Now you too can play the game against a diabolical opponent, just like in the film (but you have to add your own organ music).
Go to www.archimedes-lab.org the game is called Nim
the link is here....
http://www.archimedes-lab.org/game_nim/nim.html
I never knew maths could be such fun.
'i regard it [religion] as a disease born of fear'
bertrand russell.
The computer is impossible to beat! Anyone win yet?
cinemapedant.blogspot.com
I didn't win, but I did enter a weird time loop which wasn't much fun. Someone might even have been shot. Probably not though.
sharehehe. Is this beatable?
shareI did it, i won beat the computer, you gotta find the state of game which is zero sum of digit numbers
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Nim is a game based on binary code; convert each row to binary numbers:
1 = 001
3 = 011
5 = 101
7 = 111
Add up the columns, what you want to do is keep each column as an even number. As you see, this version starts out even, so you want the computer to go first. Whichever stick he takes will create an odd number for you, simply convert whichever column is odd back to even. For instance, if he takes 1 stick from the row of 7, the number will look like this:
001
011
101
110
This creates an odd third column so you want to even this out by changing the row that creates it without changing any of the even columns (in this case, the top one). Continue until you get down to two rows (which should be even when it's the computer's turn). Simply copy him until you get into a position where you can make him take the last stick. It's quit easy once you know the trick.
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Wow good at math and you liked Songs from the Second Floor, I think I'm in love Eva!
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Thank you for that link. I played a few rounds, but I gave up. What is the secret? Is it just that whoever goes first, loses?
shareThe player who plays second has a strategy that guarantees winning if played correctly; player 1 cannot win, whatever he does, unless player 2 makes a mistake (in the film, M, who always wins at the game, at one stage lets X go first and even allows X to decide which matches M ought to take; but M knows that X does not know the winning algorithm, so he can afford that generosity and revert to his winning algorithm after X's move).
There are pages out there that describe the winning algorithm (I read it on the German wikipedia page, but there does not seem to be an English page describing the algorithm as nicely). If you let the computer play first in that online game and follow the algorithm, you'll win, and you'll get a nice little congratulatory message. Playing the strategy does require a pen and paper first, though (at least it did for me); playing it mentally might take some practice.
Thank you, dotdashdash!
shareYou're welcome. By the way, I found a website which explains the winning algorithm in English: http://www.archimedes-lab.org/How_to_Solve/Win_at_Nim.html
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