# Takeaway matchstick game

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/takeaway-matchstick-game/306470>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 2, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/takeaway-matchstick-game/306470 "2005-06-02T00:03:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/takeaway-matchstick-game/306470/1 "2005-06-02T00:03:36Z")

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Anyone remember the rules to this game?  
Played by 2 people, each player takes turns removing 1, 2 or 3 matchsticks and the last person to remove a match (or matches) is the winner. The winning strategy of the game is to leave your opponent with 4 matches, whereby, removing 1 , 2 or 3 matches will leave _you_ with the last and winning move.  
Also, does anyone remember the name of this game?  
Among other things, it used to be a popular science project, whereby students using crude circuits could “program” a machine to play.

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**Author:** ![Opus1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/858c86/32.png) [@Opus1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Opus1)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/takeaway-matchstick-game/306470/2 "2005-06-02T00:49:52Z")

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[Nim](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim)

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**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2005, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/takeaway-matchstick-game/306470/3 "2005-06-02T01:27:56Z")

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**Opus1**  
That’s it - and thank you.