×

On the structure of misère impartial games. (English) Zbl 1490.91044

Summary: We consider the abstract structure of the monoid \(\mathcal{M}\) of misère impartial game values. Several new results are presented, including a proof that the group of fractions of \(\mathcal{M}\) is almost torsion-free; a method of calculating the number of distinct games born by day 7; and some new results on the structure of prime games. Also included are proofs of a few older results due to Conway, such as the cancellation theorem, that are essential to the analysis but whose proofs are not readily available in the literature.

MSC:

91A46 Combinatorial games

References:

[1] D. T. Allemang, Machine computation with finite games, Master’s thesis, Trinity College, Cambridge, 1984, http://miseregames.org/allemang/.
[2] C. L. Bouton, Nim, a game with a complete mathematical theory, Ann. of Math. 3 (1901), 35-39. · JFM 32.0225.02
[3] J. H. Conway, On Numbers and Games, second edition, A K Peters, Ltd. / CRC Press, Natick, MA 2001. · Zbl 0972.11002
[4] J. H. Conway, personal communication, 2006.
[5] P. M. Grundy, Mathematics and games, Eureka 2 (1939), 6-8.
[6] P. M. Grundy and C. A. B. Smith, Disjunctive games with the last player losing, Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 52 (1956), 527-533. · Zbl 0074.34504
[7] R. K. Guy and C. A. B. Smith, The G-values of various games, Proc. Cambridge Philos. Soc. 52 (1956), 514-526. · Zbl 0074.34503
[8] T. E. Plambeck, Taming the wild in impartial combinatorial games, Integers 5 (2005), #G05. · Zbl 1092.91012
[9] T. E. Plambeck and A. N. Siegel, Misère quotients for impartial games, J. Combin. Theory Ser. A 115 (2008), 593-622. · Zbl 1142.91022
[10] A. N. Siegel, Combinatorial Game Theory, Number 146 in Graduate Studies in Mathematics, American Mathematical Society, Providence, RI, 2013. · Zbl 1288.91003
[11] C. A. B. Smith, Compound two-person deterministic games, unpublished manuscript.
[12] C. Thompson, Count of day 6 misere-inequivalent impartial games, posted to usenet rec.games.abstract on February 19, 1999.
This reference list is based on information provided by the publisher or from digital mathematics libraries. Its items are heuristically matched to zbMATH identifiers and may contain data conversion errors. In some cases that data have been complemented/enhanced by data from zbMATH Open. This attempts to reflect the references listed in the original paper as accurately as possible without claiming completeness or a perfect matching.