The Straw Bar Trick

Challenge Number 9. The Straw Game. Start with 17 straws. Male Speaker: Straw game. Now, here is a game you can present - game of chance. Martin: Alright. Male Speaker 1: Now what we are going to do is take my lovely session take Martin. I got a bunch of straws and I am going to lay them on the table. Just a simple game of pick up straws. Now, we are going to take turns picking up one, two, or three straws at a time. And we are going to take turns. The object is for me to leave Martin in with the last straw to pick up. So whoever picks up the last straw loses. Okay, so bunch of straws in there. Do you want to go first? Sure. Could I go first? Did you want first? Martin: May be. Male Speaker: I am going to go first now. Pick up one, two or three straws at a time. Now what am I doing here. does anybody know the tricks of the game? Is there a trick? Who knows? Tune in next time to find out. The Game begins. Male Speaker: Okay, we are back. Here we go. So was I starting? Martin: yeah. Male Speaker: I was starting. Okay. I am going to take this one. It is very nice. Red is my color. I see. Okay. I see, okay. Very interesting way to do about it. I think I am going to; yeah that's right. That's interesting. I see, no more jokes. Now, here we go. Now he has picked up one. I picked up two I believe. I pick up two. He has the last straw. Here is the solution to the straw game. You're going to kick yourself. Male Speaker: I know how many of you are paying close attention actually figured it out. But when I left Martin with five straws and that's -- with five straws, he couldn't win, because he has that option. He has one, two or three. So he picks up one straw. I then pick up three straws. He then picks up the last straw and he loses. If he had picked up two straws, I would then also pick up two straws. He has to pick up the last straw and he loses. So once you leave your opponent with five straws, they can't win. Now what you won't probably realize is he actually lost when I left him with nine straws. It is exactly the same thing. He picks up one. I pick up three and we are at five. Very sneaky. What you probably don't realize is he actually, lost when I left him with 13 straws and actually I started right? So if have the option I would rather Martin start, because then basically I have 17, I can subtract. It is much easier for me to keep track of that. So 17 straws, if he picks up one, I pick up three. So, if I am going to start, I will always pick up one straw, because it gives me more options and even if you don't know how many straws to start with, least you can do is spread them out and start to count them. Its five straws and then multiples of four. Sneaky.