Wythoff's Nim

The game below, which has no traditional name, was invented about 1960 by Rufus P. Isaacs, a mathematician at Johns Hopkins University. It is described briefly in Chapter 6 of the 1962 English translation of The Theory of Graphs and Its Applications, a book in French by Claude Berge. Let's call the game "Corner the Lady." Computer puts the queen on any cell in the top row or in the column farthest to the right of the board; Queen's location is designated by the red square. The queen moves in the usual way but only west, south or southwest. If, box "Hint" is checked, eligible squares are colored in magenta. You click on one of these to select a move. You move first, then the computer and you alternate moves. The player who gets the queen to the lower left corner is the winner. No draw is possible, so that one of the players is sure to win.

Copyright © 1996-2008 Alexander Bogomolny