Moore's generalization of the game of {\sc Nim} is played as follows. Let $n$ and $k$ be two integers such that $1 \leq k \leq n$. Given $n$ piles of tokens, two players move alternately, removing tokens from at least one and at most $k$ of the piles. The player who makes the last move wins. The game was solved by Moore in 1910 and an explicit formula for its Sprague-Grundy function was given by Jenkyns and Mayberry in 1980, for the case $n = k+1$ only. We introduce another generalization of {\sc Nim}, called {\sc Exact $k$-Nim}, in which each move reduces exactly $k$ piles. We give an explicit formula for the Sprague-Grundy function of {\sc Exact $k$-Nim} in case $2k \geq n$. In case $n=2k$ our formula is surprisingly similar to Jenkyns and Mayberry's one.
We analyze the Sprague-Grundy functions for a class of almost disjoint selective compound games played on Nim heaps. Surprisingly, we find that these functions behave chaotically for smaller Sprague-Grundy values of each component game yet predictably when any one heap is sufficiently large.
We examine the structure of the additive period of the Sprague-Grundy function of Nim-like games, among them Wythoff's Game, and deduce a bound for the length of the period and preperiod.
For impartial games $Γ$ and $Γ'$, the Sprague-Grundy function of the disjunctive sum $Γ+ Γ'$ is equal to the Nim-sum of their Sprague-Grundy functions. In this paper, we introduce $p$-calm subtraction games, and show that for $p$-calm subtraction games $Γ$ and $Γ'$, the Sprague-Grundy function of a $p$-saturation of $Γ+ Γ'$ is equal to the $p$-Nim-sum of the Sprague-Grundy functions of their $p$-saturations. Here a $p$-Nim-sum is the result of addition without carrying in base $p$ and a $p$-saturation of $Γ$ is an impartial game obtained from $Γ$ by adding some moves. It will turn out that Nim…
We consider misère Nim as a normal-play game obtained from Nim by removing the terminal position. While explicit formulas are known for the Sprague-Grundy functions of Nim and Welter's game, no explicit formula is known for that of misère Nim. All three of these games can be considered as position restrictions of Nim. What are the differences between them? We point out that Nim and Welter's game are saturated, but misère Nim is not. Moreover, we present explicit formulas for the Sprague-Grundy functions of saturations of misère Nim, which are obtained from misère Nim by adjoining some moves.
We consider a generalization of the classical game of $NIM$ called hypergraph $NIM$. Given a hypergraph $\cH$ on the ground set $V = \{1, \ldots, n\}$ of $n$ piles of stones, two players alternate in choosing a hyperedge $H \in \cH$ and strictly decreasing all piles $i\in H$. The player who makes the last move is the winner. Recently it was shown that for many classes of hypergraphs the Sprague-Grundy function of the corresponding game is given by the formula introduced originally by Jenkyns and Mayberry (1980). In this paper we characterize symmetric hypergraphs for which the Sprague-Grundy f…
We introduce and analyse an extension of the disjunctive sum operation on some classical impartial games. Whereas the disjunctive sum describes positions formed from independent subpositions, our operation combines positions that are not completely independent but interact only in a very restricted way. We extend the games Nim and Silver Dollar, played by moving counters along one-dimensional strips of cells, by joining several strips at their initial cell. We prove that, in certain cases, computing the Sprague-Grundy function can be simplified to that of a simpler game with at most two tokens…
We consider a generalization of the classical game of $NIM$ called hypergraph $NIM$. Given a hypergraph $\cH$ on the ground set $V = \{1, \ldots, n\}$ of $n$ piles of stones, two players alternate in choosing a hyperedge $H \in \cH$ and strictly decreasing all piles $i\in H$. The player who makes the last move is the winner. In this paper we give an explicit formula that describes the Sprague-Grundy function of hypergraph $NIM$ for several classes of hypergraphs. In particular we characterize all $2$-uniform hypergraphs (that is graphs) and all matroids for which the formula works. We show tha…
The classical game of {\sc Nim} can be naturally extended and played on an arbitrary hypergraph $\cH \subseteq 2^V \setminus \{\emptyset\}$ whose vertices $V = \{1, \ldots, n\}$ correspond to piles of stones. By one move a player chooses an edge $H$ of $\cH$ and reduces arbitrarily all piles $i \in H$. In 1901 Bouton solved the classical {\sc Nim} for which $\cH = \{\{1\}, \ldots, \{n\}\}$. In 1910 Moore introduced and solved a more general game $k$-{\sc Nim}, for which $\cH = \{H \subseteq V \mid |H| \leq k\}$, where $1 \leq k < n$. In 1980 Jenkyns and Mayberry obtained an explicit formula fo…
For a collection of papers in memory of Elwyn Berlekamp (1940-2019), John Conway (1937-2020), and Richard Guy (1916-2020). The Sprague-Grundy theory for finite games without cycles was extended to general finite games by Cedric Smith and by Aviezri Fraenkel and coauthors. We observe that the same framework used to classify finite games also covers the case of locally finite games (that is, games where any position has only finitely many options). In particular, any locally finite game is equivalent to some finite game. We then study cases where the directed graph of a game is chosen randomly, …
Given a hypergraph $\cH \subseteq 2^I \setminus \{\emptyset\}$ on the ground set $I = \{1, \ldots, n\}$, we assign to each $i \in I$ a nonnegative integer $x_i$, that is a pile of $x_i$ tokens, and consider the following generalization of the classical game of {\sc Nim}: Two players alternate turns. In a move a player chooses an arbitrary edge $H \in \cH$ and reduces all piles $i \in H$. The player who is out of moves loses. We call the obtained game hypergraph {\sc Nim}. Such a game is called proper {\sc Nim}, when $\cH=2^I \setminus\{I,\emptyset\}$ is the family of all proper subsets of $I$.…
The concept of nimbers--a.k.a. Grundy-values or nim-values--is fundamental to combinatorial game theory. Nimbers provide a complete characterization of strategic interactions among impartial games in their disjunctive sums as well as the winnability. In this paper, we initiate a study of nimber-preserving reductions among impartial games. These reductions enhance the winnability-preserving reductions in traditional computational characterizations of combinatorial games. We prove that Generalized Geography is complete for the natural class, $\cal{I}^P$ , of polynomially-short impartial rulesets…
We study a variant of 3-pile Nim in which a move consists of taking tokens from one pile and, instead of removing then, topping up on a smaller pile provided that the destination pile does not have more tokens then the source pile after the move. We discover a situation in which each column of two-dimensional array of Sprague-Grundy values is a palindrome. We establish a formula for P-positions by which winning moves can be computed in quadratic time. We prove a formula for positions whose Sprague-Grundy values are 1 and estimate the distribution of those positions whose nim-values are g. We d…
We present take-away games whose Sprague-Grundy functions are given by the Nim sum of heap sizes in a mixed base $β$. Let $Δ_β$ be the set of such games. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a minimum of $Δ_β$, and a recursive construction of the maximum of $Δ_β$.
We define a two-player combinatorial game in which players take alternate turns; each turn consists on deleting a vertex of a graph, together with all the edges containing such vertex. If any vertex became isolated by a player's move then it would also be deleted. A player wins the game when the other player has no moves available. We study this game under various viewpoints: by finding specific strategies for certain families of graphs, through using properties of a graph's automorphism group, by writing a program to look at Sprague-Grundy numbers, and by studying the game when played on rand…
This paper presents a study of restricted Nim with a pass. In the restricted Nim considered in this study, two players take turns and remove stones from the piles. In each turn, when the number of stones is m, each player is allowed to remove at least one stone and at most the ceiling of m/2 stones from a pile of m stones. The standard rules of the game are modified to allow a one-time pass, that is, a pass move that may be used at most once in the game and not from a terminal position. Once a pass has been used by either player, it is no longer available. It is well-known that in classical Ni…
Given $n$ piles of tokens and a positive integer $k \leq n$, the game Nim$^1_{n, =k}$ of exact slow $k$-Nim is played as follows. Two players move alternately. In each move, a player chooses exactly $k$ non-empty piles and removes one token from each of them. A player whose turn it is to move but has no move loses (if the normal version of the game is played, and wins if it is the misére version). In Integers 20 (2020) 1-19, Gurvich et al gave an explicit formula for the Sprague-Grundy function of Nim$^1_{4, =2}$, for both its normal and misére version. Here we extend this result and obtain an…
Let $S$ be a set of positive integers, and let $D$ be a set of integers larger than $1$. The game $i$-Mark$(S,D)$ is an impartial combinatorial game introduced by Sopena (2016), which is played with a single pile of tokens. In each turn, a player can subtract $s \in S$ from the pile, or divide the size of the pile by $d \in D$, if the pile size is divisible by $d$. Sopena partially analyzed the games with $S=[1, t-1]$ and $D=\{d\}$ for $d \not\equiv 1 \pmod t$, but left the case $d \equiv 1 \pmod t$ open. We solve this problem by calculating the Sprague-Grundy function of $i$-Mark$([1,t-1],\{d…
The Sprague-Grundy (SG) theory reduces the sum of impartial games to the classical game of $NIM$. We generalize the concept of sum and introduce $\cH$-combinations of impartial games for any hypergraph $\cH$. In particular, we introduce the game $NIM_\cH$ which is the $\cH$-combination of single pile $NIM$ games. An impartial game is called SG decreasing if its SG value is decreased by every move. Extending the SG theory, we reduce the $\cH$-combination of SG decreasing games to $NIM_\cH$. We call $\cH$ a Tetris hypergraph if $NIM_\cH$ is SG decreasing. We provide some necessary and some suffi…
The authors introduce the impartial game of the generalized Ryūō Nim, a variant of the classical game of Wythoff Nim. In the latter game, two players take turns in moving a single queen on a large chessboard, attempting to be the first to put her in the upper left corner, position $(0,0)$. Instead of the queen used in Wythoff Nim, we use the generalized Ryūō for a given natural number $p$. The generalized Ryūō for $p$ can be moved horizontally and vertically, as far as one wants. It also can be moved diagonally from $(x,y)$ to $(x-s,y-t)$, where $s,t$ are non-negative integers such that $1 \le…
Chocolate bar games are variants of the game of Nim in which the goal is to leave your opponent with the single bitter part of the chocolate bar. The rectangular chocolate bar game is a thinly disguised form of classical multi-heap Nim. In this work, we investigate the mathematical structure of triangular chocolate bar games in which the triangular chocolate bar can be cut in three directions. In the triangular chocolate bar game, a position is a $\mathcal{P}$-position if and only if $x \oplus y \oplus z = 0$, where the numbers $x,y,z$ stand for the maximum number of times that the chocolate b…
Arithmetic functions in Number Theory meet the Sprague-Grundy function from Combinatorial Game Theory. We study a variety of 2-player games induced by standard arithmetic functions, such as Euclidian division, divisors, remainders and relatively prime numbers, and their negations.
Univ Lyon, Université Lyon 1, LIRIS UMR CNRS 5205（里昂第一大学）；Instituto de Matemáticas, UNAM Juriquilla（墨西哥国立自治大学数学研究所）；National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学）
We settle two long-standing complexity-theoretical questions-open since 1981 and 1993-in combinatorial game theory (CGT). We prove that the Grundy value (a.k.a. nim-value, or nimber) of Undirected Geography is PSPACE-complete to compute. This exhibits a stark contrast with a result from 1993 that Undirected Geography is polynomial-time solvable. By distilling to a simple reduction, our proof further establishes a dichotomy theorem, providing a "phase transition to intractability" in Grundy-value computation, sharply characterized by a maximum degree of four: The Grundy value of Undirected Geog…
Chocolate-bar games are variants of the CHOMP game. A three-dimensional chocolate bar comprises a set of cubic boxes sized 1 X 1 X 1, with a bitter cubic box at the bottom of the column at position (0,0). For non-negative integers u,w such that u < x and w \< z, the height of the column at position (u,w) is min (F(u,w),y) +1, where F is a monotonically increasing function. We denote this chocolate bar as CB(F,x,y,z). Each player, in turn, cuts the bar on a plane that is horizontal or vertical along the grooves, and eats the broken piece. The player who manages to leave the opponent with the si…
Combinatorial Game Theory has also been called `additive game theory', whenever the analysis involves sums of independent game components. Such {\em disjunctive sums} invoke comparison between games, which allows abstract values to be assigned to them. However, there are rulesets with {\em entailing moves} that break the alternating play axiom and/or restrict the other player's options within the disjunctive sum components. These situations are exemplified in the literature by a ruleset such as {\sc nimstring}, a normal play variation of the classical children's game {\sc dots \& boxes}, and {…
Two players alternate moves in the following impartial combinatorial game: Given a finitely generated abelian group $A$, a move consists of picking some nonzero element $a \in A$. The game then continues with the quotient group $A/ \langle a \rangle$. We prove that under the normal play rule, the second player has a winning strategy if and only if $A$ is a square, i.e. $A$ is isomorphic to $B \times B$ for some abelian group $B$. Under the misère play rule, only minor modifications concerning elementary abelian groups are necessary to describe the winning situations. We also compute the nimber…
