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Game Theory 7.0/10

Nim 3-4-5

Two players play Nim with piles of 3, 4, and 5 stones. Players alternately remove any positive number of stones from a single pile; whoever takes the last stone wins. The first player wins with optimal play, and the winning first move is unique. How many stones does it remove?

Related problems & prerequisites

Worth solving first

Source: Nim, solved by Charles Bouton (1901). Statement written for AxiomIQ.