

What if there would be only

4 bricks?



The latest player would win



If 5? The starter could take

only one brick, so we would

have the same situation as

in the 4-brick-game. We

could get into this situation

also, if there are 6 or 7

bricks.



What about the 8th brick?

The starter couldn’t get

into the winning situation

anymore.



We see, that we should

avoid getting a number of

bricks, that is divisible by

4. Instead, we should give

the opponent that number



The player who starts the

game, will always win if

he/she is rational



There is a dominant strategy:

Player 1 should always leave

Player 2 a number that is

divisible by 4



Player 1 starts



Player 2 takes any number of

bricks, but Player 1 will

answer by leaving him/her a

number that is divisible by 4