Kiko and Ñoño play with a rod of length $2n$ where $n \le 3$ is an integer. Kiko cuts the rod in $ k \le 2n$ pieces of integer lengths. Then Ñoño has to arrange these pieces so that they form a hexagon of equal opposite sides and equal angles. The pieces can not be split and they all have to be used. If Ñoño achieves his goal, he wins, in any other case, Kiko wins. Determine which victory can be secured based on $k$.

Two players in turn paint cells of the $7\times7$ table each using own color. A player can't paint a cell if its row or its column contains a cell painted by the other player. The game stops when one of the players can't make his turn. What maximal number of the cells can remain unpainted when the game stops?

There are more than $n^2$ stones on the table. Peter and Vasya play a game, Peter starts. Each turn, a player can take any prime number less than $n$ stones, or any multiple of $n$ stones, or $1$ stone. Prove that Peter always can take the last stone (regardless of Vasya's strategy). [i]S Berlov[/i]

A game is played in three moves. The first player picks any real number, then the second player makes it the coefficient of a cubic, except that the coefficient of $x^3$ is already fixed at $1$. Can the first player make his choices so that the final cubic has three distinct integer roots?

Let $S$ the set of natural numbers from $1$ up to $1001$ , $S=\{1,2,...,1001\}$. Lisandro thinks of a number $N$ of $S$ , and Carla has to find out that number with the following procedure. She gives Lisandro a list of subsets of $S$, Lisandro reads it and tells Carla how many subsets of her list contain $N$ . If Carla wishes, she can repeat the same thing with a second list, and then with a third, but no more than $3$ are allowed. What is the smallest total number of subsets that allow Carla to find $N$ for sure?

$n^2$ real numbers are written in a square $n \times n$ table so that the sum of the numbers in each row and column equals zero. A move is to add a row to one column and subtract it from another (so if the entries are $a_{ij}$ and we select row $i$, column $h$ and column $k$, then column h becomes $a_{1h} + a_{i1}, a_{2h} + a_{i2}, ... , a_{nh} + a_{in}$, column $k$ becomes $a_{1k} - a_{i1}, a_{2k} - a_{i2}, ... , a_{nk} - a_{in}$, and the other entries are unchanged). Show that we can make all the entries zero by a series of moves.

Leo and Smilla find $2020$ gold nuggets with masses $1,2,\dots,2020$ gram, which they distribute to a red and a blue treasure chest according to the following rule: First, Leo chooses one of the chests and tells its colour to Smilla. Then Smilla chooses one of the not yet distributed nuggets and puts it into this chest. This is repeated until all the nuggets are distributed. Finally, Smilla chooses one of the chests and wins all the nuggets from this chest. How many gram of gold can Smilla make sure to win?

Two grasshoppers sit at opposite ends of the interval $[0, 1]$. A finite number of points (greater than zero) in the interval are marked. A move is for a grasshopper to select a marked point and jump over it to the equidistant point the other side. This point must lie in the interval for the move to be allowed, but it does not have to be marked. What is the smallest $n$ such that if each grasshopper makes $n$ moves or less, then they end up with no marked points between them?

Given $1990$ piles of stones, containing $1, 2, 3, ... , 1990$ stones. A move is to take an equal number of stones from one or more piles. How many moves are needed to take all the stones?

Players $A$ and $B$ play the following game. Each of them throws a dice, and if the outcomes are $x$ and $y$ respectively, a list of all two digit numbers $10a + b$ with $a,b\in \{1,..,6\}$ and $10a + b \le 10x + y$ is created. Then the players alternately reduce the list by replacing a pair of numbers in the list by their absolute difference, until only one number remains. If the remaining number is of the same parity as the outcome of $A$’s throw, then $A$ is proclaimed the winner. What is the probability that $A$ wins the game?

A positive integer $a$ is selected, and some positive integers are written on a board. Alice and Bob play the following game. On Alice's turn, she must replace some integer $n$ on the board with $n+a$, and on Bob's turn he must replace some even integer $n$ on the board with $n/2$. Alice goes first and they alternate turns. If on his turn Bob has no valid moves, the game ends. After analyzing the integers on the board, Bob realizes that, regardless of what moves Alice makes, he will be able to force the game to end eventually. Show that, in fact, for this value of $a$ and these integers on the board, the game is guaranteed to end regardless of Alice's or Bob's moves.

The following operation is allowed on a finite graph: Choose an arbitrary cycle of length 4 (if there is any), choose an arbitrary edge in that cycle, and delete it from the graph. For a fixed integer ${n\ge 4}$, find the least number of edges of a graph that can be obtained by repeated applications of this operation from the complete graph on $n$ vertices (where each pair of vertices are joined by an edge). [i]Proposed by Norman Do, Australia[/i]

Peter marks several cells on a $5\times 5$ board. Basil wins if he can cover all marked cells with three-cell corners. The corners must be inside the board and not overlap. What is the least number of cells Peter should mark to prevent Basil from winning? (Cells of the corners must coincide with the cells of the board).

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Two players $A$ and $B$ play a game in which they take turns choosing positive integers $k \le n$. The rules of the game are: (i) A player cannot choose a number that has been chosen by either player on any previous turn. (ii) A player cannot choose a number consecutive to any of those the player has already chosen on any previous turn. (iii) The game is a draw if all numbers have been chosen; otherwise the player who cannot choose a number anymore loses the game. The player $A$ takes the first turn. Determine the outcome of the game, assuming that both players use optimal strategies. [i]Proposed by Finland[/i]

Adithya and Bill are playing a game on a connected graph with $n > 2$ vertices, two of which are labeled $A$ and $B$, so that $A$ and $B$ are distinct and non-adjacent and known to both players. Adithya starts on vertex $A$ and Bill starts on $B$. Each turn, both players move simultaneously: Bill moves to an adjacent vertex, while Adithya may either move to an adjacent vertex or stay at his current vertex. Adithya loses if he is on the same vertex as Bill, and wins if he reaches $B$ alone. Adithya cannot see where Bill is, but Bill can see where Adithya is. Given that Adithya has a winning strategy, what is the maximum possible number of edges the graph may have? (Your answer may be in terms of $n$.) [i]Proposed by Steven Liu[/i]

Humberto and Luciano use the break between classes to have fun with the following game: Humberto writes a list of distinct positive integers on a green sheet of paper and hands it to Luciano. Luciano then writes on a board all the possible sums, without repetitions, of one or more different numbers written on the green sheet. For example, if Humberto writes $1$, $3$ and $4$ on the green sheet, Luciano will write $1$, $3$, $4$, $5$, $7$ and $8$ on the board. (a) Let $n$ be a positive integer. Determine all positive integers $k$ such that Humberto can write a list of $n$ numbers on the green sheet in order to guarantee that Luciano will write exactly $k$ numbers on the board. (b) Luciano now decides to write a list of $m$ distinct positive integers on a yellow sheet of paper. Determine the smallest positive integer $m$ such that it is possible for Luciano to write this list so that, for any list that Humberto writes on the green sheet, with a maximum of $2023$ numbers, not all the numbers on the yellow sheet will be written on the board.

Lamija and Faris are playing the following game. Cards, which are numerated from $1$ to $100$, are placed one next to other, starting from $1$ to $100$. Now Faris picks every $7$th card, and after that every card which contains number $7$. After that Lamija picks from remaining cards ones divisible with $5$, and after that cards which contain number $5$. Who will have more cards and how many ? How would game end, if Lamija started with "$5$ rule" and Faris continues with "$7$ rule"?

The numbers $1,2,\dots,2000$ are written on the board. Two players are playing a game with alternating moves. A move consists of erasing two number $a,b$ and writing $a^b$. After some time only one number is left. The first player wins, if the numbers last digit is $2$, $7$ or $8$. If not, the second player wins. Who has a winning strategy? [I]Proposed by V. Frank[/i]

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Humanity will begin to colonize Mars. The SpaceY and SpaceZ agencies will be responsible for traveling between the planets. To prevent the rockets from colliding, they will travel alternately, with SpaceY making the first trip. On each trip, the responsible agency will do one of two types of mission: (i) choose a positive integer $k$ and take $k$ people to Mars, creating a new colony on the planet and settling them in that colony; (ii) choose some existing colony on Mars and a positive integer $k$ strictly smaller than the population of that colony, and bring $k$ people from that colony back to Earth. To maintain the organization on Mars, a mission cannot result in two colonies with the same population and the number of colonies must be at most $n$. The first agency that cannot carry out a mission will go bankrupt. Determine, in terms of $n$, which agency can guarantee that it will not go bankrupt first.

A hunter and an invisible rabbit play a game in the Euclidean plane. The rabbit's starting point, $A_0,$ and the hunter's starting point, $B_0$ are the same. After $n-1$ rounds of the game, the rabbit is at point $A_{n-1}$ and the hunter is at point $B_{n-1}.$ In the $n^{\text{th}}$ round of the game, three things occur in order: [list=i] [*]The rabbit moves invisibly to a point $A_n$ such that the distance between $A_{n-1}$ and $A_n$ is exactly $1.$ [*]A tracking device reports a point $P_n$ to the hunter. The only guarantee provided by the tracking device to the hunter is that the distance between $P_n$ and $A_n$ is at most $1.$ [*]The hunter moves visibly to a point $B_n$ such that the distance between $B_{n-1}$ and $B_n$ is exactly $1.$ [/list] Is it always possible, no matter how the rabbit moves, and no matter what points are reported by the tracking device, for the hunter to choose her moves so that after $10^9$ rounds, she can ensure that the distance between her and the rabbit is at most $100?$ [i]Proposed by Gerhard Woeginger, Austria[/i]

Two players take turns alternatively and remove a number from $1,2,\dots,1000$. Players can not remove a number that differ with a number already removed by $1$ also they can not remove a number such that it sums up with another removed number to $1001$. The player who can not move loses. Determine the winner.

Given a $101\times 200$ sheet of graph paper, we start moving from a corner square in the direction of the square’s diagonal (not the sheet’s diagonal) to the border of the sheet, then change direction obeying the laws of light’s reflection. Will we ever reach a corner square? [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/b/8/4ec2f4583f406feda004c7fb4f11a424c9b9ae.png[/img]

Isaak and Jeremy play the following game. Isaak says to Jeremy that he thinks a few $2^n$ integers $k_1,..,k_{2^n}$. Jeremy asks questions of the form: ''Is it true that $k_i<k_j$ ?'' in which Isaak answers by always telling the truth. After $n2^{n-1}$ questions, Jeramy must decide whether numbers of Isaak are all distinct each other or not. Prove that Jeremy has bo way to be ''sure'' for his final decision. (UK)

$10$ people are sitting at a round table. There are some nuts in front of each of them, $100$ nuts altogether. After a certain signal each person passes some of his nuts to the person sitting to his right . If he has an even number of nuts, he passes half of them; otherwise he passes one nut plus half of the remaining nuts. This procedure is repeated over and over again. Prove that eventually everyone will have exactly $10$ nuts. (A Shapovalov)

The main building of ETH Zurich is a rectangle divided into unit squares. Every side of a square is a wall, with certain walls having doors. The outer wall of the main building has no doors. A number of participants of the SMO have gathered in the main building lost. You can only move from one square to another through doors. We have indicates that there is a walkable path between every two squares of the main building. Cyril wants the participants to find each other again by having everyone on the same square leads. To do this, he can give them the following instructions via walkie-talkie: North, East, South or West. After each instruction, each participant simultaneously attempts a square in that direction to go. If there is no door in the corresponding wall, he remains standing. Show that Cyril can reach his goal after a finite number of directions, no matter which one square the participants at the beginning. [hide=original wording]Das Hauptgebäude der ETH Zürich ist ein in Einheitsquadrate unterteiltes Rechteck. Jede Seite eines Quadrates ist eine Wand, wobei gewisse Wände Türen haben. Die Aussenwand des Hauptgebäudes hat keine Türen. Eine Anzahl von Teilnehmern der SMO hat sich im Hauptgebäude verirrt. Sie können sich nur durch Türen von einem Quadrat zum anderen bewegen. Wir nehmen an, dass zwischen je zwei Quadraten des Hauptgebäudes ein begehbarer Weg existiert. Cyril möchte erreichen, dass sich die Teilnehmer wieder nden, indem er alle auf dasselbe Quadrat führt. Dazu kann er ihnen per Walkie-Talkie folgende Anweisungen geben: Nord, Ost, Süd oder West. Nach jeder Anweisung versucht jeder Teilnehmer gleichzeitig, ein Quadrat in diese Richtung zu gehen. Falls in der entsprechenden Wand keine Türe ist, bleibt er stehen. Zeige, dass Cyril sein Ziel nach endlich vielen Anweisungen erreichen kann, egal auf welchen Quadraten sich die Teilnehmer am Anfang benden. [/hide]