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James Uren
James Uren
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I'm hoping someone can help me figure out how to describe all winning strategies for "Player 1" in the following game:

Consider a board with $n$ tiles arranged in a row. Player 1 and Player 2 each have $d$ turns, and Player 1 always goes first. On the first turn, Player 1 "issues an order," or in other words, gives a number between $0$ and $n-1,$ and Player 2 chooses a tile on the board to place his piece and then moves either left or right according to the order given by Player 1. Player 2 is never allowed to change direction mid-move. In each subsequent turn, Player 1 issues another order (again, always a number between $0$ and $n-1$), and Player 2 must attempt to execute the order by moving left or right from the square he finished on during the previous turn. Player 2 wins the game if he is able to follow each order and last until the $d$ turns are over, while Player 1 wins if he is able to issue an order that Player 2 cannot follow.

Certainly, if $d=1$ or $d=2$ there are no winning strategies for Player 1, while for $d \geq 3$ there are. So my question is, what are they? Or, put it another way, how can we be sure that a sequence of $d$ orders issued by Player 1 will not be able to be followed by Player 2?

EDIT: Thanks! to all for your comments and/or criticism. I probably should have included this in my initial post (sorry, first time poster mistake), but this game is related to another problem I was interested in solving:

Which sequences of $d$ integers $e_1, e_2, \dots, e_d,$ with $0 \leq e_i \leq n-1,$ create a system of equations $e_i = |x_i - x_{i+1}|,$ $i=1,2, \dots, n,$ which admits at least one solution in $x_1, x_2, x_3, \dots, x_{d+1},$ with $0 \leq x_i \leq n-1?$ The losing strategies for Player 1 in the above game would yield such sequences, for as Player 2 executes the "orders" given by Player 1 (which would form a sequence $\{e_i\}_{i=1}^d$), he generates a solution (in $x_j$) to the above system of equations.

I'm hoping someone can help me figure out how to describe all winning strategies for "Player 1" in the following game:

Consider a board with $n$ tiles arranged in a row. Player 1 and Player 2 each have $d$ turns, and Player 1 always goes first. On the first turn, Player 1 "issues an order," or in other words, gives a number between $0$ and $n-1,$ and Player 2 chooses a tile on the board to place his piece and then moves either left or right according to the order given by Player 1. Player 2 is never allowed to change direction mid-move. In each subsequent turn, Player 1 issues another order (again, always a number between $0$ and $n-1$), and Player 2 must attempt to execute the order by moving left or right from the square he finished on during the previous turn. Player 2 wins the game if he is able to follow each order and last until the $d$ turns are over, while Player 1 wins if he is able to issue an order that Player 2 cannot follow.

Certainly, if $d=1$ or $d=2$ there are no winning strategies for Player 1, while for $d \geq 3$ there are. So my question is, what are they? Or, put it another way, how can we be sure that a sequence of $d$ orders issued by Player 1 will not be able to be followed by Player 2?

Thanks!

I'm hoping someone can help me figure out how to describe all winning strategies for "Player 1" in the following game:

Consider a board with $n$ tiles arranged in a row. Player 1 and Player 2 each have $d$ turns, and Player 1 always goes first. On the first turn, Player 1 "issues an order," or in other words, gives a number between $0$ and $n-1,$ and Player 2 chooses a tile on the board to place his piece and then moves either left or right according to the order given by Player 1. Player 2 is never allowed to change direction mid-move. In each subsequent turn, Player 1 issues another order (again, always a number between $0$ and $n-1$), and Player 2 must attempt to execute the order by moving left or right from the square he finished on during the previous turn. Player 2 wins the game if he is able to follow each order and last until the $d$ turns are over, while Player 1 wins if he is able to issue an order that Player 2 cannot follow.

Certainly, if $d=1$ or $d=2$ there are no winning strategies for Player 1, while for $d \geq 3$ there are. So my question is, what are they? Or, put it another way, how can we be sure that a sequence of $d$ orders issued by Player 1 will not be able to be followed by Player 2?

EDIT: Thanks to all for your comments and/or criticism. I probably should have included this in my initial post (sorry, first time poster mistake), but this game is related to another problem I was interested in solving:

Which sequences of $d$ integers $e_1, e_2, \dots, e_d,$ with $0 \leq e_i \leq n-1,$ create a system of equations $e_i = |x_i - x_{i+1}|,$ $i=1,2, \dots, n,$ which admits at least one solution in $x_1, x_2, x_3, \dots, x_{d+1},$ with $0 \leq x_i \leq n-1?$ The losing strategies for Player 1 in the above game would yield such sequences, for as Player 2 executes the "orders" given by Player 1 (which would form a sequence $\{e_i\}_{i=1}^d$), he generates a solution (in $x_j$) to the above system of equations.

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James Uren
James Uren
  • 11
  • 1

What is a description of winning strategies in this tile game?

I'm hoping someone can help me figure out how to describe all winning strategies for "Player 1" in the following game:

Consider a board with $n$ tiles arranged in a row. Player 1 and Player 2 each have $d$ turns, and Player 1 always goes first. On the first turn, Player 1 "issues an order," or in other words, gives a number between $0$ and $n-1,$ and Player 2 chooses a tile on the board to place his piece and then moves either left or right according to the order given by Player 1. Player 2 is never allowed to change direction mid-move. In each subsequent turn, Player 1 issues another order (again, always a number between $0$ and $n-1$), and Player 2 must attempt to execute the order by moving left or right from the square he finished on during the previous turn. Player 2 wins the game if he is able to follow each order and last until the $d$ turns are over, while Player 1 wins if he is able to issue an order that Player 2 cannot follow.

Certainly, if $d=1$ or $d=2$ there are no winning strategies for Player 1, while for $d \geq 3$ there are. So my question is, what are they? Or, put it another way, how can we be sure that a sequence of $d$ orders issued by Player 1 will not be able to be followed by Player 2?

Thanks!