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.

$20$ 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?

Ana and Beto play against each other. Initially, Ana chooses a non-negative integer $N$ and announces it to Beto. Next Beto writes a succession of $2016$ numbers, $1008$ of them equal to $1$ and $1008$ of them equal to $-1$. Once this is done, Ana must split the succession into several blocks of consecutive terms (each term belonging to exactly one block), and calculate the sum of the numbers of each block. Finally, add the squares of the calculated numbers. If this sum is equal to $N$, Ana wins. If not, Beto wins. Determine all values of $N$ for which Ana can ensure victory, no matter how Beto plays.

Anna and Basilis play a game writing numbers on a board as follows: The two players play in turns and if in the board is written the positive integer $n$, the player whose turn is chooses a prime divisor $p$ of $n$ and writes the numbers $n+p$. In the board, is written at the start number $2$ and Anna plays first. The game is won by whom who shall be first able to write a number bigger or equal to $31$. Find who player has a winning strategy, that is who may writing the appropriate numbers may win the game no matter how the other player plays.

In the middle cell of the $1 \times 2005$ strip there is a chip. Two players each queues move it: first, the first player moves the piece one cell in any direction, then the second one moves it $2$ cells, the $1$st - by $4$ cells, the 2nd by $8$, etc. (the $k$-th shift occurs by $2^{k-1}$ cells). That, whoever cannot make another move loses. Who can win regardless of the opponent's play?

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]

Alina and Bogdan play a game on a $2\times n$ rectangular grid ($n\ge 2$) whose sides of length $2$ are glued together to form a cylinder. Alternating moves, each player cuts out a unit square of the grid. A player loses if his/her move causes the grid to lose circular connection (two unit squares that only touch at a corner are considered to be disconnected). Suppose Alina makes the first move. Which player has a winning strategy?

There are $68$ coins , each coin having a different weight than that of each other . Show how to find the heaviest and lightest coin in $100$ weighings on a balance beam. (S. Fomin, Leningrad)

We are given a set $P$ of points and a set $L$ of straight lines. At the beginning there are 4 points, no three of which are collinear, and $L=\emptyset $. Two players are taking turns adding one or two lines to $L$, where each of these lines has to pass through at least two of the points in $P$. After that all intersection points of the lines in $L$ are added to $P$, if they are not already part of it. A player wins, if after his turn there are three collinear points from $P$, which lie on a line that isn’t from $L$. Find who of the two players has a winning strategy.

Let $m$ and $n$ be positive integers. Player $A$ has a field of $m \times n$, and player $B$ has a $1 \times n$ field (the first is the number of rows). On the first move, each player places on each square of his field white or black chip as he pleases. At each next on the move, each player can change the color of randomly chosen pieces on your field to the opposite, provided that in no row for this move will not change more than one chip (it is allowed not to change not a single chip). The moves are made in turn, player $A$ starts. Player $A$ wins if there is such a position that in the only row player $B$'s squares, from left to right, are the same as in some row of player's field $A$. Prove that player $A$ has the ability to win for any game of player $B$ if and only if $n <2m$.

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.

Given an endless supply of white, blue and red cubes. In a circle arrange any $N$ of them. The robot, standing in any place of the circle, goes clockwise and, until one cube remains, constantly repeats this operation: destroys the two closest cubes in front of him and puts a new one behind him a cube of the same color if the destroyed ones are the same, and the third color if the destroyed two are different colors. We will call the arrangement of the cubes [i]good [/i] if the color of the cube remaining at the very end does not depends on where the robot started. We call $N$ [i]successful [/i] if for any choice of $N$ cubes all their arrangements are good. Find all successful $N$. I. Bogdanov

Rodolfo and Gabriela have $9$ chips numbered from $1$ to $9$ and they have fun with the following game: They remove the chips one by one and alternately (until they have $3$ chips each), with the following rules: $\bullet$ Rodolfo begins the game, choosing a chip and in the following moves he must remove, each time, a chip three units greater than the last chip drawn by Gabriela. $\bullet$ Gabriela, on her turn, chooses a first chip and in the following times she must draw, each time, a chip two units smaller than the last chip that she herself drew. $\bullet$ The game is won by whoever gets the highest number by adding up their three tokens. $\bullet$ If the game cannot be completed, a tie is declared. If they play without making mistakes, how should Rodolfo play to be sure he doesn't lose?

Nicholas and Peter are dividing $(2n+1)$ nuts. Each wants to get more. Three ways for that were suggested. (Each consist of three stages.) First two stages are common. 1 stage: Peter divides nuts onto $2$ heaps, each contain not less than $2$ nuts. 2 stage: Nicholas divides both heaps onto $2$ heaps, each contain not less than $1$ nut. 3 stage: 1 way: Nicholas takes the biggest and the least heaps. 2 way: Nicholas takes two middle size heaps. 3 way: Nicholas takes either the biggest and the least heaps or two middle size heaps, but gives one nut to the Peter for the right of choice. Find the most and the least profitable method for the Nicholas.

Bob and Cob are playing a game on an infinite grid of hexagons. On Bob's turn, he chooses one hexagon that has not yet been chosen, and draws a segment from the center of the hexagon to the midpoints of three of its sides. On Cob's turn, he erases one of Bob's edges made on the previous turn. Bob wins if his edges form a closed loop. Can Bob guarantee to win in a finite amount of time? (Note that Bob may win before Cob can play his next turn.) Proposed by [i]Jonathan He[/i]

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.

There is an empty table with $2^{100}$ rows and $100$ columns. Alice and Eva take turns filling the empty cells of the first row of the table, Alice plays first. In each move, Alice chooses an empty cell and puts a cross in it; Eva in each move chooses an empty cell and puts a zero. When no empty cells remain in the first row, the players move on to the second row, and so on (in each new row Alice plays first). The game ends when all the rows are filled. Alice wants to make as many different rows in the table as possible, while Eva wants to make as few as possible. How many different rows will be there in the table if both follow their best strategies? Proposed by Denis Afrizonov

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)

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.)

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.

Elza draws $2013$ cities on the map and connects some of them with $N$ roads. Then Elza and Susy erase cities in turns until just two cities left (first city is to be erased by Elza). If these cities are connected with a road then Elza wins, otherwise Susy wins. Find the smallest $N$ for which Elza has a winning strategy.

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 $n$)

Given a triangle $ABC$ with the unit area. The first player chooses a point $X$ on the side $[AB]$, than the second -- $Y$ on $[BC]$ side, and, finally, the first chooses a point $Z$ on $[AC]$ side. The first tries to obtain the greatest possible area of the $XYZ$ triangle, the second -- the smallest. What area can obtain the first for sure and how?

Let $n\ge 2$ be an integer. Ariane and Bérénice play a game on the number of the residue classes modulo $n$. At the beginning there is the residue class $1$ on each piece of paper. It is the turn of the player whose turn it is to replace the current residue class $x$ with either $x + 1$ or by $2x$. The two players take turns, with Ariane starting. Ariane wins if the residue class $0$ is reached during the game. Bérénice wins if she can prevent that permanently. Depending on $n$, determine which of the two has a winning strategy.

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.