Questions tagged [strategy]
A puzzle whose solution is a methodological plan of action for realizing a specific goal.
653
questions
-4
votes
0answers
81 views
Wikipedia's degree of Kevin Bacon [closed]
My challenge to you is to get from the Ghengis Khan page on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genghis_Khan
to the sharpie page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharpie_(marker)
using only ...
2
votes
2answers
179 views
How to solve sitting arrangement questions with 100% accuracy?
There are questions of sitting arrangement like persons sitting in a circular arrangement facing inward/outward or both, or a linear arrangement or box arrangement etc.
Sometimes a few data points are ...
3
votes
0answers
137 views
The Resistor Game Show
You were one of $n$ contestants chosen to participate in a game show. Each of you will secretly select a resistor of your choice, with a resistance between 0.01 and 10,000,000 ohms. Once everyone has ...
4
votes
0answers
180 views
By what rules are they changing the switch?
First of all, I don't know the answer to this question; I have some ideas, but nothing rigorous. Apologies if it's not on-topic. I have solved the puzzle now.
Suppose there is a light switch in a room....
13
votes
6answers
3k views
What's the optimal strategy for Wordle?
Wordle is a game by Josh Wardle in which you try to guess a 5-letter word in at most six attempts. After each guess, the letters which are not in the word are highlighted in grey, the letters which ...
1
vote
1answer
158 views
How can the princess escape the prince?
This is the story of the sister of the princess in this puzzle. I will shamelessly copy-paste some parts of this post. I have no reference to give for this version as I adapted a Computer Science ...
8
votes
2answers
452 views
Form an equilateral triangle
Alice and Bob take turns to mark points in $\mathbb{R^2}$ (i.e. infinite 2D plane). Alice can only mark $1$ point on her turn, while Bob can mark $4$ points. They're free to mark their points anywhere ...
7
votes
0answers
390 views
Can Alice form a unit square?
Alice and Bob take turns to mark points in $\mathbb{R^2}$ (i.e. infinite 2D plane). Alice can only mark $1$ point on her turn, while Bob can mark $N$. They're free to mark their points anywhere as ...
9
votes
1answer
807 views
Removing coins from a pile depending on the previous move
Alice and Bob play a game taking turns. There is one pile of $n\geq2$ identical coins on a table.
Alice starts and with her first move she takes away at least one coin from the pile, but not all of ...
2
votes
2answers
346 views
Minimum number of questions?
This is an interesting puzzle which I've been racking my brain to solve for some time. I've found different variations of this puzzle but it does not seem like this one has been asked before. Here it ...
10
votes
1answer
780 views
Card game with equal piles
You and your friend have come up with a new two-player card game. There are 15 distinct cards numbered 1 to 15. The first player orders the cards in some order of his choice and places them face down ...
7
votes
2answers
628 views
Inferrence strategies for hidden pieces on a chessboard
This is a potentially off-topic question, however, the reason I'm asking it here is in the hope of gaining the perspective of puzzlers in tackling such a problem. That is, I am more interested in the ...
1
vote
2answers
107 views
Alice and Bob play neighboring sums game version 2
Alice and Bob are playing the neighboring game
which is originally a single person game with the aim of getting the highest points at the end.
You start with an empty 4x4 grid. At each
turn, you can ...
4
votes
0answers
141 views
Police and Thieves
I played this game when I was young, but cannot find it online. It is played on a checkers board (e.g. the black squares of a chess board) between two players P and T. The game goes as follows:
P ...
24
votes
13answers
4k views
Can the cop catch the thief?
The cop and the thief, both mathematical points, live in an open interval $(0,1)\subset \mathbb{R}$. That is, their universe is a line segment of length 1 without the 2 endpoints. We know that both ...
6
votes
4answers
269 views
17
votes
1answer
2k views
Blindfold Tic-Tac-Toe
You are playing the classic game of 3x3 Tic-Tac-Toe. You are blindfolded and you cannot see the grid, while your opponent can see it. When making a move you call out a cell. If that cell is taken you ...
1
vote
3answers
298 views
Egg drop problem for infinite floors [closed]
This is a modification of the infamous egg drop problem, which I have seen formulated as in the following manner:
Given $e$ eggs and a building of $f$ floors, how can we find the lowest floor at ...
3
votes
1answer
186 views
What is the most STAMINA-efficient strategy to escape the well?
You are roleplaying as an adventurer under the direction of a sadistic DM who has just thrown your character down a well.
In order to escape, you have unlimited chances at a STAMINA check, difficulty ...
3
votes
2answers
204 views
Three-player Nim
Suppose I'm forced to enter the game of nim with two players who are perfectly logical people. The rules is simple:
We play a set number of rounds.
In every round, a random number of marbles (between ...
4
votes
2answers
415 views
Longest chain of checks and captures
On a standard size chessboard, with white to move, make a configuration of chess pieces and moves, so that with every move by white the black king repeatedly becomes checked. With every move black ...
12
votes
2answers
809 views
Remove the magic from a 3x3 Magic Square
It's commonly stated that there is only one solution to the 3x3 magic square. This is simply because every variant found is simply a rotation, reflection or both of any other variant. Once such ...
5
votes
3answers
301 views
The Thieves and the Gold Bars II: Greed and Distrust
Two thieves, Bo and Jo, steal 7 gold bars and are driving away when their car is wrecked in an accident. They-and the loot- is intact.
They are at Point A at 8 PM and must go to Point B which is 1 ...
15
votes
2answers
1k views
Scrabble with prime numbers!
How to Play
Overall, gameplay is very similar to typical Scrabble; however, unlike typical Scrabble, you'll be using digits instead of letters (we'll cover your tile bag later). The objective is to ...
3
votes
3answers
260 views
Clearing the Snakes
While space was being cleared for a new building, a bunch of scitales came out of the water to munch on the worker's lunches, before falling asleep in the way of everything. You, having a knack for ...
5
votes
1answer
211 views
Can you destroy the kingdom without getting caught?
You are a shapeshifter that takes on the form of their victims and you've infiltrated the opposing kingdom's ranks, disguised as a lowly pawn . The opposing king has you presently assigned to the ...
10
votes
2answers
1k views
Strategies for Circuit Board Puzzle from NYT
The New York Times publishes a collection of variety puzzles each week, and new to the rotation recently is one called "Circuit Board". Here is an example of a puzzle (I added coordinates ...
0
votes
1answer
127 views
Catching the Vegetable-Goose [closed]
After an altercation involving giant bees, you have been sentence to some hard labour, specifically harvesting barnacle-lambs: a gourd-like fruit that grows geese in its shell
While working, you get ...
13
votes
7answers
2k views
Spiders on a cube
Two spiders are trying to catch an ant. All are constrained to move along the edges of a transparent cube. The speed of the ant is $1$. The speeds of the spiders are $v_1$ and $v_2$ respectively. What'...
17
votes
2answers
685 views
How long can you survive at the devil's playground?
The devil has trapped you in his playground.
The devil knows that you can't cross over the burning boundary of his circle, so he allows you to choose a position within the circle before he starts to ...
1
vote
4answers
504 views
Secretly press different buttons
Consider a game played with 12 people. 9 are randomly assigned to Team Good and 3 to Team Evil. Players on Team Evil know their teammates, but players on Team Good don't. Two of the players on Team ...
1
vote
1answer
221 views
Optimal parking at a concert
You are going to a concert. The road to the concert has 100 car parking spaces arranged in a straight line. The spaces are numbered from 1 to 100, where space 1 is in the beginning of your journey and ...
2
votes
1answer
289 views
How to achieve a yellow cross on Rubik's cube from three yellow edges on the top layer?
I have finished the first and middle layers on a Rubik's cube and now I would like to complete the yellow cross on the third layer. Every instructions manual I have seen assures that there are one of ...
18
votes
3answers
944 views
Reunite the Stars
On an infinite plane, the Prime Star has disintegrated into four constituent stars, the North Star, the South Star, the East Star and the West Star, each traveling at a constant speed of 1 in their ...
8
votes
0answers
267 views
A Glutton and a Split Check
N, T, A, B are arbitrary constants in this problem. I have only definitively solved the N=1 subproblem, so, if the general problem cannot be solved, I will be satisfied to mark as accepted a solution ...
3
votes
2answers
449 views
Sorting kids by hat colours [duplicate]
I have taken a group of students on a school trip. I want to organise them into two groups and so I have given each one a coloured hat. Some hats are red, while others are blue. Each child can see ...
5
votes
2answers
273 views
Five friends and two motorcyclists
Five friends Alice, Bob, Carole, Dylan and Emma are heading to a common destination 100 unit distance away. They start together. Grandma Alice walks at a speed of 1. Bob and Carole walk at speeds 4 ...
17
votes
3answers
6k views
√2 without pressing √ on a Scientific Calculator
You have to calculate $\sqrt{2}$ on your scientific calculator by only pressing these buttons:
...
3
votes
1answer
209 views
Nanobots Algorithm
Four tiny robots or Nanobots with dimensions 1 x 2 nm are on their initial 2 by 2 state. They shall be transform to phases I , II & III subsequently for specific tasks (see figures). Each nanobots ...
6
votes
1answer
403 views
The Novice Chess Team that Won Every Match of the Season
Devious High School had a newly formed chess team that played against all the other high schools in the area this year. These matches are played with a 5-player team who, at a match, sit next to each ...
6
votes
2answers
495 views
The Blindfold CASIO fx-570EX Puzzle
You and your friend are playing a game with the CASIO fx-570EX calculator.
The game proceeds as follows:
Your friend types a number, then presses a left parenthesis, and then types another number(e.g....
0
votes
2answers
273 views
Elementals and Aliens
Rules/Story
You have been kidnapped and locked in the maze under the bathhouse you work at by 5 aliens: a Mercurian, Venusian, Martian, Jovian, and Saturnian.
Currently, the aliens are spread ...
4
votes
1answer
220 views
Mastermind: What should I guess next? That depends
Bob was playing a popular adventure game on his computer, and he came across a Mastermind minigame. Here's the results of his first four guesses:
Bob has never been great at solving logic puzzles on ...
1
vote
0answers
124 views
General Approach to Solving Cryptarithms
I have recently started honing my problem-solving skills, starting with number-related puzzles. Cryptarithms have appeared frequently, so I was wondering whether there is some sort of general approach ...
10
votes
2answers
468 views
Transform a pile of cards in reverse order
There are 52 cards on a table and numbered in order from 1 to 52 with number 1 on top.
The following operation can be repeatedly done: split the pile into two piles
without shuffling and take cards ...
10
votes
2answers
648 views
Two dimensional Mastermind
You have probably played the classic game of Mastermind with 4 pegs and 6 colours. It turns out that the codebreaker can always find the pattern in 5 moves or fewer.
Now consider the 2D version of the ...
5
votes
3answers
449 views
100 prisoners and a secret number (sequel)
Inspired by this brilliant puzzle by @DmitryKamenetsky!
Much to the annoyance of the guards, the sly prisoners bribed a guard and learnt about the number in the envelope in advance, and the first ...
31
votes
9answers
3k views
100 prisoners and a secret number
There are 100 prisoners numbered from 1 to 100. They know their own numbers. There is an interrogation room with a table and an envelope. The envelope contains a secret number - an integer chosen ...
6
votes
2answers
436 views
A three-way bet
Alice, Bob and Carole are playing a betting game. At the beginning, they have 20 chips in the common pot. They move alternatively in the order of Alice, Bob and Carole. In their move, a player ...
12
votes
1answer
380 views
How should you bet?
Alice and Bob are playing a betting game. Each has 20 chips to start with. They move alternatively starting with Alice. In their moves, they name a number $n$ and toss a fair coin: if head, they get $...