In the game "cat and mouse" the cat chases the mouse in either labyrinth $A, B$ or $C$ . [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/4/5/429d106736946011f4607cf95956dcb0937c84.png[/img] The cat makes the first move starting at the point marked "$K$" , moving along a marked line to an adjacent point . The mouse then moves , under the same rules, starting from the point marked "$M$" . Then the cat moves again, and so on . If, at a point of time , the cat and mouse are at the same point the cat eats the mouse. Is there available to the cat a strategy which would enable it to catch the mouse , in cases $A, B$ and $C$? (A. Sosinskiy, Moscow)

Julian and Johan are playing a game with an even number of cards, say $2n$ cards, ($n \in Z_{>0}$). Every card is marked with a positive integer. The cards are shuffled and are arranged in a row, in such a way that the numbers are visible. The two players take turns picking cards. During a turn, a player can pick either the rightmost or the leftmost card. Johan is the first player to pick a card (meaning Julian will have to take the last card). Now, a player’s score is the sum of the numbers on the cards that player acquired during the game. Prove that Johan can always get a score that is at least as high as Julian’s.

Ana & Bruno decide to play a game with the following rules.: a) Ana has cards $1, 3, 5,7,..., 2n-1$ b) Bruno has cards $2, 4,6, 8,...,2n$ During the first turn and all odd turns afterwards, Bruno chooses one of his cards first and reveals it to Ana, and Ana chooses one of her cards second. Whoever's card is higher gains a point. During the second turn and all even turns afterwards, Ana chooses one of her cards first and reveals it to Bruno, and Bruno chooses one of his cards second. Similarly, whoever's card is higher gains a point. During each turn, neither player can use a card they have already used on a previous turn. The game ends when all cards have been used after $n$ turns. Determine the highest number of points Ana can earn, and how she manages to do this.

Odin and Evelyn are playing a game, Odin going first. There are initially $3k$ empty boxes, for some given positive integer $k$. On each player’s turn, they can write a non-negative integer in an empty box, or erase a number in a box and replace it with a strictly smaller non-negative integer. However, Odin is only ever allowed to write odd numbers, and Evelyn is only allowed to write even numbers. The game ends when either one of the players cannot move, in which case the other player wins; or there are exactly $k$ boxes with the number $0$, in which case Evelyn wins if all other boxes contain the number $1$, and Odin wins otherwise. Who has a winning strategy? $Agnijo \ Banerjee \ , United \ Kingdom$

Mathematicians $M$ and $N$ each have their own favorite collection of manuals on the book, which he often uses in his work. Once they decided to make a statement in which each mathematician proves at each turn any theorem from his handbook which neither has yet been proven. Everything is done in turn, the mathematician starts $M$. The theorems of the handbook can win first all proven; if the theorems of both manuals can proved at once, wins the last theorem proved by a mathematician. Let $m$ be a theorem in the mathematician's handbook $M$. Find all values of $m$ for which the mathematician $M$ has a winning strategy if is It is known that there are $222$ theorems in the mathematician's handbook $N$ and $101$ of them also appears in the mathematician's $M$ handbook.

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.

Amy and Bec play the following game. Initially, there are three piles, each containing $2020$ stones. The players take turns to make a move, with Amy going first. Each move consists of choosing one of the piles available, removing the unchosen pile(s) from the game, and then dividing the chosen pile into $2$ or $3$ non-empty piles. A player loses the game if he/she is unable to make a move. Prove that Bec can always win the game, no matter how Amy plays.

Let $m$ and $n$ be natural numbers with $mn$ even. Jetze is going to cover an $m \times n$ board (consisting of $m$ rows and $n$ columns) with dominoes, so that every domino covers exactly two squares, dominos do not protrude or overlap, and all squares are covered by a domino. Merlin then moves all the dominoe color red or blue on the board. Find the smallest non-negative integer $V$ (in terms of $m$ and $n$) so that Merlin can always ensure that in each row the number squares covered by a red domino and the number of squares covered by a blue one dominoes are not more than $V$, no matter how Jetze covers the board.

A ladder is a non-decreasing sequence $a_1, a_2, \dots, a_{2020}$ of non-negative integers. Diego and Pablo play by turns with the ladder $1, 2, \dots, 2020$, starting with Diego. In each turn, the player replaces an entry $a_i$ by $a_i'<a_i$, with the condition that the sequence remains a ladder. The player who gets $(0, 0, \dots, 0)$ wins. Who has a winning strategy? [i]Proposed by Violeta Hernández[/i]

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.

There are three piles of matches on the table: one with $100$ matches, one with $200$, and one with $300$. Two players play the following game. They play alternatively, and a player on turn removes one of the piles and divides one of the remaining piles into two nonempty piles. The player who cannot make a legal move loses. Who has a winning strategy? (K. Kokhas’)

The polynomial $$x^{10} + ?x^9 + ?x^8 + ... + ?x + 1$$ is written on the blackboard. Two players substitute (real) numbers instead of one of the question marks in turn. ($9$ turns total.) The first wins if the polynomial will have no real roots. Who wins?

Two students $ A$ and $ B$ are playing the following game: Each of them writes down on a sheet of paper a positive integer and gives the sheet to the referee. The referee writes down on a blackboard two integers, one of which is the sum of the integers written by the players. After that, the referee asks student $ A:$ “Can you tell the integer written by the other student?” If A answers “no,” the referee puts the same question to student $ B.$ If $ B$ answers “no,” the referee puts the question back to $ A,$ and so on. Assume that both students are intelligent and truthful. Prove that after a finite number of questions, one of the students will answer “yes.”

There are a) $2022$, b) $2023$ plates placed around a round table and on each of them there is one coin. Alice and Bob are playing a game that proceeds in rounds indefinitely as follows. In each round, Alice first chooses a plate on which there is at least one coin. Then Bob moves one coin from this plate to one of the two adjacent plates, chosen by him. Determine whether it is possible for Bob to select his moves so that, no matter how Alice selects her moves, there are never more than two coins on any plate.

Let $(m,n,N)$ be a triple of positive integers. Bruce and Duncan play a game on an m\times n array, where the entries are all initially zeroes. The game has the following rules. $\bullet$ The players alternate turns, with Bruce going first. $\bullet$ On Bruce's turn, he picks a row and either adds $1$ to all of the entries in the row or subtracts $1$ from all the entries in the row. $\bullet$ On Duncan's turn, he picks a column and either adds $1$ to all of the entries in the column or subtracts $1$ from all of the entries in the column. $\bullet$ Bruce wins if at some point there is an entry $x$ with $|x|\ge N$. Find all triples $(m, n,N)$ such that no matter how Duncan plays, Bruce has a winning strategy.