11. Nim with Nothing
class: tweeners | impressiveness: 3/5 | factors: anytime, anywhere scamming. perfectly fair, totally rigged | requires: nothing. (that’s the point) | watch full episode
Before we even begin learning these, I’ve got to give some mega-thanks to Scott Cram and Lee Blackburn for sending us these crooked games. We’ve now learned a number of variations of “nim,” but none as clever as these two… both of which can be played with no objects whatsoever.
These are fantastic icebreakers, a perfect way to strike up a conversation with someone next to you in line. I recommend that you start by playing the race to 100, then explain it completely (as it’s the simpler of the two). Then you can really fry ‘em with Calendar Nim.
The Rules: Starting at 1, players race to hit 100 first by adding any number from 1 to 10 to the current running total. Whoever hits 100 on the nose wins.
The Scam: As with our other version of nim, you can hit “pole positions” that guarantee you a win. In this game, just make sure you add enough to land on 12, 23, 34, 45, 56, 67, 78, and 89. Once you’re in the groove, just keep hitting those pole positions and you’ll automatically win.
The Rules: Starting at January 1st, players take turns *either* increasing the number of the day, *or* the number of the month (but not both in any one turn). First one to land on December 31st wins.
The Scam: In this case the pole positions are: 1/20, 2/21, 3/22, 4/23, 5/24, 6/25, 7/26, 8/27, 9/28, 10/29, and 11/30. No matter what the other player does, you’ll always be able to hit one of these pole positions on your next turn. An easy way to remember the pole positions on calendar nim is to subtract the number of the month from the number of the day… you should always get 19.