Game Play and Illustration
The normal game is between two players and played with three heaps of any number of objects. The two players alternate taking any number of objects from any single one of the heaps. The goal is to be the last to take an object. In misère play, the goal is instead to ensure that the opponent is forced to take the last remaining object.
The following example game is played between fictional players Alice and Bob who start with heaps of three, four and five objects. The winning strategy is for a player to leave always an even total number of 1's, 2's, and 4's. In the example, Alice implements this strategy.
Sizes of heaps Moves A B C 3 4 5 Alice takes 2 from A 1 4 5 Bob takes 3 from C 1 4 2 Alice takes 1 from B 1 3 2 Bob takes 1 from B 1 2 2 Alice takes entire A heap, leaving two 2s. 0 2 2 Bob takes 1 from B 0 1 2 Alice takes 1 from C leaving two 1s. (In misère play she would take 2 from C leaving (0, 1, 0).) 0 1 1 Bob takes 1 from B 0 0 1 Alice takes entire C heap and wins.Read more about this topic: Nim
Famous quotes containing the words game, play and/or illustration:
“Wild Bill was indulging in his favorite pastime of a friendly game of cards in the old No. 10 saloon. For the second time in his career, he was sitting with his back to an open door. Jack McCall walked in, shot him through the back of the head, and rushed from the place, only to be captured shortly afterward. Wild Bill’s dead hand held aces and eights, and from that time on this has been known in the West as “the dead man’s hand.””
—State of South Dakota, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning....They have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they learn in new forms of play.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)
“What is character but the determination of incident? What is incident but the illustration of character?”
—Henry James (1843–1916)