Questions tagged [strategy]
A puzzle whose solution is a methodological plan of action for realizing a specific goal.
583
questions
5
votes
1answer
398 views
Best strategy for stick-taking game
Rules of the game:
It's a two player game. Moves will alternate between players.
There are N sticks on a table.
A value M is defined at the start of the game such that 2 < M <= N.
On their turn,...
6
votes
2answers
189 views
Judgment-free construction of a playlist
Alice and Bob are planning a long car trip and need to come up with a playlist for it. For any given song, they have one of four opinions on it: "That's, like, my favorite song ever" (love), ...
12
votes
3answers
714 views
Outmaneuver your opponents in the duel
A, B and C are in a three way duel. Starting with A, they rotate in the order of A-B-C, each firing one shot at a time. They stand close to one another, so that each can kill one of the others or ...
5
votes
1answer
293 views
Two players alternately name dates
Two players alternately name dates. The winner is the player who names 31st December, and the starting date is 1st January. If a player names Xst of Y Month, the other player can name the first of the ...
7
votes
4answers
760 views
Sorting 6 boxes by selecting 3 boxes each time
There are 6 boxes, each containing a distinct number. You can select 3 boxes and the Oracle will tell you which box has the smallest number and which has the largest number of the three selected boxes....
10
votes
1answer
356 views
What type of puzzle is “Room to Grow”?
I saw this game on Steam. They have a demonstration of the game in video form here, and here's the GIF I generated from that video (that's lower in quality and shortened due to the maximum 2 MB ...
3
votes
2answers
196 views
Determine minimal number of moves to find cells on a square table 10×10 in which a treasure is hidden
In a 10x10 square table, two neigbouring 1x1 cells contain a hidden treasure. John needs to guess these cells. In one move he can choose some cell of the table and can get information whether there is ...
5
votes
1answer
227 views
Playing tic-tac-toe by submitting your moves in advance
Suppose that, instead of playing in your turn, you have to submit in advance, an ordered list of the 9 board positions. Then a computer plays for you by using, whenever it is your turn, the leftmost ...
9
votes
4answers
918 views
How to find the 2021st integer co-prime to 15
I recently saw a puzzle where you were to find the 2021st positive integer co-prime to 15 (it was phrased in terms of a game but this is the mathematical core). I wrote code to find the answer but can’...
1
vote
2answers
326 views
Recover the answers of a test with n yes/no questions
Given a test with 𝑛 yes/no questions, a candidate is able to submit multiple solutions. For a given solution, the candidate gets feedback on the number of correct answers. The goal is to recover the ...
-4
votes
1answer
105 views
How to open the lock from this safe?
The puzzle is as follows:
The figure from below shows a lock mechanism used to store sensitive
data microfilms from a certain lab.
This mechanism is magnetic and consists in numbered buttons which
...
1
vote
0answers
76 views
100 boxes, only 50 attempts [duplicate]
There are 100 boxes in the room. In every box there is a note with some number from 1 to 100 (no repetitions).Person A comes into the room and checks all the boxes and notes inside them. He can (doesn'...
10
votes
1answer
828 views
Is a fake coin lighter or heavier? [closed]
There are 16 coins, 3 of which are slightly heavier or lighter than the others. The counterfeit coins have the same weight but it is not known whether they are heavier or lighter than the genuine ones....
0
votes
1answer
134 views
Outsmarting a Con (sales) man
During a fun filled golf event vendors have set up stalls offering different things to participants like golf gear, food, clothing etc. Participants can also win gifts in putting contests, drives and ...
0
votes
0answers
111 views
Helping a team guess a correct number without prior knowledge [duplicate]
I am new here and would like to request your explanation for a riddle I saw. It is quite interesting but I don't understand it and would like your assistance to understand what's going on, how to &...
1
vote
1answer
143 views
Variation of 100 prisoners [duplicate]
There are 100 prisoners, each prisoner is given a number between 1 and 100 without knowing which number, the number can repeat and not all of the numbers must be given.
Each prisoner in his turn can ...
6
votes
2answers
271 views
Holiday Madness: Draw a line through all the gifts
Can you collect all the gifts?
The rules:
Start from the star
At each intersection are arrows. You can only move through the intersection in accordance with the direction of the arrow. (e.g If you ...
2
votes
1answer
140 views
Looking for a strategy for assembling a Minesweeper grid knowing only the tiles but not their positions
This puzzle consists of 36 tiles. Each tile has a digit and may or may not have a mine.
The goal is to assemble a 6×6 Minesweeper grid — in other words, each digit must equal the number of mines ...
8
votes
2answers
511 views
Strategy for solving a 3D maze
Given enough time, you can solve a large 2D maze by simply following a wall. Is there any similar strategy for solving a 3D maze that can be used (no marking/memorizing places you've seen in the maze ...
5
votes
3answers
288 views
Optimal Strategy for Matching Pairs
I found a reality TV show recently that I thought would make a fun puzzle. On the show are 10 men and 10 women that have been "matched by experts" (ie. randomly paired). Their goal is to ...
1
vote
0answers
132 views
Social Distancing Colors - A New Type of Puzzle? [closed]
I think I just thought of a new type of puzzle:
Social Distancing Colors.
Each of the colors in the rainbow represents at least how much one has to distance by:
Red is 6m,
Orange is 5m,
Yellow is 4m,
...
7
votes
2answers
286 views
Another coin weighing puzzle, now including shifty coins!
You are, as you have been many times before, in some place that has a balance scale and 12 coins.
11 are all "normal" and stay normal, but one of these coins, however, is shifty -- as soon ...
-3
votes
3answers
226 views
10 Rats and 10 bottles, find one non poisonous bottle with least rats killed [closed]
There are 10 bottles of liquid, out of which 9 bottles are poisonous and one bottle of liquid is non-poisonous. The rats are to be fed this liquid one bottle at a time and rats die instantaneously. ...
10
votes
2answers
882 views
Save the person in 14 moves on a cross
A person was trapped in a building, and you have to save him. You are a police officer and you will arrive at the building at 7 o'clock in the morning. The building looks like this:
Every 2 minutes, ...
10
votes
3answers
550 views
Optimal refueling strategy
On the way home from work, I want to refuel my car. There are 5 petrol stations along the way that all have a different price for petrol. I know that the prices will be in the range [A, B], chosen ...
2
votes
2answers
135 views
Save the poor Gingerbreadmen!
The poor gingerbread men want to survive to Xmas (they don't mind being eaten afterwards). If at least one of them doesn't guess his hat correctly, they will all be cruelly eaten before Xmas. This is ...
3
votes
1answer
183 views
Variation of 100 Prisoners' names in boxes
100 Prisoners' Names in Boxes
The following puzzle is a variation of the above puzzle.
Names in Boxes
The names of 4 prisoners are placed in 4 wooden boxes , one name to a box, and the boxes are ...
0
votes
0answers
81 views
Mastermind Swaszek Strategy [duplicate]
I'm writing a paper for school at the moment (12 grade) and I came across the name Swaszek. His strategy is often referred to as being solvable without any computers. I have read a couple of articles ...
2
votes
1answer
124 views
Crossing a river with bonds and beefs
Here is a river crossing puzzle (note that whenever I use the term "colors", I mean the squares):
Yellow and Red are on one side of the river, while Pink, Blue, Green and Black are on the ...
0
votes
1answer
154 views
Fill grid with Bs
Here is a letter grid:
Here are the rules as to how to manipulate the letters in the grid:
A marker starts at the first square.
For each move you can move the marker one square either up, down, left ...
1
vote
1answer
124 views
Minimum moves to lose grid game
Here is a number grid:
And here is the rule for how to move:
A move consists of selecting two adjacent squares (either vertically, horizontally or diagonally) and dividing the sum of the two numbers ...
9
votes
1answer
246 views
Minimum number of moves to win this number game
This puzzle is inspired by this puzzle that I answered: Is equality possible?
Here is the number grid from that puzzle:
And here is the rule for how to move:
A move consists of selecting two ...
11
votes
3answers
606 views
1000 gold coins to share with the knight
Note: This riddle is similar to this riddle: 1000 gold coins to share with the king, except now YOU are the king, and the rules are switched up a bit. And the situation is wackier...
You are the King ...
3
votes
1answer
159 views
Spies in Puzzlevania
What I am about to tell you doesn't leave this room. For the past year, we've grown concerned by occurrences in the nation of Puzzlevania. We believe a major attack may be imminent. However, the ...
26
votes
4answers
3k views
1000 gold coins to share with the king
You are the knight of a great kingdom in an unknown world. Your king sent you to a dungeon and you killed the dragon and got 1000 gold coins from the dragon’s lair. Normally, you are supposed to give ...
0
votes
0answers
90 views
How to know which head belongs to which tail in a bunch of wires? [duplicate]
I saw a puzzle in a contest in Iran held by an association called "Rahneshan" and the original text of the contest is uploaded HERE and of course both website and text are in Persian.
...
7
votes
2answers
155 views
A harder robot-control puzzle
The goal is to find a sequence (a "program") of max 5 commands that will move the triangle (the "robot") through the grid and make it visit all the squares marked with a star.
Two ...
1
vote
1answer
100 views
Minimise battle time in Monster's Den
So there is this excellent flash game, Monster's Den. In order to make a high score, I must complete many battles..this question is about battles with the Legendary Monsters.
The target is to reduce ...
14
votes
6answers
1k views
A nice robot-control puzzle
The goal is to find a sequence (a "program") of max 6 commands that will move the triangle (the "robot") through the grid and make it visit all the squares marked with a star.
Two ...
17
votes
1answer
521 views
Lap Theory Optimal Betting Game
Three prisoners are seated at a table. Each of them has a mobile phone on their lap, and they are not allowed to look at anyone else’s phone (and obviously no other form of communication is allowed).
...
2
votes
1answer
175 views
19 balls and a scale
You are given 19 identical-looking balls and a two-sided scale. One of the balls is different, either lighter or heavier than the others. Using 4 weighings of the scale, how can you determine which ...
9
votes
2answers
373 views
Three way duel, which guns to choose?
Alice, Bob and Carole are involved in a game of three way duel. They take turns to shoot in the order of Alice-Bob-Carole-Alice-... until only one surviver is left standing. The rule is very simple: ...
7
votes
3answers
617 views
One truthteller, one liar, and two randoms - least questions to identify?
I have landed on a new planet and there are 4 people there. One of them is a truth teller and they always speak the truth. The other is a liar and they always lie. The other 2 are random and they ...
10
votes
5answers
1k views
Two player Monty Hall variation
Alice and Bob are going on a game show as partners. In this game, there are three doors, which contain a car, the car keys, and a goat, which are arranged randomly and secretly behind the doors. Alice ...
7
votes
1answer
244 views
A mix of 2048 and Match 3
I was playing a game and thought of this problem:
Rules
There are 4 distinct tiles on a $6\times6$ grid. The game starts out with one block on the board.
You can shift all the tiles in one of the ...
3
votes
1answer
97 views
Quarter Rolling Die
Quarter rolling a die means triping it on any of the 4 sides adjacent to its base or face in contact with the flat surface. Using the assembled die and quarter chessboard:
You can place and align the ...
8
votes
2answers
430 views
Modifying the puzzle: Cooperative hat-guessing, no mistakes, 3+ colors
Following Guess your hat color, but you don't have to and it's interpretation via Covering codes I tried to create a puzzle with more hat variativity, i.g. 3 types of hats.
4 hats are put on 4 ...
2
votes
0answers
191 views
How do you force a win in 4x4x4 TicTacToe
I have read in the wikipedia page of TicTacToe that it is possible for the first player to force a win in a 4x4x4 board. I tried to find a strategy on how to do it online but failed. So, how do you ...
10
votes
1answer
512 views
Mathematics in adolescence
When I start to teach probabilities, I challenge my students with the following:
Thelma is 16 years old and can only go out at night if one of her parents gives her permission. She knows her father ...
16
votes
2answers
648 views
Topological Nim
You and your friend's new favorite game is "topological nim": You take your favorite compact metric space $X$ and a radius $r$. Each player removes an open disk of radius $r$ from the space ...
