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Two players alternate moves in the following impartial combinatorial game: Given a finitely generated abelian group $A$, a move consists of picking some nonzero element $a \in A$. The game then continues with the quotient group $A/ \langle…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-01-29 Martin Brandenburg

A group of students in 7-9 grades are inventing combinatorial impartial games. The games are played on graphs, piles, and grids. We found winning positions, optimal strategies, and other interesting facts about the games.

Let p(n, k) denote the number of partitions of n into parts less than or equal to k. We show several properties of this function modulo 2. First, we prove that for fixed positive integers k and m, p(n,k) is periodic modulo m. Using this, we…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-11-21 Kedar Karhadkar

We examine the structure of the additive period of the Sprague-Grundy function of Nim-like games, among them Wythoff's Game, and deduce a bound for the length of the period and preperiod.

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-08-27 Jens Askgaard

Candy Nim is a variant of Nim in which both players aim to take the last candy in a game of Nim, with the added simultaneous secondary goal of taking as many candies as possible. We give bounds on the number of candies the first and second…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2018-05-21 Nitya Mani , Rajiv Nelakanti , Simon Rubinstein-Salzedo , Alex Tholen

We present three versions of the classic two-pile game \textsc{one-or-one-or-one-of-both} generalized to the multi-pile context. In each case, we explore the resulting $\mathcal{P}$-positions. In the first version, there is a simple…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-05-25 Alon Danai , Paul Ellis , Thotsaporn Aek Thanatipanonda

By treating combinatorial games as dynamical systems, we are able to address a longstanding open question in combinatorial game theory, namely, how the introduction of a "pass" move into a game affects its behavior. We consider two well…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2012-04-17 Rebecca E. Morrison , Eric J. Friedman , Adam S. Landsberg

We consider Subtraction Nim, where two players have exactly the same options, but which is partizan in the sense that at the game ending, a partizan rule is applied for the decision of the winner. We consider the following example: Let $S$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2026-05-29 Hiyu Inoue , Shin-nosuke Kadowaki , Shun-ichi Kimura , Haruki Wada

We determine the mis\`{e}re equivalence classes of Nim positions under two equivalence relations: one based on playing disjunctive sums with other impartial games, and one allowing sums with partizan games. In the impartial context, the…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2016-07-25 Mark Spindler

We consider a game with two piles, in which two players take turn to add $a$ or $b$ chips ($a$, $b$ are not necessarily positive) randomly and independently to their respective piles. The player who collects $n$ chips first wins the game.…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2019-03-11 Ho-Hon Leung , Thotsaporn "Aek'' Thanatipanonda

We consider the following two-player game, parametrised by positive integers $n$ and $k$. The game is played between Painter and Builder, alternately taking turns, with Painter moving first. The game starts with the empty graph on $n$…

For normal play, impartial games, we define penults as those positions in which every option results in an immediate win for the other player. We explore the number of tokens in penults of two positional games, Impartial Tic and Impartial…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2024-08-06 Boris Alexeev , Paul Ellis , Michael Richter , Thotsaporn Aek Thanatipanonda

For a positive integer $k$ we consider the $k$-vertex-connectivity game, played on the edge set of $K_n$, the complete graph on $n$ vertices. We first study the Maker-Breaker version of this game and prove that, for any integer $k \geq 2$…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2012-03-16 Asaf Ferber , Dan Hefetz

We consider a two player simultaneous-move game where the two players each select any permissible $n$-sided die for a fixed integer $n$. A player wins if the outcome of his roll is greater than that of his opponent. Remarkably, for $n>3$,…

Probability · Mathematics 2018-10-23 Artem Hulko , Mark Whitmeyer

Wythoff's Game is a variation of Nim in which players may take an equal number of stones from each pile or make valid Nim moves. W. A. Wythoff proved that the set of P-Positions (losing position), $C$, for Wythoff's Game is given by $C :=…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2017-02-16 Shubham Aggarwal , Jared Geller , Shuvom Sadhuka , Max Yu

The classical Maker-Breaker positional game is played on a board which is a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$, with two players, Maker and Breaker, alternately claiming vertices of $\mathcal{H}$ until all the vertices are claimed. When the game…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2026-01-15 Guillaume Bagan , Quentin Deschamps , Florian Galliot , Mirjana Mikalački , Nacim Oijid

We introduce a quantum cloning game in which $k$ separate collaborative parties receive a classical input, determining which of them has to share a maximally entangled state with an additional party (referee). We provide the optimal winning…

Quantum Physics · Physics 2025-10-22 Llorenç Escolà-Farràs , Léo Colisson Palais , Florian Speelman

Let $n, k$ be positive integers. The $(k+1)$-star avoidance game on $K_n$ is played as follows. Two players take it in turn to claim a (previously unclaimed) edge of the complete graph on $n$ vertices. The first player to claim all edges of…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2020-01-22 Adrian Beker

We investigate the complexity of finding a winning strategy for the mis\`ere version of three games played on graphs : two variants of the game $\text{NimG}$, introduced by Stockmann in 2004 and the game $\text{Vertex Geography}$ on both…

Discrete Mathematics · Computer Science 2015-05-05 Gabriel Renault , Simon Schmidt

This paper is a twofold contribution. First, it contributes to the problem of enumerating some classes of simple games and in particular provides the number of weighted games with minimum and the number of weighted games for the dual class…

Combinatorics · Mathematics 2015-05-14 Josep Freixas , Sascha Kurz