A Game You Can Always Win - monstrousmath.com

A Game You Can Always Win

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The 100 game was created by the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson — who you may know for writing Alice In Wonderland under the pen name Lewis Carroll.

Carroll’s Oxford students were amazed. On February 5, 1856 he wrote in his diary: “… the trick of counting alternately up to 100, neither putting on more than 10 to the last number named, astonished them not a little.”

The Universe in a Handkerchief: Lewis Carroll’s Mathematical Recreations, Games, Puzzles, and Word Plays, by Martin Gardiner

The Diaries of Lewis Carroll Volume I

Arithmetical Croquet

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Hosted, Produced, And Edited by Kevin Lieber
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Research And Writing by Matthew Tabor

Special Thanks Michael Stevens

VFX By Eric Langlay

Huge Thanks Paula Lieber

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500 Comments

  1. Vsause2: you're fir-
    Me: no you're first
    Him: fine, 6
    Me: 5
    Him: wait, you're using my trick

  2. Here's another game you can always win:
    Pick any whole number between -♾️ and ♾️…

    If that number is evenly divided by 1, you win.
    That wasn't so hard now was it?

  3. I did this in 6th grade on a small scale level. Pick an number 1 to 3 and get to 20. I realized that if I go first and make sure I am always a multiple of 4, then I will always win.

  4. What if the opponent starts, is there any way to always win?

  5. you can win by being the first to 9, then 19, then 29, 39, 49, 59, 69, 79, 89 and then 100

  6. u think there’s maybe a different series to make sure you win but if ur second

  7. You practically increase the ones didget by one every time example like 12 then 23 then 34 then 45

  8. And I guarantee you I’d only play once with you starting and you are down a friend. Win win

  9. At beggining i was like , 11, 11 , 11 weird time to see if pattern is 11s

  10. me playing with someone else who saw this video

  11. We had a puzzle in my seventh grade math class where it was something similar to this. We had two people who both took turns adding up to 3 to get a total of 20. Said 2 people were my teacher and a random student who volunteer'd. Whoever said 20 won. The general rule was if you kept it a multiple of 4 before passing it to your opponent you always won 100% of the time. Meaning going second gives you a 100% win rate as you cant get to 4 from 0 adding only up to 3.
    Example 1 being player 1 and same with 2
    1. 3
    2. 4
    1. 6
    2. 8
    1. 11
    2. 12
    1. 15
    2. 16
    As you can see player 1 cant make any move here that wont give player 2 the win. Of course player 2 was guaranteed to win the game from the beginning as long as you remember the pattern. Player 1 can pick 17, 18, or 19 and still lose to player 2.

    Edit: maybe I should have watched the whole video first because he goes over this too but from 20 counting down…

  12. There was a similar challenge like this with flags on survivor, with the same theory.

  13. What if your opponent picks 10 on their first turn?
    Edit: I guess you just keep picking 1 until they stop picking 10 or you get to 89 and are guaranteed victory after their turn.

  14. 1 / 0
    12
    23
    34
    45
    56
    67
    78
    89
    Notice a pattern?, i sure di

  15. i tried it against my mom but still i lost i think its fake cuz i tried it no mistakes

  16. I think getting to 89 is just the main goal for me

  17. well, if you say 1 the other person can just say 99

  18. I swear all numbers are so closely related to each other

  19. i tested this on my parents…
    i won
    it works!!!!!!!!

  20. How would a game like this work if both players use the strategies.

  21. Fwqjuvøyg øy7hsajvjvvjcbut how get moren frenddtjfjrfzgdfjgdytfdy4f

  22. Proof that Kevin is going to take over control

  23. The best one on one challenge yet! Skelator vs Mr. T! Brilliant!

  24. Played it w/ my mom and took some time to subtract then she called me a cheater, What do i do now XD

  25. I could not accept the first trick. Because if you say 1 after 89, it becomes 90. So how???

  26. this a bit too trivial to be honest. it's obvious that whoever lands on 89 is guaranteed to win. from there you go backwards..

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