How to Always Win the Last Stone Game
Learn the simple counting trick that lets you win a stone grabbing game every time, and meet the maths of winning strategies.
Subject · 11 posts
puzzles
The Puzzle Where Every Tap Changes Its Neighbours
A gentle look at Lights Out, the tapping puzzle where turning off one light flips its neighbours and quietly teaches you about odd and even.
The Two Jugs Trick: How to Measure Exactly 4 Litres
A friendly look at the classic water jug puzzle, why pouring between a 5 litre and 3 litre jug lands on 4, and the number idea behind it.
The Tiny Grid That Teaches Clear Thinking
A gentle beginner guide to Mini Sudoku, the tiny grid puzzle where each number you place quietly removes choices and points you to the next one.
The Puzzle Where You Can Only Push
A friendly look at Push the Boxes, a game where you can only push, never pull, and why planning ahead makes it hard for people and computers.
The River Puzzle That Teaches Computers to Think
Row a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage across a river without disaster, and discover the simple idea that helps computers solve puzzles too.
The River Puzzle That Hides a Big Idea
Ferry everyone across a river while keeping both banks safe, and meet constraint satisfaction, the friendly idea behind timetables and Sudoku.
The Secret Colour Guessing Game
Learn how the game Secret Colours teaches deduction, the same clue by clue reasoning used by detectives and scientists.
How a Sliding Puzzle Teaches You to Plan
Slide numbered tiles into order and learn how planning works, why a step back can help, and why only half of all shuffles can be solved.
Tower Move and the Idea That Repeats Itself
Move a stack of discs in a tiny web game and meet recursion, the neat idea of a job that solves itself by doing a smaller copy.
How Two Switches and a Bulb Explain Computers
Flip two switches, pick a gate, and light a bulb to discover the simple true or false logic that quietly powers every computer.