A game of 11 marbles wherein each player can either pick one or two marbles from the total. Starting from Player A & then Player B alternatively. This continues till all the marbles are picked. The winner is the one having odd number of marbles.

What is the strategy to be followed for Player A & B to win?. What happens for higher total number of marbles (13, 15 etc )?

Okay, it seems to me that Player B will win every time if he plays intelligently. For 13 marbles, Player A will win every time. For 15, B again, and so on and so forth.

The strategy is to take the same number of marbles the other took. If you start, the amount you take is irrelevant.

Posted by Tamir on 2006-10-03 17:41:56