Mathematical Solitaires and Games

Benjamin Swatzch

• Editors Preface SECTION ONE: Solitaire Games with ToysSolving Instant Insanity Robert E. Levin The Mayblox Problem Margaret A. Farrell A Solitaire Game and Its Relation to a Finite Field N. G. de Bruijn Triangular Puzzle Peg Irvin Roy Hentzel Parity and Centerness Applied to the SOMA Cube Michael J. Whinihanand Charles W. Trigg The Tower of Brahma Revisited Ted Roth Tower of Hanoi with More Pegs Brother Alfred Brousseau SECTION TWO: Competitive GamesCompound Games with Counters Cedric A. B. Smith The Game of SIM Gustavus J. Simmons Some Investigations into the Game of SIM A. P. DeLoach SIM as a Game of Chance W. W. Funkenbusch SIM on a Desktop Calculator John N. Nairn and A. B. Sperry A Winning Strategy for SIM E. M. Rounds and S. S. Yau The Graph of Positions for the Game of SIM G. L. O'Brien Dots and Squares Ernest R. Ranucci An Analysis of "Square It" Thomas S. Briggs Dots and Triangles Joseph Viggiano Dots and Cubes Everett V. Jackson A Winning Opening in Reverse Hex Ronald Evans SECTION THREE: Solitaire GamesArrows and Circuits Brian R. Barwell Knight Interchanges: 1 Robert E. Parkin Knight Interchanges: 2 Ted Roth The Stacked Playing Cards Robert E. Parkin Extension of the Chain-Cutting Problem Donald R. Byrkit and William M. Walters, Jr. The "12 + 1" False Coin Problem M. H. Greenblatt BONUS SECTION: The Four-Color Problem The Mathematics of Map Coloring H. S. M. Coxeter Every Planar Map is Four Colorable Kenneth Appel and Wolfgang Haken