Sponsor:    Lifteime link only 25!

Pick A Pearl NIM - Take turns picking pearls. Dont be left with the last pearl to pick or you lose!. Play it free, rate it, send to your friends, add the game code to your blog or Myspace.

Nim Pick A Pearl is a two-player mathematical game of strategy in which players take turns removing pearls from rows.

On each turn, a player must remove at least one pearl and may remove as many pearls provided they all come from the same line.

Click his fingers to perform commands, click on pearls to select, try not to hit your monitor when he laughs at you for your pathetic attempt! lol

This game  originated in China and closely resembles the Chinese game of "Jianshizi" which translates to "picking stones".

Did you know you can play this with real objects and guarantee yourself the winner every time by following simple (if you understand binary numbers) math?

There is a method to determining winning vs. losing positions.

You compute what is called the Nim sum as follows:

Convert the number of lines in each row to binary.
3 = 011, 5 = 101, 7 = 111
You then add these numbers, but without any carry.
Last digit is 1 + 1 + 1 = 1
Middle digit is 1 + 0 + 1 = 0
First digit is 0 + 1 + 1 = 0
Nim-sum is 001

What you want to do is leave a position with Nim-sum equal to 0.
Then your opponent must leave you with a non-zero position,
you give him 0 again, and so on.

From the 3 - 5 - 7 position, since they are all odd numbers,
to convert 001 to 000 you remove any one match.
Leaving 2 - 5 - 7 or 3 - 4 - 7 or 3 - 5 - 6.

If the object of the game is to take the last token (or erase the last line), you keep doing that, since a position where everything is gone has a nim sum of 0.

If the object of the game is to leave your opponent with the last token,
then you alter the strategy to fit that during your last couple of moves.

___________________

Here is another example how how to win:

The trick is to leave your opponent with a losing pattern. You have to memorize them.

Losing patterns
Basic
1-0-0, 0-1-0, 0-0-1
111 patterns
1-1-1
123 patterns
1-2-3, 1-3-2, 2-1-3, 2-3-1, 3-1-2, 3-2-1

Two equal rows patterns
2-2-0, 2-0-2, 0-2-2
3-3-0, 3-0-3, 0-3-3
0-4-4
0-5-5


Other patterns
1-4-5, 1-5-4, 1-5-6, 2-4-6
2-5-7, 3-4-7, 3-5-6

Each of the losing pattern could not be converted to another losing pattern in one move, therefore when your opponent is in a losing pattern, whatever move he makes, you should be able to convert to another losing pattern.
The first player should always win if he knows how, because he could start by getting a match from any row and his opponent will be in a losing pattern.

Interested in seeing the logic and math behind NIM or would you just like to learn more about how to beat NIM and NIM like games? check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim

You are player number 3427 | ">More Puzzle games

 |  Report about problem with a game!
 Full Screen Mode

Pick A Pearl NIM Rating

Currently Rated: (Not Rated)