Octal game

The octal games are a class of two-player games that involve removing tokens (game pieces or stones) from heaps of tokens. They have been studied in combinatorial game theory as a generalization of Nim, Kayles, and similar games.[1][2]

Octal games are impartial meaning that every move available to one player is also available to the other player. They differ from each other in the numbers of tokens that may be removed in a single move, and (depending on this number) whether it is allowed to remove an entire heap, reduce the size of a heap, or split a heap into two heaps. These rule variations may be described compactly by a coding system using octal numerals.

  1. ^ Berlekamp, Elwyn R.; John H. Conway; Richard K. Guy (1982). Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays. Vol. 1. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-091101-9. Revised and reprinted as
    Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays (2nd ed.). A K Peters Ltd. 2004. ISBN 1-56881-130-6.
  2. ^ Conway, John Horton (1976). On numbers and games. Academic Press. ISBN 0-12-186350-6. Revised and reprinted as
    — (2000). On numbers and games. A K Peters Ltd. ISBN 1-56881-127-6.