The Game that cannot be Lost

Among many complex sports and games in the modern world, a very small fun game took my attention a few years back. The game was presented by a mathematics Professor at Oxford University in which the game is very simple.

The game is like this.

Assume there are 16 toffees and 1 red chili in a small bucket. You and I will pick toffees after one another and whoever has to pick the chili has to eat it. Both players can pick 1 or 2 or 3 toffees at once. You can have the first chance. So that is the whole game.

But what fascinated me was not the game, but the outcome. In reality, you always have to eat the Red Chili, because I always win. No matter how many toffees you pick, what ever the combinations you try, you can't win.

Let me explain why I always win.

Now you can see I have arranged the 16 toffees into 4 boxes putting 4 toffees into each. My task in the game is simple. I have to empty one box each time. Lets say you started picking toffees. If you pick 1 toffee, I will pick 3. if you pick 2 toffees, I will pick 2. And if you pick 3, I will pick 1. Now one box is empty. The same procedure will be followed for the 3 other boxes. Now you are left with no option, other than picking the Red chili. The most fascinating thing about this game is, we can make others to feel they have a fair chance to win, when they have no chance at all. That is why algorithms are so interesting.

Learning from the game is simple. Don't believe everything that looks fair, may be algorithm has already decided the outcome.

Now it's time for you to make others to eat chilies. Good luck with it.