Nimania

The Lighter Side of Mathematics: Proceedings of the Eugene Strens Memorial Conference on Recreational Mathematics and Its History

In August of 1986, a special conference on recreational mathematics was held at the University of Calgary to celebrate the founding of the Strens Collection. Leading practitioners of recreational mathematics from around the world gathered in Calgary to share with each other the joy and spirit of play that is to be found in recreational mathematics. It would be difficult to find a better collection of wonderful articles on recreational mathematics by a more distinguished group of authors. If you are interested in tessellations, Escher, tilings, Rubik's cube, pentominoes, games, puzzles, the arbelos, Henry Dudeney, or change ringing, then this book is for you.

Pacific Journal of Mathematics

Games of No Chance 3

This fascinating look at combinatorial games, that is, games not involving chance or hidden information, offers updates on standard games such as Go and Hex, on impartial games such as Chomp and Wythoff's Nim, and on aspects of games with infinitesimal values, plus analyses of the complexity of some games and puzzles and surveys on algorithmic game theory, on playing to lose, and on coping with cycles. The volume is rounded out with an up-to-date bibliography by Fraenkel and, for readers eager to get their hands dirty, a list of unsolved problems by Guy and Nowakowski. Highlights include some of Siegel's groundbreaking work on loopy games, the unveiling by Friedman and Landsberg of the use of renormalization to give very intriguing results about Chomp, and Nakamura's "Counting Liberties in Capturing Races of Go." Like its predecessors, this book should be on the shelf of all serious games enthusiasts.