Found problems: 304
Hamza and Majid play a game on a horizontal $3 \times 2015$ white board. They alternate turns, with Hamza going first. A legal move for Hamza consists of painting three unit squares forming a horizontal $1 \times 3$ rectangle. A legal move for Majid consists of painting three unit squares forming a vertical $3\times 1$ rectangle. No one of the two players is allowed to repaint already painted squares. The last player to make a legal move wins. Which of the two players, Hamza or Majid, can guarantee a win no matter what strategy his opponent chooses and what is his strategy to guarantee a win?
Lê Anh Vinh
a) A game is played on an infinite plane. There are fifty one pieces, one “wolf” and $50$ “sheep”. There are two players. The first commences by moving the wolf. Then the second player moves one of the sheep, the first player moves the wolf, the second player moves a sheep, and so on. The wolf and the sheep can move in any direction through a distance of up to one metre per move. Is it true that for any starting position the wolf will be able to capture at least one sheep?
b) A game is played on an infinite plane. There are two players. One has a piece known as a “wolf”, while the other has $K$ pieces known as “sheep”. The first player moves the wolf, then the second player moves a sheep, the first player moves the wolf again, the second player moves a sheep, and so on. The wolf and the sheep can move in any direction, with a maximum distance of one metre per move. Is it true that for any value of $K$ there exists an initial position from which the wolf can not capture any sheep?
PS. (a) was the junior version, (b) the senior one
Alexey and Bogdan play a game with two piles of stones. In the beginning, one of the piles contains $2021$ stones, and the second is empty. In one move, each of the guys has to pick up an even number of stones (more than zero) from an arbitrary pile, then transfer half of the stones taken to another pile, and the other half - to remove from the game. Loses the one who cannot make a move. Who will win this game if both strive to win, and Bogdan begins?
(Oleksii Masalitin)
We are given a row of $n\geq7$ tiles. In the leftmost 3 tiles, there is a white piece each, and in the rightmost 3 tiles, there is a black piece each. The white and black players play in turns (the white starts). In each move, a player may take a piece of their color, and move it to an adjacent tile, so long as it's not occupied by a piece of the [u]same color[/u]. If the new tile is empty, nothing happens. If the tile is occupied by a piece of the [u]opposite color[/u], both pieces are destroyed (both white and black). The player who destroys the last two pieces wins the game.
Which player has a winning strategy, and what is it? (The answer may depend on $n$)
An integer is given $N> 1$. Arne and Britt play the following game:
(1) Arne says a positive integer $A$.
(2) Britt says an integer $B> 1$ that is either a divisor of $A$ or a multiple of $A$. ($A$ itself is a possibility.)
(3) Arne says a new number $A$ that is either $B - 1, B$ or $B + 1$.
The game continues by repeating steps 2 and 3. Britt wins if she is okay with being told the number $N$ before the $50$th has been said. Otherwise, Arne wins.
a) Show that Arne has a winning strategy if $N = 10$.
b) Show that Britt has a winning strategy if $N = 24$.
c) For which $N$ does Britt have a winning strategy?
Alice and Bob play the following game on a square grid with $2024 \times 2024$ unit squares.
They take turns covering unit squares with stickers including their names. Alice plays the odd-numbered turns, and Bob plays the even-numbered turns. \\
On the $k$-th turn, let $n_k$ be the least integer such that $n_k\geqslant\tfrac{k}{2024}$. If there is at least one square without a sticker, then the player taking the turn:
[list = i]
[*] selects at most $n_k$ unit squares on the grid such that at least one of the chosen unit squares does not have a sticker.
[*] covers each of the selected unit squares with a sticker that has their name on it. If a selected square already has a sticker on it, then that sticker is removed first.
[/list]
At the end of their turn, a player wins if there exist $123$ unit squares containing stickers with that player's name that are placed on horizontally, vertically, or diagonally consecutive unit squares. We consider the game to be a draw if all of the unit squares are covered but no player has won yet. \\
Does Alice have a winning strategy?
[i]Proposed by Erik Paemurru, Estonia[/i]
$10$ 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)
In a game two players alternately choose larger natural numbers. At each turn the difference between the new and the old number must be greater than zero but smaller than the old number. The original number is 2. The winner is considered to be the player who chooses the number $1987$. In a perfect game, which player wins?
Mari and Yuri play the next play. At first, there are two piles on the table, with $m$ and $n$ candies, respectively. At each turn, players eats one pile of candy from the table and distribute another pile of candy into two non-empty parts ,. Everything is done in turn and wins the player who can no longer share the pile (when there is only one candy left). Which player will win if both use the optimal strategy and Mari makes the first move?
a) A game for two.
The first player writes two rows of ten numbers each, the second under the first. He should provide the following property: if number $b$ is written under $a$, and $d$ -- under $c$, then $a + d = b + c$.
The second player has to determine all the numbers. He is allowed to ask the questions like "What number is written in the $x$ place in the $y$ row?"
What is the minimal number of the questions asked by the second player before he founds out all the numbers?
b) There was a table $m\times n$ on the blackboard with the property: if You chose two rows and two columns, then the sum of the numbers in the two opposite vertices of the rectangles formed by those lines equals the sum of the numbers in two another vertices. Some of the numbers are cleaned but it is still possible to restore all the table. What is the minimal possible number of the remaining numbers?
Several zeros, ones and twos are written on the blackboard. An anonymous clean in turn pairs of different numbers, writing, instead of cleaned, the number not equal to each. ($0$ instead of pair $\{1,2\}, 1$ instead of $\{0,2\}, 2$ instead of $\{0,1\}$). Prove that if there remains one number only, it does not depend on the processing order.
Two players, Aurelio and Bernardo, play the following game. Aurelio begins by writing the number $1$. Next it is Bernardo's turn, who writes number $2$. From then on, each player chooses whether to add $1$ to the number just written by the previous player, or whether multiply that number by $2$. Then write the result and it's the other player's turn. The first player to write a number greater than $ 2007$ loses the game. Determine if one of the players can ensure victory no matter what the other does.
(a) Two players take turns taking $1, 2$ or $3$ stones at random from a given set of $3$ piles, in which initially on $11, 22$ and $33$ stones. If after the move of one of the players in any two groups the same number of stones will remain, this player has won. Who will win with the right game of both players?
(b) Two players take turns taking $1$ or $2$ stones from one pile, randomly selected from a given set of $3$ ordered piles, in which at first $100, 200$ and $300$ stones, in order from left to right. Additionally it is forbidden to make a course at which, for some pair of the next handfuls, quantity of stones in the left will be more than the number of stones in the right. If after the move of one of the players of the stones in handfuls will not remain, then this player won. Who will win with the right game of both players?
[hide=original wording]
1. Два гравця по черзi беруть 1, 2 чи 3 камiнця довiльним чином з заданого набору з 3 купок, в
яких спочатку по 11, 22 i 33 камiнцiв. Якщо пiсля хода одного з гравцiв в якихось двух купках
залишиться однакова кiлькiсть камiнцiв, то цей гравець виграв. Хто виграє при правильнiй грi обох
гравцiв?
2. Два гравця по черзi беруть 1 чи 2 камiнця з одної купки, довiльної вибраної з заданого набору
з 3 впорядкованих купок, в яких спочатку по 100, 200 i 300 камiнцiв, в порядку злiва направо.
Додатково забороняется робити ход при якому, для деякої пари сусiднiх купок, кiлькiсть камiнцiв в
лiвiй стане бiльше нiж кiлькiсть камiнцiв в правiй. Якщо пiсля ходу одного з гравцiв камiнцiв в
купках не залишиться, то цей гравець виграв. Хто виграє при правильнiй грi обох гравцiв?[/hide]
A circle is divided by $2018$ points into equal parts. Two players delete these points in turns. A player loses, if after his turn it is possible to draw a diameter of the circle such that there are no undeleted points on one side of it. Which player has a winning strategy?
On a table near the sea, there are $N$ glass boxes where $N<2021$, each containing exactly $2021$ balls. Sowdha and Rafi play a game by taking turns on the boxes where Sowdha takes the first turn. In each turn, a player selects a non-empty box and throws out some of the balls from it into the sea. If a player wants, he can throw out all of the balls in the selected box. The player who throws out the last ball wins. Let $S$ be the sum of all values of $N$ for which Sowdha has a winning strategy and let $R$ be the sum of all values of $N$ for which Rafi has a winning strategy. What is the value of $\frac{R-S}{10}$?
A fraction with $1010$ squares in the numerator and $1011$ squares in the denominator serves as a game board for a two player game. $$\frac{\square + \square +...+ \square}{\square + \square +...+ \square+ \square}$$ Players take turns in moves. In each turn, the player chooses one of the numbers $1, 2,. . . , 2021$ and inserts it in any empty field. Each number can only be used once. The starting player wins if the value of the fraction after all the fields is filled differs from number $1$ by less than $10^{-6}$. Otherwise, the other player wins. Decide which of the players has a winning strategy.
(Pavel Šalom)
Let $n \ge 4$ and $k$ be positive integers. We consider $n$ lines in the plane between which there are not two parallel nor three concurrent. In each of the $\frac{n(n-1)}{2}$ points of intersection of these lines, $k$ coins are placed. Ana and Beto play the following game in turns: each player, in turn, chooses one of those points that does not share one of the $n$ lines with the point chosen immediately before by the other player, and removes a coin from that point. Ana starts and can choose any point. The player who cannot make his move loses. Determine based on $n$ and $k$ who has a winning strategy.
The game of Greed starts with an initial configuration of one or more piles of stones.
Player $1$ and Player $2$ take turns to remove stones, beginning with Player $1$. At each turn, a player has two choices:
• take one stone from any one of the piles (a simple move);
• take one stone from each of the remaining piles (a greedy move).
The player who takes the last stone wins.
Consider the following two initial configurations:
(a) There are $2018$ piles, with either $20$ or $18$ stones in each pile.
(b) There are four piles, with $17, 18, 19$, and $20$ stones, respectively.
In each case, find an appropriate strategy that guarantees victory to one of the players.
Veronica, Ana and Gabriela are forming a round and have fun with the following game. One of them chooses a number and says out loud, the one to its left divides it by its largest prime divisor and says the result out loud and so on. The one who says the number out loud $1$ wins , at which point the game ends. Ana chose a number greater than $50$ and less than $100$ and won. Veronica chose the number following the one chosen by Ana and also won. Determine all the numbers that could have been chosen by Ana.
Antonio and Beltran have impeccable logical reasoning, they put on a hat with a integer between $0$ and $19$ (including both) so that each of them sees the number that has the other (but cannot see his own number), and they must try to guess the number that have on their hat.
They have a timer that a bell rings every minute and the moment it rings.
This is when they must say if they know the number on their hat.
A third person tells them: ''the sum of the numbers is $6$ or $11$ or $19$''. At that moment it begins to run time.
After a minute the bell rings and neither of them says anything. The second minute passes , the doorbell rings and neither of us says anything. Time continues to pass and when the bell rings for the tenth time Antonio says that he already knows what is his number.
Just determine the number each has in his hat.
Two people play a game on a $9 \times 9$ board. They move alternately. On each move, the first player draws a cross in an empty cell, and the second player draws a nought in an empty cell. When all $81$ cells are filled, the number $K$ of rows and columns in which there are more crosses and the number $H$ of rows and columns in which there are more noughts are counted. The score for the first player is the difference $B = K- H$. Find a value of $B$ such that the first player can guarantee a score of at least $B$, while the second player can hold the first player's score to at most B, regardless how the opponent plays.
(A Kanel)
Alice and Bob play the following game. To start, Alice arranges the numbers $1,2,\ldots,n$ in some order in a row and then Bob chooses one of the numbers and places a pebble on it. A player's [i]turn[/i] consists of picking up and placing the pebble on an adjacent number under the restriction that the pebble can be placed on the number $k$ at most $k$ times. The two players alternate taking turns beginning with Alice. The first player who cannot make a move loses. For each positive integer $n$, determine who has a winning strategy.
(Game) At the beginning of the game, the organisers place paper disks on the table, grouped into piles which may contain various numbers of disks. The two players take turns. On a player’s turn, their opponent selects two piles (one if there is only one pile left), and the player must remove some number of disks from one of the piles selected. This means that at least one disk has to be removed, and removing all disks in the pile is also permitted. The player removing the last disk from the table wins.
[i]Defeat the organisers in this game twice in a row! A starting position will be given and then you can decide whether you want to go first or second.[/i]
Kostya and Sergey play a game on a white strip of length 2016 cells. Kostya (he plays first) in one move should paint black over two neighboring white cells. Sergey should paint either one white cell either three neighboring white cells. It is forbidden to make a move, after which a white cell is formed the doesn't having any white neighbors. Loses the one that can make no other move. However, if all cells are painted, then Kostya wins. Who will win if he plays the right game (has a winning strategy)?
(a) Two people perform a card trick. The first performer takes $5$ cards from a $52$-card deck (previously shuffled by a member of the audience) , looks at them, and arranges them in a row from left to right: one face down (not necessarily the first one) , the others face up . The second performer guesses correctly the card which is face down. Prove that the performers can agree on a system which always makes this possible.
(b) For their second trick, the first performer arranges four cards in a row, face up, the fifth card is kept hidden. Can they still agree on a system which enables the second performer to correctly guess the hidden card?
(G Galperin)