This is probably one of the most famous puzzles, called Nim. You can probably find ample information from google knowing that, but if you want to know the winning strategy:
(warning - big spoiler, not on the given puzzle, but on the complete strategy)
Click here to view the secret text
×Write the number of sticks in each pile in binary: for example, if the sizes were 2, 3, 8, you would write:
0010
0011
1000
Your aim each turn is to make the number of 1s in each column even. In this case, you would take 7 sticks from the last pile.
[Last edited by TripleM at 06-26-2005 11:40 PM]
