Search arXiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2502.10971

Scoring Nim

Hiromi Oginuma·Masato Shinoda
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Nim is a well-known combinatorial game in which two players alternately remove stones from distinct piles. A player who removes the last stone wins under the normal play rule, while a player loses under the misère play rule. In this paper, we propose a new variant of Nim with scoring that generalizes both the normal and misère play versions of Nim as special cases. We study the theoretical aspects of this extended game and analyze its fundamental properties, such as optimal strategies and payoff functions.

Explore related subjects

math.CO

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

Hiromi Oginuma, Masato Shinoda. 2026-03-08. Scoring Nim. https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.10971

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Adjunctions, Box Products, and Forcing Families

Sidorenko's conjecture states that the number of copies of any given bipartite graph in another graph of given density is asymptotically minimized by a random graph. For bipartite graphs containing a cycle, the forcing conjecture further asserts that asymptotic equality characterizes quasi-random graphs. We establish an adjoint identity for a general class of graph-substitution operators and use it to obtain Sidorenko and forcing results for balanced blow-ups, subdivisions, Cartesian products, and strong products.

math.CO↗
arXiv2026

On the Cost Number of Graphs with Determining Number Two

A distinguishing vertex coloring of a graph $G$ is a vertex coloring such that only the identity automorphism of $G$ preserves the coloring. A graph is $2$-distinguishable if it admits a distinguishing vertex coloring with two colors, and its cost $ρ(G)$ is the minimum size of a color class in such a coloring. The determining number of a graph $G$, denoted by $Det(G)$, is the minimum size of a subset $S\subseteq V(G)$ such that only the trivial automorphism fixes every element of $S$ pointwise. Boutin (J. Combin. Math. Combin. Comput. 85: 161-171, 2013) asked if $ρ(G)$ and $Det(G)$ can be arbitrarily far apart. While the case for $Det(G) = 1$ is trivial, the answer remained unknown for $Det(G) \ge 2$. In this manuscript, we show that if $Det(G)=2$ then not only is $ρ(G)$ bounded, but in fact $ρ(G) \leq 4$. This is the first resolution of Boutin's question for any nontrivial fixed determining number. Moreover, for every fixed $Det(G)= n$, we construct examples giving a lower bound on any possible upper bound for $ρ(G)$ in terms of $n$.

math.CO↗