A box contains $100$ tickets. Each ticket has a real number written on it. There are no restrictions on the type of number except that they are all different (they can be integers, rational, positive, negative, irrational, large or small). Of course there is one ticket that has the highest number and that is the winner. The game consists of drawing a ticket at random, looking at it and deciding whether to keep it or not. If we choose to keep him, it is verified if he was the oldest, in which case we win a million pesos (if we don't win, the game is over). If we don't think it's the biggest, we can discard it and draw another one, repeating the process until we like one or we run out of tickets. Going back to choose a previously discarded ticket is prohibited. Find a game strategy that gives at least a $25\%$ chance of winning.

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?

The King gives the following task to his two wizards. The First Wizard should choose $7$ distinct positive integers with total sum $100$ and secretly submit them to the King. To the Second Wizard he should tell only the fourth largest number. The Second Wizard must figure out all the chosen numbers. Can the wizards succeed for sure? The wizards cannot discuss their strategy beforehand. (Mikhail Evdokimov)

There are $n$ coins in a row. Two players take turns picking a coin and flipping it. The location of the heads and tails should not repeat. Loses the one who can not make a move. Which of player can always win, no matter how his opponent plays?

The archipelago Barrantes - $n$ is a group of islands connected by bridges as follows: there are a main island (Humberto), in the first step I place an island below Humberto and one above from Humberto and I connect these 2 islands to Humberto. I put $2$ islands to the left of these $2$ new islands and I connect them with a bridge to the island that they have on their right. In the second step I take the last $2$ islands and I apply the same process that I applied to Humberto. In the third step I apply the same process to the $4$ new islands. We repeat this step n times we reflect the archipelago that we have on a vertical line to the right of Humberto. We connect Humberto with his reflection and so we have the archipelago Barrantes -$n$. However, the archipelago Barrantes -$n$ exists on a small planet cylindrical, so that the islands to the left of the archipelago are in fact the islands that are connected to the islands on the right. The figure shows the Barrantes archipelago -$2$, The islands at the edges are still numbered to show how the archipelago connects around the cylindrical world, the island numbered $1$ on the left is the same as the island numbered $1$ on the right. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/e/c/803d95ce742c2739729fdb4d74af59d4d0652f.png[/img] One day two bands of pirates arrive at the archipelago Barrantes - $n$: The pirates Black Beard and the Straw Hat Pirates. Blackbeard proposes a game to Straw Hat: The first player conquers an island, the next player must conquer an island connected to the island that was conquered in the previous turn (clearly not conquered on a previous shift). The one who cannot conquer any island in his turn loses. Straw Hat decides to give the first turn to Blackbeard. Prove that Straw Hat has a winning strategy for every $n$.

Ahmad and Salem play the following game. Ahmad writes two integers (not necessarily different) on a board. Salem writes their sum and product. Ahmad does the same thing: he writes the sum and product of the two numbers which Salem has just written. They continue in this manner, not stopping unless the two players write the same two numbers one after the other (for then they are stuck!). The order of the two numbers which each player writes is not important. Thus if Ahmad starts by writing $3$ and $-2$, the first five moves (or steps) are as shown: (a) Step 1 (Ahmad) $3$ and $-2$ (b) Step 2 (Salem) $1$ and $-6$ (c) Step 3 (Ahmad) $-5$ and $-6$ (d) Step 4 (Salem) $-11$ and $30$ (e) Step 5 (Ahmad) $19$ and $-330$ (i) Describe all pairs of numbers that Ahmad could write, and ensure that Salem must write the same numbers, and so the game stops at step 2. (ii) What pair of integers should Ahmad write so that the game finishes at step 4? (iii) Describe all pairs of integers which Ahmad could write at step 1, so that the game will finish after finitely many steps. (iv) Ahmad and Salem decide to change the game. The first player writes three numbers on the board, $u, v$ and $w$. The second player then writes the three numbers $u + v + w,uv + vw + wu$ and $uvw$, and they proceed as before, taking turns, and using this new rule describing how to work out the next three numbers. If Ahmad goes first, determine all collections of three numbers which he can write down, ensuring that Salem has to write the same three numbers at the next step.

Ward and Gabrielle are playing a game on a large sheet of paper. At the start of the game, there are $999$ ones on the sheet of paper. Ward and Gabrielle each take turns alternatingly, and Ward has the first turn. During their turn, a player must pick two numbers a and b on the sheet such that $gcd(a, b) = 1$, erase these numbers from the sheet, and write the number $a + b$ on the sheet. The first player who is not able to do so, loses. Determine which player can always win this game.

The Y2K Game is played on a $1 \times 2000$ grid as follows. Two players in turn write either an S or an O in an empty square. The first player who produces three consecutive boxes that spell SOS wins. If all boxes are filled without producing SOS then the game is a draw. Prove that the second player has a winning strategy.

A game is played with two heaps of $p$ and $q$ stones. Two players alternate playing, with $A$ starting. A player in turn takes away one heap and divides the other heap into two smaller ones. A player who cannot perform a legal move loses the game. For which values of $p$ and $q$ can $A$ force a victory?

A traveller visited a village whose inhabitants either always tell the truth or always lie. The villagers stood in a circle facing the centre of the circle, and each villager announced whether the person standing to his right is a truth-teller. On the basis of this information, the traveller was able to determine what fraction of the villagers were liars. What was this fraction? (B, Frenkin)

On her blackboard, Alice has written $n$ integers strictly greater than $1$. Then, she can, as often as she likes, erase two numbers $a$ and $b$ such that $a \neq b$, and replace them with $q$ and $q^2$, where $q$ is the product of the prime factors of $ab$ (each prime factor is counted only once). For instance, if Alice erases the numbers $4$ and $6$, the prime factors of $ab = 2^3 \times 3$ and $2$ and $3$, and Alice writes $q = 6$ and $q^2 =36$. Prove that, after some time, and whatever Alice's strategy is, the list of numbers written on the blackboard will never change anymore. [i]Note: The order of the numbers of the list is not important.[/i]

$20$ numbers are written on the board $1, 2, ... ,20$. Two players are putting signs before the numbers in turn ($+$ or $-$). The first wants to obtain the minimal possible absolute value of the sum. What is the maximal value of the absolute value of the sum that can be achieved by the second player?

We have two piles with $2000$ and $2017$ coins respectively. Ann and Bob take alternate turns making the following moves: The player whose turn is to move picks a pile with at least two coins, removes from that pile $t$ coins for some $2\le t \le 4$, and adds to the other pile $1$ coin. The players can choose a different $t$ at each turn, and the player who cannot make a move loses. If Ann plays first determine which player has a winning strategy.

To each vertex of a regular pentagon an integer is assigned, so that the sum of all five numbers is positive. If three consecutive vertices are assigned the numbers $x,y,z$ respectively, and $y<0$, then the following operation is allowed: $x,y,z$ are replaced by $x+y,-y,z+y$ respectively. Such an operation is performed repeatedly as long as at least one of the five numbers is negative. Determine whether this procedure necessarily comes to an end after a finite number of steps.

The Devil and the Man play a game. Initially, the Man pays some cash $s$ to the Devil. Then he lists some $97$ triples $\{i,j,k\}$ consisting of positive integers not exceeding $100$. After that, the Devil draws some convex polygon $A_1A_2...A_{100}$ with area $100$ and pays to the Man, the sum of areas of all triangles $A_iA_jA_k$. Determine the maximal value of $s$ which guarantees that the Man receives at least as much cash as he paid. [i]Proposed by Nikolai Beluhov, Bulgaria[/i]

On a blackboard, there are $17$ integers not divisible by $17$. Alice and Bob play a game. Alice starts and they alternately play the following moves: $\bullet$ Alice chooses a number $a$ on the blackboard and replaces it with $a^2$ $\bullet$ Bob chooses a number $b$ on the blackboard and replaces it with $b^3$. Alice wins if the sum of the numbers on the blackboard is a multiple of $17$ after a finite number of steps. Prove that Alice has a winning strategy. (Daniel Holmes)

There are $11$ empty boxes. In one move, a player can put one coin in each of some $10$ boxes. Two people play, taking turns. The winner is the player after whose move in one of the boxes there will be $21$ coins. Who has a winning strategy?

We have a square of side $1$ and a number $\ell$ such that $0 <\ell <\sqrt2$. Two players $A$ and $B$, in turn, draw in the square an open segment (without its two ends) of length $\ell $, starts A. Each segment after the first cannot have points in common with the previously drawn segments. He loses the player who cannot make his play. Determine if either player has a winning strategy.

Sixty-four dice with the numbers ”one” to ”six” are placed on one table and formed into a square with eight horizontal and eight vertical rows of cubes pushed together. By rotating the dice, while maintaining their place, we want to finally have all sixty-four dice the "one" points upwards. Each dice however, may not be turned individually, but only every eight dice in a horizontal or vertical row together by $90^o$ to the longitudinal axis of this row may turn. Prove that it is always possible to solve the dice by repeatedly applying the permitted type of rotation to the required end position.

Let $n$ be a natural number. At first the cells of a table $2n$ x $2n$ are colored in white. Two players $A$ and $B$ play the following game. First is $A$ who has to color $m$ arbitrary cells in red and after that $B$ chooses $n$ rows and $n$ columns and color their cells in black. Player $A$ wins, if there is at least one red cell on the board. Find the least value of $m$ for which $A$ wins no matter how $B$ plays.

At the beginning of a two-player game, the number $2004!$ is written on the blackboard. The players move alternately. In each move, a positive integer smaller than the number on the blackboard and divisible by at most $20$ different prime numbers is chosen. This is subtracted from the number on the blackboard, which is erased and replaced by the difference. The winner is the player who obtains $0$. Does the player who goes first or the one who goes second have a guaranteed win, and how should that be achieved?

The figure shows a game board with $16$ squares. At the start of the game, two cars are placed in different squares. Two players $A$ and $B$ alternately take turns, and A starts. In each turn, the player chooses one of the cars and moves it one or more squares to the right. The left-most car may never overtake or land on the same square as the right-most car. The first player which is unable to move loses. [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/1/b/8d6f40fac4983d6aa9bd076392c91a6d200f6a.png[/img] (a) Prove that A can win regardless of how $B$ plays, if the two cars start as shown in the figure. (b) Determine all starting positions in which $B$ can win regardless of how $A$ plays.

Two are playing the game "cats and rats" on the chess-board $8\times 8$. The first has one piece -- a rat, the second -- several pieces -- cats. All the pieces have four available moves -- up, down, left, right -- to the neighbour field, but the rat can also escape from the board if it is on the boarder of the chess-board. If they appear on the same field -- the rat is eaten. The players move in turn, but the second can move all the cats in independent directions. a) Let there be two cats. The rat is on the interior field. Is it possible to put the cats on such a fields on the border that they will be able to catch the rat? b) Let there be three cats, but the rat moves twice during the first turn. Prove that the rat can escape.

The lock of a safe consists of 3 wheels, each of which may be set in 8 different ways positions. Due to a defect in the safe mechanism the door will open if any two of the three wheels are in the correct position. What is the smallest number of combinations which must be tried if one is to guarantee being able to open the safe (assuming the "right combination" is not known)?

Andy, Bess, Charley and Dick play on a $1000 \times 1000$ board. They make moves in turn: Andy first, then Bess, then Charley and finally Dick, after that Andy moves again and so on. At each move a player must paint several unpainted squares forming $2 \times 1, 1 \times 2, 1 \times 3$, or $3 \times 1$ rectangle. The player that cannot move loses. Prove that some three players can cooperate to make the fourth player lose.