The rec.puzzles archive

Competition

Question 18 - coloring/cheese.cube:
A cube of cheese is divided into 27 subcubes. A mouse starts at one corner and eats through every subcube. Can it finish in the middle? Show Answer

Question 19 - games/go-moku:
For a game of k in a row on an n x n board, for what values of k and n is there a win? Is (the largest such) k eventually constant or does it increase with n? Show Answer

Question 20 - games/hi-q:
What is the quickest solution of the game Hi-Q (also called Solitaire)?

For those of you who aren't sure what the game looks like:

32 movable pegs ("+") are arranged on the following board such that only the middle position is empty ("-"). Just to be complete: the board consists of only these 33 positions.

	  1 2 3 4 5 6 7
	1     + + +
	2     + + +
	3 + + + + + + +
	4 + + + - + + +
	5 + + + + + + +
	6     + + +
	7     + + +

A piece moves on this board by jumping over one of its immediate neighbor (horizontally or vertically) into an empty space opposite. The peg that was jumped over, is hit and removed from the board. A move can contain multiple hits if you use the same peg to make the hits.

You have to end with one peg exactly in the middle position (44). Show Answer

Question 21 - games/jeopardy:
What are the highest, lowest, and most different scores contestants can achieve during a single game of Jeopardy? Show Answer

Question 22 - games/nim:
Place 10 piles of 10 $1 bills in a row. A valid move is to reduce the last i>0 piles by the same amount j>0 for some i and j; a pile reduced to nothing is considered to have been removed. The loser is the player who picks up the last dollar, and they must forfeit half of what they picked up to the winner.

1) Who is the winner in Waldo Nim, the first or the second player?

2) How much more money than the loser can the winner obtain with best play on both parties? Show Answer

Question 23 - games/online/online.scrabble:
How can I play Scrabble online on the Internet? Show Answer

Question 24 - games/online/unlimited.adventures:
Where can I find information about unlimited adventures? Show Answer

Question 25 - games/othello:
How good are computers at Othello? Show Answer

Question 26 - games/pc/best:
What are the best PC games? Show Answer

Question 27 - games/pc/reviews:
Are reviews of PC games available online? Show Answer

Question 28 - games/pc/solutions:
What are the solutions to various popular PC games? Show Answer

Question 29 - games/poker.face.up:
In Face-Up Poker, two players each select five cards from a face-up deck, bet, discard and draw. Is there a winning strategy for this game? What if the players select cards alternately? Show Answer

Question 30 - games/risk:
What are the odds when tossing dice in Risk? Show Answer

Question 31 - games/rubiks/rubiks.clock:
How do you quickly solve Rubik's clock? Show Answer

Continue

Return to top