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The Unbeatable Game from the 60s: Dr NIM

Stand-up Maths

1.3M subscribers • 12 videos on Hallway

YouTube
  • Recommended by 2 people: 1 on Hacker News and 1 on Lobsters.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2017 to 2023.
  • Presented by Matt Parker, stand-up mathematician

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

7.1M views10 years ago2 recommendations

Computer scienceHistory and cultureAlgorithmsRetro computingMath for programmers

Matt Parker explains the mathematical strategy behind the game of Nim using a 1960s mechanical plastic computer called Dr NIM.

Buy a modern version of Dr NIM! mathsgear.co.uk/products/braino The game of (single pile) Nim can be won by anyone who understands a simple trick. A trick so easy, a 1960s mechanical plastic computer can play with perfect strategy, defeating all humans. Learn the method and proceed to beat your friends, family and colleagues. Read more about single-pile Nim on the Maths Busking site: mathsbusking.com/shows-twenty-quid.html My Domino Computer. The Domputer. youtu.be/OpLU__bhu2w Dr NIM at the Computer History Museum: computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/102688881 And someone has put the whole instruction booklet online: cs.miami.edu/home/burt/learning/Csc427.152/491_Dr-Nim-Manual… MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician Website: standupmaths.com/ Music by Howard Carter Design by Simon Wright

Why it's here

2 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended for its entertaining explanation of binary math, game theory, and mechanical computing through the game of Nim.

flyingfischon Lobsters • Recommends

The Unbeatable Game from the 60s: Dr NIM
6View on Lobsters

AndrewOMartinon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Play the Nimatron, the World’s First Video Game Invented in 1930s New York”

If this kind of thing amuses you can buy a purely mechanical implementation called either Braino or Dr. Nim for about £10. Here's a video on the subject from Matt Parker @ Standup Maths. link to this video
View on Hacker News

u/Ninesquared81in r/C_Programming • Mentions

On “Dice game”

This is a version of the game of Nim. Here's a video by Matt Parker about *Dr NIM*, which is a board game version of the game from the 1960s and includes an excellent explanation of the winning strategy.
3View on Reddit

brownbaton Hacker News • Mentions

On “4-bit calculator made from cardboard and marbles”

These remind me of Dr. Nim, the unbeatable single-player board game from the 60s, which also used marbles to do binary math: link to this video
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jerfon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Crimes against transhumanity”

"The new feudal aristocracy would be the ones running the demons." The question of ownership is huge and I think still underaddressed, even after some good work like the referenced Lena, or Tom Scott's "Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers" link . I was realizing a couple of weeks ago that if you do believe all the materialistic things cstross outlines, that a solid argument can be made that it may be never rational to upload your mind, on the ground that there is simply no circumstance I can imagine where you will "own" your own substrate. Arguably, owning your computational substrate is a fundamental aspect of life that we take for granted today. (Or, if you won't consider…
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u/Ninesquared81in r/C_Programming • Mentions

On “Matchstick game”

Without reading the code, it appears to be similar in principle to (Dr) Nim, albeit with a flipped win condition. The basic idea is that the computer will always bring the total to a multiple of 5. This means that just before the player loses, the computer will bring the total to 20, leaving the user no choice but to draw the 21^(st) matchstick. If the user picked up *n* matchsticks then the computer would pick up *5 - n*. Now if there were the option for the computer to go first, then the player could use the same strategy to win, assuming the number of matchsticks stays the same.
1View on Reddit