You are pratically applying the nim-sum method, that's the solution for NIM. Making the rows nim-sum will force the opponent to make a bad move: in fact no metter what move they do, they'll make a bad move. Nim is a mathematically solved game, if you start as the first player doing nim-sum, you will always win :)

I've learned to go the opposite direction of how Brian teaches it by looking to pair groups of 4 first, then groups of 2, then singles. Also, just to throw this little tidbit out there: you can also start with any number of objects in any number of (multiple) piles and it will still work. Start with the pyramid set up as in the video. Then, when they have a good grasp on the game, beat their snot continuously and when they are almost ready to see the pattern, allow them to set the starting board in any way they want. You will then get to choose if you go first or if they go first (maintaining your advantage). it will take a bit of practice to be able to see the "balance" of the randomized starting board, but once it clicks, its a wonderful "unfair advantage" you can toss at them to keep winning beer/money/phone#s/favors

This version is actually a variant of NIM, traditionally, the player who would take the last match/coin/card/piece would win, in which case you always play for balance, until the very end, but in the version you demonstrated here, you should balance it until you get to a point where there is only 1 line that still has more than 1 match; at that point you need to make sure that there will be an uneven amount of lines of 1, so if it is 1, 1, 3, 1, you want to take all of the 3 row to create 1,1,0,1, and you'll force the other to lose, if it is something like 1, 0,1,7, you want to take 6 of the 7 to make 1,0,1,1, and you'll force the other to lose.

8:18 Ah, I see what you did there! Re-match! eh, eh? no? okay....

Glad to see the balance strategy on my favorite channel! I do this at school, haven't lost a single game, ever. We play with 3,5,7, but not 1. Keep up the good work, Brian!

I think what this episode taught most is not to use match sticks when it is either windy or just a very uneven surface. Also it is weird seeing Sokka in real life.

love nim. our english teacher introduced it to the class and would play us on the board sometimes. he didn't know these rules though and there was no internet to look things up. needless to say, he didn't always win but i think that made him enjoy it more

8:18 "I demand a re-*match*, sir! I see what you did there. ;)

Brian, just dropped by to say I love these mind-challenging games! I learn a lot with Scam School! Hugs from Brazil

This is a perfect video to end the day on. Thanks again for another great video Brain. Can't wait till the next one.

thanks! My prof in University try to explain thin with the binary sytem... But this idea that it should be "balanced" is really near from reality and nice to understand!

I love this trick, it looks totaly fair in the beginning but when you look deeper you can see a sneaky way to always win.

You do such a great job of explaining! Thanks so much!

in general its based on powers of two (this includes 1 which is 2 to the power 0) (also every number can be written as a sum of powers of two where each power only appears once), a balanced position has every power of two appearing an even number of times (which an odd number of times throughout the piles, since they only appear once in a pile) , to balance and an unbalanced position do the following: identify each power of two that appears an odd number of times and pick pile that contains the largest of these, now take the following from the chosen pile: (sum of the powers of two [that appear and odd number of times and excluding the largest of these] that are in the chosen pile ) + ((largest power of two [of the ones that appear an odd number of times]) minus (sum of the powers of two [that appear an odd number of times] that are not in the chosen pile)

Love the creativity of your sponsor ads. Dough mein? Now this? XD Props to the smarts and kudos for the intelligent advertisement!

Awesome, I love Nim is one of the best thing that scam school has teached me and now we have this incredible version. You can keep complicating the game or making it easer to get more drinks

hey +ScamSchool i did a trick to my friend and he was shock and i just wanted to say thax ur the best utuber ever 👌

Thanks, now with the help of you and some other tutorials im the nim master if i think

Hey Brian you are doing really great stuff!!! Keep it up :-)

Glad to see Matt is back again.

Although P1 is at a very grave disadvantage, they can usually make a come back and win the game if P2 is not clued in on the symmetrical strategy. P1 should begin the game by taking 1 match from any row. For their first turn P2 has only 3 correct responses: Take 1 match from any row OTHER THAN THE ROW THAT P1 SELECTED. If P2 takes more than 1 match OR takes ANY matches from the same row that P1 selected, they will absolutely lose the game. Of course, even if P2 makes their first move correctly, they could make 1 or more mistakes on subsequent turns. In that case, again, they would definitely lose. So if I were playing this game for beer, I would insist on going first for 2 to 4 games. True, there is a small chance that I might lose one of those games -- but I probably won't lose any. At that point my opponent will demand that they go first. Now their doom is sealed. As P2 I CAN'T lose. And I leave with a belly full of free beer!

I'm trying to beat my math teacher.

Will you make a video on Fibonacci NIM too? It would be very interesting :)

Ok, let me get this straight. My Scam School professor gets on Fool Us, which is hosted by my favorite magicians and then my Skeptic Guru is featured on Scam School?! I'm geeking out so hard right now.

Dont understand, when it TWO TWO and not your turn u will win, but when ONE ONE and if not your turn u loose. And if first move will be cancel out 4 match on bottom level, what u must do, cancel out 4 match too?

I play this all the time with my grandpa, glad to know a way in which I finally won't lose everytime

Amazing as always

is that a sneaky shot at Dan & Dave on top of the captions in the commercial?

you're the best magician ever

I expected more from Sokka. Honestly, I'm disappointed.

Matt has a blistering fast mind. He had that shit cold in a minute.

Hey look! It's Dillahunty! Love him. Best presenter on Atheist Experience.

I've been subscribed for year, and Brian had never taught a single pick up that's worked for me...

this was amazing

My grandfather taught me the 3 5 7 version of the game. I didn't learn the math part of it, but I look at it as codes.

woo hoo! Matt dillahunty. always a pleasure seeing him in these videos.

When are you announcing the last giveaway?

toasting aaaaaand were drinking laughed way to hard at that

Hey +Scam School I just wanted to tell you I love you vids and that I get my mom every time!

if i have sweet bar trick, how do i send it to you so you can think about maybe doing an episode on it?

who thinks that guy looks like sokka from avatar?

i like matt dillahunty, one of my favorite atheists, it's fun to see him on atheist experience

My religion teacher thought me this like 6 years ago and he explained to us(the class) that it is a binary game cause the one groups is 2 to the power of 0(not sure if this is how you say it in english butni mean like 4 times 4 is 4 to the power of 2) then the groups of two were 2 to the power of 1 and the groups of 4were two times two and every time i saw u play nim i was like yeah i could play that and if u r wondering why i did not sent you an email explaining this rule well i started scam school last month and i binge watched almost the whole series so not enough time for me to :)) and yeah i rock at parties cause i do magic triks and they are all like woow

You were playing against the old af avatar Aang that's gone back in time and brought Sokka to you

Brian, a link to that guide you mentioned?

Fun Seeing Matt Dillahunty in this one!

Awesome trick

its the same basis that 21 dares works with

w0w, have this game in one of my frist magic books, however you cant always win, in fact if he start and know what to do, you will lose,

I thought the guy next to Brian was Gareth Bale !!!

I did a school unit on this in 5th grade

Its brians hair let him do whatever he wants with it

DADUQ is matt doing there? :D I am a huge fan of him, freaking coincidence.

I seriously fail to understand this. I have been playing against a computer for half an hour and not once have i won o.O

This is also called Prison Chess played with Cigarettes

I' m sorry but Brian gives the wrong explanation from 5:04 to 5:20. He says that 2 rows of 2 favors the player whose turn it is. Just the opposite is true. If you present 2 rows of 2 to your opponent, they will most certainly lose. He also says that symmetry favors the player whose turn it is. Again, that's not true, but rather the opposite. You must present your opponent with a symmetrical arrangement on the table. By symmetry I mean that every 4 must be paired with another 4, every 2 must be paired with another 2 and every 1 must be paired with another 1. Brian is correct in saying that when you get close to the end of the game (say 3 or 4 matches left on the table), you must drop the symmetrical strategy and use simple logic. So, for example, if your opponent presents you with 1 1 6, you should NOT try to leave your opponent a symmetrical arrangement of 4s, 2s, and 1s. In fact, the only symmetrical position you can leave him/her is 1 1 by taking the entire row of 6 away. And that's a LOSING position for YOU because he/she takes one match and you're stuck with the last one. Instead, you should take 5 from the 6 row leaving your opponent with 1 1 1. The simple logic that follows goes like this: he/she takes one match; I take one match; he/she takes the last match giving me the win.

i don't know, scam school companion app sounds pretty sweet.

Does this math apply to game variations? A friend of mine assembles the game as follows (total of 28 cards): I II III IIII IIIII IIIIII IIIIIII

I feel like without the side display the guy with the black hair and mini ponytail hairdo had no idea was happening

so you wanna meet? then when are you coming to Melbourne Australia?

Thankyou soo much for explaining so nicely I just won 200rs because of this 😂

Umm.. how did you figure out it needs to be balanced to be in winning position.. also how did you figure out the method of balancing it …

haha I remember how lame the old vids were. deez newer ones are just Simply Awesome!

That Under 301 Got Me Like....

Matt Dillahunty!! respect

what happend with youre awsome hear

I thought the game was played in a 3-5-7 fashion and the winner was the one who did take the last one. Multiple versions or did someone do something wrong?

I always read NIM as a misspelled TIME

Come to italy

Who needs an app when you have the Rouges Ring?

UNDA 301 CLUUUUB

Hey Gareth Bale

Sokka is that you?

soka, is that you?

I demand a rematch!

I'm I the only one scared that his beer might fall

Stripey tee shirt pee over shoulder guy give up at 6.15 "balls to this im going for a beer"......or maybe gonna buy some matches!!

8:33 this seems weird why does it seem like he's trying to frame this situation as a "ohh you have a little shortcut here so don't overwhelm yourself with rules" when it's actually a "this method doesn't work past a certain point, at least in the misere version of the game", which is what's actually going on?

2015 looks so much like the 1930's

NIM is WIN rotated 180 degrees.

hey brian why dont you start streaming your scams to twithc

The guy in the left he's like bell

Hello , wow video

The evening it out doesn't work if you end your turn with 1 in all 4 rows, then you're screwed

Why did you change your hair and beard color

Last Year at Marienbad, anyone?

They aren't masters, their Matchters :D

The problem with this game is people only show it to me when they always win.

ReMATCH

Will you ever reply to the Bergelas Effect of no

Under 301!!!

at 5:08 he was wrong.

this thing is great i would have gave u a emoji but i dont have emoji

Dude has a man-bun! AAAH!

Hey brian! I bet you dont know how many people you need to be to have a 50% chance of having two of you having the same person cos I do! Take a guess!

hi

You can now buy low cost domains thanks to the valor of SKY CAPTAIN MAXIMILLIAN VALENTIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE wait noe wrong channel. Sorry, the saloon music sets me off.

either I'm really high or the math is killing the magic trick

Hi !!!

But when both guys know the tactics how can the first guy win then