• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 22:05
CET 04:05
KST 12:05
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12Intel X Team Liquid Seoul event: Showmatches and Meet the Pros10[ASL20] Finals Preview: Arrival13
Community News
[TLMC] Fall/Winter 2025 Ladder Map Rotation13Weekly Cups (Nov 3-9): Clem Conquers in Canada4SC: Evo Complete - Ranked Ladder OPEN ALPHA8StarCraft, SC2, HotS, WC3, Returning to Blizzcon!45$5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship7
StarCraft 2
General
[TLMC] Fall/Winter 2025 Ladder Map Rotation Mech is the composition that needs teleportation t RotterdaM "Serral is the GOAT, and it's not close" RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 3 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Constellation Cup - Main Event - Stellar Fest Tenacious Turtle Tussle Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 500 Fright night Mutation # 499 Chilling Adaptation Mutation # 498 Wheel of Misfortune|Cradle of Death Mutation # 497 Battle Haredened
Brood War
General
FlaSh on: Biggest Problem With SnOw's Playstyle BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ What happened to TvZ on Retro? SnOw's ASL S20 Finals Review BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0 [BSL21] RO32 Group D - Sunday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO32 Group C - Saturday 21:00 CET
Strategy
PvZ map balance Current Meta Simple Questions, Simple Answers How to stay on top of macro?
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile Clair Obscur - Expedition 33 Should offensive tower rushing be viable in RTS games? Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread SPIRED by.ASL Mafia {211640}
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread About SC2SEA.COM Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread Korean Music Discussion Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion NBA General Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
SC2 Client Relocalization [Change SC2 Language] Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Dyadica Gospel – a Pulp No…
Hildegard
Coffee x Performance in Espo…
TrAiDoS
Saturation point
Uldridge
DnB/metal remix FFO Mick Go…
ImbaTosS
Reality "theory" prov…
perfectspheres
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2321 users

Pennies On A Table

Blogs > Slithe
Post a Reply
Slithe
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
United States985 Posts
February 05 2008 23:08 GMT
#1
Another puzzle guys. This one is kinda neat, but pretty simple.

You're playing a two-player turn based game. You have a circular table, 1 meter in diameter. You and your opponent take turns putting 1 centimeter pennies on the table. The pennies cannot overlap each other, and they must stay completely on the table.

If you cannot put down a penny on your turn, you lose the game.

Would you rather go first or second, and what would your strategy be?

****
Daveed
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
United States236 Posts
February 05 2008 23:14 GMT
#2
+ Show Spoiler +
I would Go first/put the penny right on the center.
Cascade
Profile Blog Joined March 2006
Australia5405 Posts
February 05 2008 23:15 GMT
#3
On February 06 2008 08:14 Daveed wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
I would Go first/put the penny right on the center.


+ Show Spoiler +
ahh, that's sweet! And then just put pennies exactly on the opposite side of the centre penny as his pennies I guess?
DamageControL
Profile Blog Joined July 2007
United States4222 Posts
February 05 2008 23:23 GMT
#4
On February 06 2008 08:15 Cascade wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 06 2008 08:14 Daveed wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
I would Go first/put the penny right on the center.


+ Show Spoiler +
ahh, that's sweet! And then just put pennies exactly on the opposite side of the centre penny as his pennies I guess?

breakable aint it? I mean this would rely on PRECISION placement. No would have to be dead on, every time. There must be more effective ways
Liquid | SKT
Folca
Profile Blog Joined October 2006
2235 Posts
February 06 2008 00:26 GMT
#5
just play retardedly, its a 50/50% chance unless your opponent is einstein or somethin
Dea : one time when he was playing vs the comps he asked me "how do I make that flying unit that makes the other stuff invisible" and I reply "ur playing terran zomg"
Meta
Profile Blog Joined June 2003
United States6225 Posts
February 06 2008 01:27 GMT
#6
there's gotta be a mathematical solution to how many pennies can be on the table. can you move pennies that are already on the table?
good vibes only
fight_or_flight
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States3988 Posts
February 06 2008 01:43 GMT
#7
On February 06 2008 08:23 DamageControL wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 06 2008 08:15 Cascade wrote:
On February 06 2008 08:14 Daveed wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
I would Go first/put the penny right on the center.


+ Show Spoiler +
ahh, that's sweet! And then just put pennies exactly on the opposite side of the centre penny as his pennies I guess?

breakable aint it? I mean this would rely on PRECISION placement. No would have to be dead on, every time. There must be more effective ways

I don't think it would work. What if the second player put a penny down 0.7 cm away from yours, at a 25º angle?
Do you really want chat rooms?
Daveed
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
United States236 Posts
February 06 2008 01:55 GMT
#8

+ Show Spoiler +
Actually, if the coin overlaps the exact center of the table at all, you've won.


A few replies to the people above:

@ DamageControL:

In mathematical games like this, you usually assume exact movements from yourself, as well as perfect strategy from the opponent. At any rate, if you carry this out correctly, there's no way you can lose.

@ fight/flight- I don't understand what you mean. At a 25 degree angle? With respect to... what?

@ meta- sure, you could figure out what the max number of pennies are that could fit on a table. But this would require that the pennies be put on in a specific pattern; what if one of the players placed their penny out of position for this "perfect arrangement"? That would mess things up.
Cambium
Profile Blog Joined June 2004
United States16368 Posts
February 06 2008 02:18 GMT
#9
On February 06 2008 08:14 Daveed wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
I would Go first/put the penny right on the center.


Cool.
When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.
EmeraldSparks
Profile Blog Joined January 2008
United States1451 Posts
February 06 2008 02:22 GMT
#10
Take the pennies and run.
But why?
ZaplinG
Profile Blog Joined February 2005
United States3818 Posts
February 06 2008 02:29 GMT
#11
haha
Don't believe the florist when he tells you that the roses are free
Slithe
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
United States985 Posts
February 06 2008 04:57 GMT
#12
Daveed's solution is correct. Congratulations!

+ Show Spoiler +

Once you take the center, you know that anything your opponent does, there's always a mirror move on the other side that's open. There's no way for the opponent to "block" your move, because the only place where that would be possible is in the middle, which you already took.


For anyone who doubts the solution, you could always find a circular table, break out a lot of pennies, and test for yourself .
fight_or_flight
Profile Blog Joined June 2007
United States3988 Posts
February 06 2008 05:10 GMT
#13
wow, thats actually pretty clever
Do you really want chat rooms?
Sigrun
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
United States1655 Posts
February 06 2008 07:31 GMT
#14
On February 06 2008 11:22 EmeraldSparks wrote:
Take the pennies and run.


This one looked like a better solution!
Graphics
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
23:00
WardiTV Mondays #59
LiquipediaDiscussion
BSL 21
20:00
ProLeague - RO32 Group D
JDConan vs Semih
Dragon vs Dienmax
Tech vs NewOcean
TerrOr vs Artosis
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RuFF_SC2 118
SpeCial 97
Livibee 68
Ketroc 66
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 876
Artosis 723
Noble 74
ivOry 24
yabsab 7
Dota 2
monkeys_forever387
NeuroSwarm85
League of Legends
JimRising 738
Super Smash Bros
AZ_Axe171
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor104
Other Games
summit1g14334
fl0m816
hungrybox528
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick562
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 86
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota21212
League of Legends
• Doublelift3046
• Rush643
• HappyZerGling101
Other Games
• Scarra940
Upcoming Events
Wardi Open
8h 55m
Monday Night Weeklies
13h 55m
Replay Cast
19h 55m
WardiTV Korean Royale
1d 8h
BSL: GosuLeague
1d 17h
The PondCast
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
RSL Revival
3 days
herO vs Zoun
Classic vs Reynor
Maru vs SHIN
MaxPax vs TriGGeR
BSL: GosuLeague
3 days
RSL Revival
4 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Korean Royale
4 days
RSL Revival
5 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
5 days
IPSL
5 days
Julia vs Artosis
JDConan vs DragOn
RSL Revival
6 days
Wardi Open
6 days
IPSL
6 days
StRyKeR vs OldBoy
Sziky vs Tarson
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2025-11-14
Stellar Fest: Constellation Cup
Eternal Conflict S1

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
SOOP Univ League 2025
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
CSCL: Masked Kings S3
SLON Tour Season 2
RSL Revival: Season 3
META Madness #9
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025

Upcoming

BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXVIII
RSL Offline Finals
WardiTV 2025
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.