PSU CS: New Beginnings (2014 - Summer)

Coin War

Number of players: 2

Playing time: About 5 minutes.

Goal: Win the opponent's Army.

Equipment Needed: Ten coins.

Setup: Each player takes five coins, arranges their coins in a sequence called their "Army", and then flips each coin in turn so that it randomly shows heads (H) or tails (T).

Round of play: The players compare the first coins in their armies.

• H beats T, so if the coins mismatch, the player with H captures the coin of the player with T, and puts the T and H at the end of their Army in that order.

  In addition, the player with H then captures the Prisoners of the player with T—see below—and places the opposing Prisoners and then their own Prisoners in order at the end of their Army.

• If the coins are the same, each player puts the matched coin at the end of their Prisoners. Players with coins still in their Army then put the first remaining coin in their Army at the end of their sequence of Prisoners.

Victory conditions: At any point, if either player has no Army, the game is immediately over.

• If only one player has an Army, that player wins.

• Otherwise, both players must have no Army.

  • If one player has more H coins than the other in their Prisoners, that player wins.

  • Otherwise, the game is a tie.

Sample game:

        Player 1: THHTT
        Player 2: TTHTH

        Player 1: HTT TH
        Player 2: HTH TT

        Player 1: T THHT
        Player 2: H TTHT

        Game over.
        Player 1:
        Player 2: THTHHTTTHT

        Player 2 wins.

Strategy: Coin War is a game of pure luck. The player who starts with the most heads almost always wins.