This trick trick has several names
and has supposedly been around forever. There are also many variations
to this game, some people play with straws, others play with toothpicks,
but because I was always told, "Never play with matches", I of course
play with matches. (you saw that coming didn't you?) Anyway, if you
decide to use this as a bet/swindle I have a few rules for you.
-
IT"S ILLEGAL TO CON SOMEONE.
-
Lose a few times so your victim
doesn't get suspicious
-
IT'S ILLEGAL TO CON PEOPLE
OUT OF THEIR MONEY
-
Pretend to be thinking about
what your doing
-
IT"S ILLEGAL AND I'VE WARNED
YOU SO DON'T HOLD ME RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR BROKEN NOSE OR YOUR
BAIL!
Game:
Start with 15 matches on the
table. Each player has to take turns removing between 1-3 matches.
The person with the last match loses.
Trick:
The secret is to leave him with
12 matches after the first cycle,(if he takes one you take 2,)
leave him with 8 after the second cycle and 4 after the third.
After that if he takes one you take one, if he takes two you
take one, if he takes three you win.
In reality you can start with
any number of matches as long as after the first round your
victim ends up with a multiple of 4 and after that you subtract
the number of matches he takes from four and remove the difference
(if he takes three you take 1, 1+3=4)
If you fail to make your victim
start with a multiple of 4 keep going and try to make him end
up with it next time.
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The following was submitted by Jim Haverty:
The way the matchstick thing works is "modulo"
arithmetic.
I do this by making them take the last match but the concepts are the
same.
The simpler version is to take away 1 or 2.
The real goal is to get the sucker down to 4 matches. That
way no matter what they do you will win - they take 1 you
take two and vice versa leaving them with the last match. In order to
insure
they get down to 4 you keep the sucker at 4 + integral multiples of
3
(i.e.,, 3 * N, where N is any number from 0 on, 3, 6, 9 etc..) meaning
the magic
way points are 4, then 7 then 10 then 13 etc... because the 3* N part
always
insures that if he takes one then you take two or vice versa. This also
means that the
game is lost before it starts unless you go first and are at some 4
+ 3*N boundary.
So if you go first, the number better not be 4 + 3*N (or you hope that
you can get him to one of those boundaries). If he goes first then you
want him on that magical boundary. The logical extension is your example
-
take away 1 to 3 at a time. In this case the magical numbers become
5 + 4 * N for the same reasons. Because at any point if he takes away
1 you take 3, or him 2, you 2 or him 1 and you 3. You can extend this
further by taking away 1 to 4. The final value is 6 and the magic
way points are 6 + 5 * N. In fact this will extend indefinitely.
One last note, you don't need matches to
play this game. You can
do the same thing by counting up to some number by adding one, two,
three, four etc.
The sample principals apply
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