A game has two players. In the game there is a rectangular chocolate bar, with $60$ pieces, arranged in a $6 \times 1 0$ formation , which can be broken only along the lines dividing the pieces. The first player breaks the bar along one line, discarding one section . The second player then breaks the remaining section, discarding one section. The first player repeats this process with the remaining section , and so on. The game is won by the player who leaves a single piece. In a perfect game which player wins? {S. Fomin , Leningrad)

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.

There is a pile with 2022 rocks. Ana y Beto play by turns to the following game, starting with Ana: in each turn, if there are $n$ rocks in the pile, the player can remove $S(n)$ rocks or $n-S(n)$ rocks, where $S(n)$ is the sum of the the digits of $n$. The person who removes the last rock wins. Determine which of the two players has a winning strategy and describe it.

Given two natural numbers $a < b$, Xavier and Ze play the following game. First, Xavier writes $a$ consecutive numbers of his choice; then, repeat some of them, also of his choice, until he has $b$ numbers, with the condition that the sum of the $b$ numbers written is an even number. Ze wins the game if he manages to separate the numbers into two groups with the same amount. Otherwise, Xavier wins. For example, for $a = 4$ and $b = 7$, if Xavier wrote the numbers $3,4,5,6,3,3,4$, Ze could win, separating these numbers into groups $3,3 ,4,4$ and $3,5,6$. For what values of $a$ and $b$ can Xavier guarantee victory?

Mr. Ganzgenau would like to take his tea mug out of the microwave right at the front. But Mr. Ganzgenau's microwave doesn't really want to be very precise play along. To be precise, the two of them play the following game: Let $n$ be a positive integer. The turntable of the microwave makes one in $n$ seconds full turn. Each time the microwave is switched on, an integer number of seconds turned either clockwise or counterclockwise so that there are n possible positions in which the tea mug can remain. One of these positions is right up front. At the beginning, the microwave turns the tea mug to one of the $n$ possible positions. After that Mr. Ganzgenau enters an integer number of seconds in each move, and the microwave decides either clockwise or counterclockwise this number of spin for seconds. For which $n$ can Mr. Ganzgenau force the tea cup after a finite number of puffs to be able to take it out of the microwave right up front? (Birgit Vera Schmidt) [hide=original wording, in case it doesn't make much sense]Herr Ganzgenau möchte sein Teehäferl ganz genau vorne aus der Mikrowelle herausnehmen. Die Mikrowelle von Herrn Ganzgenau möchte da aber so ganz genau gar nicht mitspielen. Ganz genau gesagt spielen die beiden das folgende Spiel: Sei n eine positive ganze Zahl. In n Sekunden macht der Drehteller der Mikrowelle eine vollständige Umdrehung. Bei jedem Einschalten der Mikrowelle wird eine ganzzahlige Anzahl von Sekunden entweder im oder gegen den Uhrzeigersinn gedreht, sodass es n mögliche Positionen gibt, auf denen das Teehäferl stehen bleiben kann. Eine dieser Positionen ist ganz genau vorne. Zu Beginn dreht die Mikrowelle das Teehäferl auf eine der n möglichen Positionen. Danach gibt Herr Ganzgenau in jedem Zug eine ganzzahlige Anzahl von Sekunden ein, und die Mikrowelle entscheidet, entweder im oder gegen den Uhrzeigersinn diese Anzahl von Sekunden lang zu drehen. Für welche n kann Herr Ganzgenau erzwingen, das Teehäferl nach endlich vielen Zügen ganz genau vorne aus der Mikrowelle nehmen zu können? (Birgit Vera Schmidt) [/hide]

The numbers $1, 2, 3, ... , n$ are written on a blackboard (where $n \ge 3$). A move is to replace two numbers by their sum and non-negative difference. A series of moves makes all the numbers equal $k$. Find all possible $k$

Mojtaba and Hooman are playing a game. Initially Mojtaba draws $2018$ vectors with zero sum. Then in each turn, starting with Mojtaba, the player takes a vector and puts it on the plane. After the first move, the players must put their vector next to the previous vector (the beginning of the vector must lie on the end of the previous vector). At last, there will be a closed polygon. If this polygon is not self-intersecting, Mojtaba wins. Otherwise Hooman. Who has the winning strategy? [i]Proposed by Mahyar Sefidgaran, Jafar Namdar [/i]

Two players $A$ and $B$ take stones one after the other from a heap with $n \ge 2$ stones. $A$ begins the game and takes at least one stone, but no more than $n -1$ stones. Thereafter, a player on turn takes at least one, but no more than the other player has taken before him. The player who takes the last stone wins. Who of the players has a winning strategy?

Three numbers were written with a chalk on the blackboard. The following operation was repeated several times: One of the numbers was cleared and the sum of two other numbers, decreased by $1$, was written instead of it. The final set of numbers is $\{17, 1967, 1983\}$.Is it possible to admit that the initial numbers were a) $\{2, 2, 2\}$? b) $\{3, 3, 3\}$?

Anna and Brian play a game where they put the domino tiles (of size $2 \times 1$) in a boards composed of $n \times 1$ boxes. Tiles must be placed so that they cover exactly two boxes. Players take turnslaying each tile and the one laying last tile wins. They play once for each $n$, where $n = 2, 3,\dots,2007$. Show that Anna wins at least $1505$ of the games if she always starts first and they both always play optimally, ie if they do their best to win in every move.

Let $n$ be a positive integer. Lavi Dopes has two boards $n \times n$. On the first board, he writes an integer in each of his $n^2$ squares (the written numbers are not necessarily distinct). On the second board, he writes, on each square, the sum of the numbers corresponding, on the first board, to that square and to all its adjacent squares (that is, those that share a common vertex). For example, if $n = 3$ and if Lavi Dopes writes the numbers on the first board, as shown below, the second board will look like this. Next, Davi Lopes receives only the second board, and from it, he tries to discover the numbers written by Lavi Dopes on the first board. (a) If $n = 4$, is it possible that Davi Lopes always manages to find the numbers written by Lavi Dopes on the first board? (b) If $n = 5$, is it possible that Davi Lopes always manages to find the numbers written by Lavi Dopes on the first board?

A game for two. One gives a digit and the second substitutes it instead of a star in the following difference: $$**** - **** = $$ Then the first gives the next digit, and so on $8$ times. The first wants to obtain the greatest possible difference, the second -- the least. Prove that: 1. The first can operate in such a way that the difference would be not less than $4000$, not depending on the second's behaviour. 2. The second can operate in such a way that the difference would be not greater than $4000$, not depending on the first's behaviour.

A [i]site[/i] is any point $(x, y)$ in the plane such that $x$ and $y$ are both positive integers less than or equal to 20. Initially, each of the 400 sites is unoccupied. Amy and Ben take turns placing stones with Amy going first. On her turn, Amy places a new red stone on an unoccupied site such that the distance between any two sites occupied by red stones is not equal to $\sqrt{5}$. On his turn, Ben places a new blue stone on any unoccupied site. (A site occupied by a blue stone is allowed to be at any distance from any other occupied site.) They stop as soon as a player cannot place a stone. Find the greatest $K$ such that Amy can ensure that she places at least $K$ red stones, no matter how Ben places his blue stones. [i]Proposed by Gurgen Asatryan, Armenia[/i]

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.

$2019$ point grasshoppers sit on a line. At each move one of the grasshoppers jumps over another one and lands at the point the same distance away from it. Jumping only to the right, the grasshoppers are able to position themselves so that some two of them are exactly $1$ mm apart. Prove that the grasshoppers can achieve the same, jumping only to the left and starting from the initial position. (Sergey Dorichenko)

The following expression $x^{30} + *x^{29} +...+ *x+8 = 0$ is written on a blackboard. Two players $A$ and $B$ play the following game. $A$ starts the game. He replaces all the asterisks by the natural numbers from $1$ to $30$ (using each of them exactly once). Then player $B$ replace some of" $+$ "by ” $-$ "(by his own choice). The goal of $A$ is to get the equation having a real root greater than $10$, while the goal of $B$ is to get the equation having a real root less that or equal to $10$. If both of the players achieve their goals or nobody of them achieves his goal, then the result of the game is a draw. Otherwise, the player achieving his goal is a winner. Who of the players wins if both of them play to win? (I.Bliznets)

There are $100$ piles of $400$ stones each. At every move, Pete chooses two piles, removes one stone from each of them, and is awarded the number of points, equal to the non- negative difference between the numbers of stones in two new piles. Pete has to remove all stones. What is the greatest total score Pete can get, if his initial score is $0$? (Maxim Didin)

Three persons $A,B,C$, are playing the following game: A $k$-element subset of the set $\{1, . . . , 1986\}$ is randomly chosen, with an equal probability of each choice, where $k$ is a fixed positive integer less than or equal to $1986$. The winner is $A,B$ or $C$, respectively, if the sum of the chosen numbers leaves a remainder of $0, 1$, or $2$ when divided by $3$. For what values of $k$ is this game a fair one? (A game is fair if the three outcomes are equally probable.)

A figure on a computer screen shows $n$ points on a sphere, no four coplanar. Some pairs of points are joined by segments. Each segment is colored red or blue. For each point there is a key that switches the colors of all segments with that point as endpoint. For every three points there is a sequence of key presses that makes the three segments between them red. Show that it is possible to make all the segments on the screen red. Find the smallest number of key presses that can turn all the segments red, starting from the worst case.

Two players play alternatively on an infinite square grid. The first player puts an $X$ in an empty cell and the second player puts an $O$ in an empty cell. The first player wins if he gets $11$ adjacent $X$'s in a line - horizontally, vertically or diagonally. Show that the second player can always prevent the first player from winning.

Chris and Michael play a game on a $5 \times 5$ board, initially containing some black and white counters as shown below: [img]https://cdn.artofproblemsolving.com/attachments/8/0/42e1a64b3524a0db722c007b8d6b8eddf2d9e5.png[/img] Chris begins by removing any black counter, and sliding a white counter from an adjacent square onto the empty square. From that point on, the players take turns. Michael slides a black counter onto an adjacent empty square, and Chris does the same with white counters (no more counters are removed). If a player has no legal move, then he loses. (a) Show that, even if Chris and Michael play cooperatively, the game will come to an end. (b) Which player has a winning strategy?

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.

The box contains a complete set of dominoes. Two players take turns choosing one dice from the box and placing them on the table, applying them to the already laid out chain on either of the two sides according to the rules of domino. The one who cannot make his next move loses. Who will win if they both played correctly?

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.

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]