [closed]
Steve is having a rather bad day. Steve has died, and because Steve had a propensity for driving slow in the fast lane, Steve goes to hell.
As soon as Steve gets to hell, Satan, Hitler, and ...
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Word ladder island (formerly dead-end)
Following on from CodeNewbie's question "From Puzzling to Stack Exchange", I thought I would set a problem of my own using the same rules:
Rules:
In any move, you can either replace a letter, add a ...
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From Puzzling to StackExchange
This is a variation of a game I used to play with my friends in my childhood. You are given a starting word, and using the following operations, you have to reach the target word. The solution that ...
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Hangman- No misses left
**** No programs allowed. You must find the answer using your own brain. ****
Your hangman game allows for 9 misses, but on the 10th miss, you're hanged!
You don't want to be hanged. The letters ...
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Dots and Boxes Part 2- Best Move in Given Position
This is a follow-up to my first Dots and Boxes question. It is just a little bit harder than the first one. Each one I post will be a bit harder than the previous one, and they will all be from games ...
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Bouncing Robots: Graphical Puzzle [closed]
Robots are indicated by the arrowhead shapes and the labels "r", "y", "b", "g". The label obviously corresponds to their color. The aim of the puzzle is to pick up the shapes and put them down in the ...
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Dots and Boxes- Best Move in Given Position
In the following game of Dots and Boxes, it is your move.
Your opponent is a computer who will play perfectly. What is the best move, and why?
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Dividing Grid by Numbers
Separate the grids below into groups of squares, such that:
Each group contains exactly one numeral.
The number of squares equals the numeral in the group.
For example:
Could be solved liked this:
...
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Pseudoku: A Game of Finding Order in Chaos
You are Pat Doe, a lowly Sudoku puzzle-maker eking out a living by producing hand-made Sudoku puzzles.
After an exhausting eight hours, you've just completed your last Sudoku grid for the day. ...
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Does this grid puzzle with a symmetry-breaking condition have a solution?
Since challenge questions are up in the air, what better time to pose a puzzle-building question that's intrigued me for some time.
Preamble
Consider an infinite square grid made up of nodes and edges ...
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Name of dots and lines game
Note: This is a question about a strategy puzzle / game, and is not proposing a puzzle itself.
Growing up I often played a pencil and paper game with the following rules:
First someone draws some ...
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Tic-Tac-Toe variant
To help people think this out, I've made a web game with increasingly difficult cpu players to allow brainstorming and testing strategies:
cpu player, easiest (version 1 - at least 5-in-a-row is ...
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Tic-tac-toe 1000 in a row
Consider a variant of Tic-Tac-Toe and Gomoku on a board that's infinite in every direction. X wins by getting a line of 1000 X's ...
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