Sprouts game | Hacker News Reader

Sprouts game

en.wikipedia.org

64 pointsRexxar16 comments

I really like the brussel sprout variation as the shape makes the rules more visually intuitive. i'm going to introduce this to my friends.

... the players cannot affect the result by their play ... a game starting with an odd number of crosses will be a first player win, while a game starting with an even number will be a second player win regardless of the moves.

That makes the brussel variation a lot less interesting I think.

By enumerating all possible moves, one can show that the first player can always win in normal-play games starting with n = 3, 4, or 5 spots. The second player wins when n = 0, 1, 2, or 6.

Am I missing something, or is the outcome of every sprouts games predetermined?

Thats exactly what i said!! What is the big deal? Actually I did play someone with 6 dots and won... so i think there might be ways of changing the outcome, for example if you use a line to encircle other lines to cut off their access. Either way, I thought this was a strategy game and it seems closer to the "dots and boxes" pencil game, ie...

clarification: i played someone as player 1, with 6 dots, and won.

Brussels Sprouts is completely determined: it doesn't matter how you play, the winner is a function only of the number of spots.

Sprouts is not; one can play it well or badly, and it makes a difference.

Dots-and-boxes is a game with real strategy to it, too. See "Winning Ways" or Berlekamp's book that's just about D+B.

Just because he can force a win, doesn't mean he will. So it's still fun for novices, or large numbers of initial spots.

This means the first player wins for n = {3, 4, 5} if both players play perfectly. Similarly, if both players play perfectly, tic tac toe and checkers games result in draws. Fortunately, humans can make mistakes, rendering the outcomes less certain. :-)

I remember playing this as a kid about 35 years ago. It was described in a book called The Indoor Games boo, published in the UK. The same book also introduced me to the rather fun 'Nine Mens Morris' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_Men's_Morris

I played Nine Mens Morris with my grandmother when I was growing up (we called it "Mühle"). She never gave me an inch just because I was a kid, and I still remember with great vividness the first time I ever beat her.

A few years ago I wrote a java applet that plays the game. It's buggy and unpolished, but usable.

http://pi-guy.net/games/muehle/

The 7th annual tournament of the World Game Of Sprouts Association is coming up! http://www.geocities.com/chessdp/trny2008.htm

This is your chance to battle four-time world champion Roman Khorkov for first place. http://www.geocities.com/chessdp/champions.htm

At Canada/USA Mathcamp last summer, a few kids found the Nim reduction for Brussel Sprouts for their project. Shame I don't remember it, though.

Hey, another mathcamper on news.yc. '02/'03 alum here.

I've been playing this game over the summer on long train/plane journeys--it's brilliant. I incidentally stumbled across it on Wikipedia, too.

Winning Ways and On Numbers and Games are both excellent. Math is fun!

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