Questions tagged [strategy]
A puzzle whose solution is a methodological plan of action for realizing a specific goal.
496
questions
9
votes
0answers
211 views
Quantum tic tac toe strategy
Most of us learn tic tac toe early in our life. Also, it is easy to find an optimal strategy for playing.
How about Quantum tic tac toe? What is the optimal strategy for playing it?
Rules
On a ...
3
votes
2answers
99 views
How to effectively hide an earth rebooter thingy [The Good Place Season 4 spoilers]
This puzzle is unsolved. I don't know if there is a solution or how to solve it. I'm also not sure what type of puzzle this would be, so if anyone wants to correct the tags, feel free.
Imagine you ...
0
votes
0answers
175 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, ...
10
votes
5answers
410 views
Crossing the desert
There are explorers that want to go as far in the desert as possible. One explorer can carry water for himself for 10 days. If they would all stick together, they would have enough water to go 5 days ...
9
votes
9answers
2k views
Find two coins using a balance scale
You are given 20 identical coins. 18 of those coins have a weight of 10g each, 1 coin has 9g and 1 coin has 11g.
You are given a traditional balance scale with two pans (no reading).
What is the ...
14
votes
1answer
349 views
A flower-shaped robot-control puzzle
The goal of this puzzle is to find a sequence of max 5 commands that will move the triangle through the maze and visit all colored squares.
Three types of commands can be used:
F0 makes the sequence ...
30
votes
1answer
3k views
How to get a bowl with one liter of water
You are given a rectangular bowl with size 5 x 30 x 40 cm and you should put exactly one liter of water into the bowl. You go to your kitchen, where you can put the water directly into the bowl from ...
-1
votes
1answer
123 views
Find the lowest floor from which Venus eggs break [duplicate]
Venus gave you two eggs because she wants to test their strength.
She lives in a 100 floor building and she wants to find the first floor above which the eggs break when thrown out of the window.
...
8
votes
1answer
233 views
Maximizing Product of Selected Cards
Jennifer is playing a game. The Ace through King of spades are taken from a standard playing deck and laid out facedown on the table. At any time, Jennifer can select two cards and reveal them, and ...
7
votes
1answer
217 views
A Bored Jailer and His Number Game
A bored jailer tells a prisoner that if he can guess a secret number he will be set free. The rules are given that the number will not be more than three digits in length and the prisoner may guess ...
15
votes
2answers
595 views
United States Towns/States Traversing by Name Puzzle
I’m new to puzzle solving in a structured way, so please go easy on me, but I thought the following was interesting (sorry if it’s not or seems like grunt work). I came up with this while staring ...
-6
votes
1answer
110 views
Another how to kill 7 submarines
7 submarines are placed on an x, y grid - 0 to 111. They are located on whole numbered locations. Each submarine starts from any selected location with a given fixed speed and fixed direction, ...
6
votes
1answer
290 views
Russian Roulette (Redux!)
You are challenged to a game of Russian roulette with a six-chamber revolver, but you and your opponent are allowed to change the outcome of the game in different ways. Here's how the game will ...
1
vote
1answer
161 views
How to kill 7 submarines
7 submarines are placed on an x, y grid - from negative infinity to positive infinity. They are located on whole numbered locations. Each submarine starts from a location with a given fixed speed and ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
30 fake coins out of 99 coins v2
Follow up question to my other question, but totally different methodology required.
You are given 99 coins which consists of 30 fake ones. You also have a digital balance scale with perfect ...
12
votes
3answers
2k views
Can you catch the thief?
This was a puzzle I recalled from university a couple of years back. I don't know what the original puzzle is but if someone knows it, please let me know so I can credit the source.
You are a police ...
12
votes
3answers
2k views
Find number 8 with the least number of tries
You and your friend plays a game. In this game, there are numbers written on the cards from 1 to 12 on one side (so 12 cards in total). The other side is blank. You can write anything on the blank ...
6
votes
3answers
300 views
Line segments inside a square
A set of line segments inside or at the edge of a square with side length 1 should be positioned in such a way,
that any straight line going through the square must touch or intersect at least one of ...
11
votes
2answers
2k views
Three knights searching for a princess in a castle
There is a castle with rooms arranged in a 4x4 square grid. The princess living in the castle sleeps in a different room each night, but always one adjacent to the one in which she slept on the ...
4
votes
1answer
322 views
Two knights searching for a princess in a castle
There is a castle with rooms arranged in a 3x3 square grid. The princess living in the castle sleeps in a different room each night, but always one adjacent to the one in which she slept on the ...
9
votes
1answer
177 views
A short but stimulating robot-control puzzle
The goal of this puzzle is to find a sequence of max 4 commands that will move the triangle through the maze and visit all colored squares.
Three types of commands can be used:
F0 makes the sequence ...
7
votes
2answers
270 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 ...
1
vote
1answer
160 views
Don't Fail MY Exam [duplicate]
A professor decides the following grading scheme in his class. After the final exam is graded, he keeps all the papers upside down on his table in a random order so that no student can recognise his ...
5
votes
2answers
269 views
The Wires Underground [duplicate]
There are ten wires that run underground across a river. Thus on each of the banks, there are ten ends of the wires. Unfortunately, given an end of a wire on this bank, one doesn't know which end on ...
4
votes
2answers
125 views
12 balls 1 scale with 4 groups
So, we all know the famous 12 balls 1 scale riddle. It has been here repeated many times, however, the provided solutions always start with splitting the twelve balls into three groups of four. This ...
2
votes
1answer
153 views
Sleeping Beauty Study at the Institute of Mad Science [closed]
You've been approached to assist in the furtherance of SCIENCE as a research subject at the Institute of Mad Science (local branch)!
The experiment you'll be involved with is called the Sleeping ...
6
votes
2answers
146 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
122 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
174 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 ...
10
votes
1answer
287 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 ...
2
votes
6answers
212 views
Two untrusted traders [closed]
I'm sure this has been asked before, but I tried searching and couldn't find it. I don't know the solution, and it is possible there isn't one.
There is unsavoury pirate and an unscrupulous merchant....
1
vote
1answer
112 views
How Should I Go About Answering Square Spin Puzzles?
The Square Spin series of puzzles is a bit abstract. There is quite a lot for newcomers to digest and getting started may be daunting. Even if you thoroughly read the rules and intend to attempt one ...
12
votes
1answer
664 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
713 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
706 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 ...
18
votes
3answers
1k views
Where are the Wazirs?
A wazir is a fairy chess piece that moves like a rook, but can go only one square.
&...
6
votes
1answer
218 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
283 views
3D Chess - Stale NBA (kNight-Bishop Assault)
This is my very first chess puzzle. Any constructive feedback is more than welcome. Thanks!
Introducing 3D Chess!
To make things simple for the first time, we are using a $3\times3\times3$ ...
12
votes
4answers
526 views
Red and White Squares
There are two grid boards with the dimension of 9x9 and 14x14, consist of all white squares. You are supposed to color some squares with a red color on the conditions below:
In a board, if two square ...
6
votes
2answers
210 views
You Sign Me Right Round (Extended Edition)
I wanted to ask more questions about variations on This Problem. If you hadn't seen that one, check it out. It's required reading (and probably more fun).
In the original problem, these were the ...
8
votes
2answers
228 views
You Sign Me Right Round
This is a 9x9 grid, with a sign in the center cell like shown. You can add signs to this grid one at a time following these rules:
Each sign placed must point to the next sign placed
Placed signs ...
5
votes
1answer
208 views
Answered it badly…on purpose?
Teacher: You got a 0.
Miles Morales: Is that...failed?
Teacher: Listen. If you answer all questions on a multiple choice test randomly, you would get a 25%. This means the only way for you to ...
10
votes
1answer
291 views
A programming puzzle without code
The goal of this puzzle is to find a sequence of max 5 commands that will move the triangle through the maze and visit all colored squares.
Three types of commands can be used:
F0 makes the sequence ...
2
votes
1answer
115 views
Leveling up and Getting Items! v2
This is follow up question to Leveling up and Getting Items!
You are playing an online RPG game with 9 friends of yours (10 people
in total) and in the game, there is a 2-player dungeon where you ...
14
votes
7answers
702 views
10 coins, 3 of them are fake
Inspired by some great weighing puzzles here (This being one of my favorites), I just made another weighing puzzle - I'm not quite sure how difficult or easy this one is.
You are given 10 coins, 7 of ...
14
votes
4answers
2k views
Leveling up and Getting Items!
You are playing an online RPG game with 9 friends of yours (10 people in total) and in the game, there is a 2-player dungeon where you level up every time you enter and complete it. Only up to two ...
8
votes
1answer
698 views
I am caught when I was about to steal some candies
I am a eight years old boy, I love candies, but my mom does not want me to eat any more candies because I start to have black teeth :( but I still love candies so...
Today when I was about to steal ...
20
votes
5answers
5k views
Can you open the door or die? v2
This is the follow up question to my previous question
You wake up and find yourself in a very strange room with a single
door. You find a note on the ground surrounded by lots of cards:
...
11
votes
4answers
2k views
Can you open the door or die?
You wake up and find yourself in a very strange room with a single door. You find a note on the ground surrounded by lots of cards:
There are 66 green and 66 blue door cards on the ground. If you ...
11
votes
2answers
553 views
2019 gold coins to share
You and your friend has found in total 2019 gold coins in a treasure hunt. Since your friend found the place to dig up, he deserves a bit more gold than you so you offer a game to share the coins to ...
