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Subj:.....Catching
A Christmas Turkey (S590)
From the book
"More Mathematical Puzzles of Sam Loyd"
Edited by Martin Gardner
From: Dover Publications in 1960
How can the farmer
catch the turkey?
Here is a pretty little
game as well as a puzzle. Place
a counter, supposed
to be a turkey, on cell No. 7, and
another counter,
to represent the farmer, on cell No. 58.
One player moves
the turkey, the other player moves the
farmer. They
play alternately, moving their piece in any
direction in a streight
line, as far as they please. But
if a piece stops
on a row guarded by the other man, or if
it passes over a
row so guarded, it can be captured. For
example, if the turkey
moves first from cell 7 to cell 52,
it can immediately
be captured by the farmer. And if the
farmer moves first
from 58 to 4, he can be captured by the
turkey at cell 12
because he crossed a row guarded by the
turkey. The
object of the game is to capture your opponent.
Regardless of who
moves first, the farmer can always capture
the turkey.
What strategy should he follow in order to win?
For a second puzzle,
start as before with the turkey on 7
and the farmer on
58. The turkey does not move. How can
the farmer capture
it in twenty-four moves that take him
once and only once
over every cell on the board? It is
quite a difficult
problem. |
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