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Four-in-a-line Puzzle
N-dimensional Tic-Tac-Toe variantPoints following an axiomIs there a better solution to parallel segments problem?Strategy game on a blackboardLine of destructionThe square and the compass II - MidpointsCops - The ultimate compass challengePoint mass soldiers in Fogland8 Train StationsFinding a line on a plane
$begingroup$
Disclaimer: This is an open-problem, I don't have a complete solution for this puzzle yet.
We are playing a $2$-player game: you as a challenger and me as a judge. Initially, there is an empty infinite $2$-dimensional plane.
Alternately starting from you, put a single point. Your points will be denoted as $O$-points and mine will be $X$-points. The point we put can be anywhere — it may have Real coordinate — as long as it is not overlapping with any previous points.
You will win if and only if at some point of time, you can draw a line segment passing $N$ number of $O$-points without passing any $X$-points. Thus, you will lose if and only if I can make sure you can't reach your goal at any point of time.
Questions:
- If $N = 4$, can you win this game?
- If $N = 5$, can you win this game?
- Can you win this game for any $N$? If yes, then what is the strategy? If no, then what is the smallest number of $N$ which is impossible for you to win?
This is an example of the game for $N = 3$:

geometry strategy
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Disclaimer: This is an open-problem, I don't have a complete solution for this puzzle yet.
We are playing a $2$-player game: you as a challenger and me as a judge. Initially, there is an empty infinite $2$-dimensional plane.
Alternately starting from you, put a single point. Your points will be denoted as $O$-points and mine will be $X$-points. The point we put can be anywhere — it may have Real coordinate — as long as it is not overlapping with any previous points.
You will win if and only if at some point of time, you can draw a line segment passing $N$ number of $O$-points without passing any $X$-points. Thus, you will lose if and only if I can make sure you can't reach your goal at any point of time.
Questions:
- If $N = 4$, can you win this game?
- If $N = 5$, can you win this game?
- Can you win this game for any $N$? If yes, then what is the strategy? If no, then what is the smallest number of $N$ which is impossible for you to win?
This is an example of the game for $N = 3$:

geometry strategy
$endgroup$
add a comment |
$begingroup$
Disclaimer: This is an open-problem, I don't have a complete solution for this puzzle yet.
We are playing a $2$-player game: you as a challenger and me as a judge. Initially, there is an empty infinite $2$-dimensional plane.
Alternately starting from you, put a single point. Your points will be denoted as $O$-points and mine will be $X$-points. The point we put can be anywhere — it may have Real coordinate — as long as it is not overlapping with any previous points.
You will win if and only if at some point of time, you can draw a line segment passing $N$ number of $O$-points without passing any $X$-points. Thus, you will lose if and only if I can make sure you can't reach your goal at any point of time.
Questions:
- If $N = 4$, can you win this game?
- If $N = 5$, can you win this game?
- Can you win this game for any $N$? If yes, then what is the strategy? If no, then what is the smallest number of $N$ which is impossible for you to win?
This is an example of the game for $N = 3$:

geometry strategy
$endgroup$
Disclaimer: This is an open-problem, I don't have a complete solution for this puzzle yet.
We are playing a $2$-player game: you as a challenger and me as a judge. Initially, there is an empty infinite $2$-dimensional plane.
Alternately starting from you, put a single point. Your points will be denoted as $O$-points and mine will be $X$-points. The point we put can be anywhere — it may have Real coordinate — as long as it is not overlapping with any previous points.
You will win if and only if at some point of time, you can draw a line segment passing $N$ number of $O$-points without passing any $X$-points. Thus, you will lose if and only if I can make sure you can't reach your goal at any point of time.
Questions:
- If $N = 4$, can you win this game?
- If $N = 5$, can you win this game?
- Can you win this game for any $N$? If yes, then what is the strategy? If no, then what is the smallest number of $N$ which is impossible for you to win?
This is an example of the game for $N = 3$:

geometry strategy
geometry strategy
asked 9 hours ago
athinathin
10.7k23590
10.7k23590
add a comment |
add a comment |
1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
I think you can
win even if you need to connect a kajillion dots.
Here's my reasoning:
Well, any two points can be connected by a line, right?
Then you can see that
When you put a point down, you can draw a line from that point to any other point you already put down. important
The challenge is that your opponent can block the connections with a point of their own.
But as you remember about
the birthday paradox
Because of the important knowledge above, you see that
you can connect lines to $n-1$ dots when you put the $nth$ dot down.
Making the equation
When you put the $nth$ dot, you have 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + (n-1) connections.
Let's do 4.
By putting
101 dots down, you have 5050 connections!
Note: In this step don't put any dots in 3 in a row.
That's a lot of connections you can make with lines.
Since your opponent has only put
101 blocking dots down
you can
make a 3 in a row with 2 of the remaining connections you have by looking at 2 non-parallel connections. 2 non-parallel lines will connect, right?
Your opponent can't block both lines, so you got a 4 in a row!
The strategy for $x$ dots in a line is
put many many dots to make a kajillion connections. Maybe even Graham's number.
Then
make 3 in a row with $2x-3$ non-parallel connections.
Then
make 4 in a row with $2x-4$ non-parallel connections.
Eventually you
make 2879 in a row with $2x-2879$ non-parallel connections.
And then you make
$x$ in a row with $2x-x$ connections. (The hint there is that $2x-x=x$.)
So you can get infinity in a row! YAY!
$endgroup$
3
$begingroup$
The later stages of your argument aren't very clear to me. E.g., how do you get from 2x-3 to 2x-4, exactly? How many moves does it take and have you taken into account the fact that your opponent gets to make that many moves too? I think this could use some clarification...
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Precisely as Gareth said. Also, it's not always the case that the $n$-th dot you put make $n-1$ new lines. If you tried to make $3$ in-a-line for example, the number of new lines will be fewer; and how about more in-a-line. Also, the judge may not only block $1$ line, it can be more, for example the intersection of $2$ lines will block at least $2$.
$endgroup$
– athin
3 hours ago
add a comment |
Your Answer
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1 Answer
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active
oldest
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1 Answer
1
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
$begingroup$
I think you can
win even if you need to connect a kajillion dots.
Here's my reasoning:
Well, any two points can be connected by a line, right?
Then you can see that
When you put a point down, you can draw a line from that point to any other point you already put down. important
The challenge is that your opponent can block the connections with a point of their own.
But as you remember about
the birthday paradox
Because of the important knowledge above, you see that
you can connect lines to $n-1$ dots when you put the $nth$ dot down.
Making the equation
When you put the $nth$ dot, you have 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + (n-1) connections.
Let's do 4.
By putting
101 dots down, you have 5050 connections!
Note: In this step don't put any dots in 3 in a row.
That's a lot of connections you can make with lines.
Since your opponent has only put
101 blocking dots down
you can
make a 3 in a row with 2 of the remaining connections you have by looking at 2 non-parallel connections. 2 non-parallel lines will connect, right?
Your opponent can't block both lines, so you got a 4 in a row!
The strategy for $x$ dots in a line is
put many many dots to make a kajillion connections. Maybe even Graham's number.
Then
make 3 in a row with $2x-3$ non-parallel connections.
Then
make 4 in a row with $2x-4$ non-parallel connections.
Eventually you
make 2879 in a row with $2x-2879$ non-parallel connections.
And then you make
$x$ in a row with $2x-x$ connections. (The hint there is that $2x-x=x$.)
So you can get infinity in a row! YAY!
$endgroup$
3
$begingroup$
The later stages of your argument aren't very clear to me. E.g., how do you get from 2x-3 to 2x-4, exactly? How many moves does it take and have you taken into account the fact that your opponent gets to make that many moves too? I think this could use some clarification...
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Precisely as Gareth said. Also, it's not always the case that the $n$-th dot you put make $n-1$ new lines. If you tried to make $3$ in-a-line for example, the number of new lines will be fewer; and how about more in-a-line. Also, the judge may not only block $1$ line, it can be more, for example the intersection of $2$ lines will block at least $2$.
$endgroup$
– athin
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I think you can
win even if you need to connect a kajillion dots.
Here's my reasoning:
Well, any two points can be connected by a line, right?
Then you can see that
When you put a point down, you can draw a line from that point to any other point you already put down. important
The challenge is that your opponent can block the connections with a point of their own.
But as you remember about
the birthday paradox
Because of the important knowledge above, you see that
you can connect lines to $n-1$ dots when you put the $nth$ dot down.
Making the equation
When you put the $nth$ dot, you have 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + (n-1) connections.
Let's do 4.
By putting
101 dots down, you have 5050 connections!
Note: In this step don't put any dots in 3 in a row.
That's a lot of connections you can make with lines.
Since your opponent has only put
101 blocking dots down
you can
make a 3 in a row with 2 of the remaining connections you have by looking at 2 non-parallel connections. 2 non-parallel lines will connect, right?
Your opponent can't block both lines, so you got a 4 in a row!
The strategy for $x$ dots in a line is
put many many dots to make a kajillion connections. Maybe even Graham's number.
Then
make 3 in a row with $2x-3$ non-parallel connections.
Then
make 4 in a row with $2x-4$ non-parallel connections.
Eventually you
make 2879 in a row with $2x-2879$ non-parallel connections.
And then you make
$x$ in a row with $2x-x$ connections. (The hint there is that $2x-x=x$.)
So you can get infinity in a row! YAY!
$endgroup$
3
$begingroup$
The later stages of your argument aren't very clear to me. E.g., how do you get from 2x-3 to 2x-4, exactly? How many moves does it take and have you taken into account the fact that your opponent gets to make that many moves too? I think this could use some clarification...
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Precisely as Gareth said. Also, it's not always the case that the $n$-th dot you put make $n-1$ new lines. If you tried to make $3$ in-a-line for example, the number of new lines will be fewer; and how about more in-a-line. Also, the judge may not only block $1$ line, it can be more, for example the intersection of $2$ lines will block at least $2$.
$endgroup$
– athin
3 hours ago
add a comment |
$begingroup$
I think you can
win even if you need to connect a kajillion dots.
Here's my reasoning:
Well, any two points can be connected by a line, right?
Then you can see that
When you put a point down, you can draw a line from that point to any other point you already put down. important
The challenge is that your opponent can block the connections with a point of their own.
But as you remember about
the birthday paradox
Because of the important knowledge above, you see that
you can connect lines to $n-1$ dots when you put the $nth$ dot down.
Making the equation
When you put the $nth$ dot, you have 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + (n-1) connections.
Let's do 4.
By putting
101 dots down, you have 5050 connections!
Note: In this step don't put any dots in 3 in a row.
That's a lot of connections you can make with lines.
Since your opponent has only put
101 blocking dots down
you can
make a 3 in a row with 2 of the remaining connections you have by looking at 2 non-parallel connections. 2 non-parallel lines will connect, right?
Your opponent can't block both lines, so you got a 4 in a row!
The strategy for $x$ dots in a line is
put many many dots to make a kajillion connections. Maybe even Graham's number.
Then
make 3 in a row with $2x-3$ non-parallel connections.
Then
make 4 in a row with $2x-4$ non-parallel connections.
Eventually you
make 2879 in a row with $2x-2879$ non-parallel connections.
And then you make
$x$ in a row with $2x-x$ connections. (The hint there is that $2x-x=x$.)
So you can get infinity in a row! YAY!
$endgroup$
I think you can
win even if you need to connect a kajillion dots.
Here's my reasoning:
Well, any two points can be connected by a line, right?
Then you can see that
When you put a point down, you can draw a line from that point to any other point you already put down. important
The challenge is that your opponent can block the connections with a point of their own.
But as you remember about
the birthday paradox
Because of the important knowledge above, you see that
you can connect lines to $n-1$ dots when you put the $nth$ dot down.
Making the equation
When you put the $nth$ dot, you have 1 + 2 + 3 + ... + (n-1) connections.
Let's do 4.
By putting
101 dots down, you have 5050 connections!
Note: In this step don't put any dots in 3 in a row.
That's a lot of connections you can make with lines.
Since your opponent has only put
101 blocking dots down
you can
make a 3 in a row with 2 of the remaining connections you have by looking at 2 non-parallel connections. 2 non-parallel lines will connect, right?
Your opponent can't block both lines, so you got a 4 in a row!
The strategy for $x$ dots in a line is
put many many dots to make a kajillion connections. Maybe even Graham's number.
Then
make 3 in a row with $2x-3$ non-parallel connections.
Then
make 4 in a row with $2x-4$ non-parallel connections.
Eventually you
make 2879 in a row with $2x-2879$ non-parallel connections.
And then you make
$x$ in a row with $2x-x$ connections. (The hint there is that $2x-x=x$.)
So you can get infinity in a row! YAY!
answered 9 hours ago
AltoAlto
1,280320
1,280320
3
$begingroup$
The later stages of your argument aren't very clear to me. E.g., how do you get from 2x-3 to 2x-4, exactly? How many moves does it take and have you taken into account the fact that your opponent gets to make that many moves too? I think this could use some clarification...
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Precisely as Gareth said. Also, it's not always the case that the $n$-th dot you put make $n-1$ new lines. If you tried to make $3$ in-a-line for example, the number of new lines will be fewer; and how about more in-a-line. Also, the judge may not only block $1$ line, it can be more, for example the intersection of $2$ lines will block at least $2$.
$endgroup$
– athin
3 hours ago
add a comment |
3
$begingroup$
The later stages of your argument aren't very clear to me. E.g., how do you get from 2x-3 to 2x-4, exactly? How many moves does it take and have you taken into account the fact that your opponent gets to make that many moves too? I think this could use some clarification...
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
6 hours ago
1
$begingroup$
Precisely as Gareth said. Also, it's not always the case that the $n$-th dot you put make $n-1$ new lines. If you tried to make $3$ in-a-line for example, the number of new lines will be fewer; and how about more in-a-line. Also, the judge may not only block $1$ line, it can be more, for example the intersection of $2$ lines will block at least $2$.
$endgroup$
– athin
3 hours ago
3
3
$begingroup$
The later stages of your argument aren't very clear to me. E.g., how do you get from 2x-3 to 2x-4, exactly? How many moves does it take and have you taken into account the fact that your opponent gets to make that many moves too? I think this could use some clarification...
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
6 hours ago
$begingroup$
The later stages of your argument aren't very clear to me. E.g., how do you get from 2x-3 to 2x-4, exactly? How many moves does it take and have you taken into account the fact that your opponent gets to make that many moves too? I think this could use some clarification...
$endgroup$
– Gareth McCaughan♦
6 hours ago
1
1
$begingroup$
Precisely as Gareth said. Also, it's not always the case that the $n$-th dot you put make $n-1$ new lines. If you tried to make $3$ in-a-line for example, the number of new lines will be fewer; and how about more in-a-line. Also, the judge may not only block $1$ line, it can be more, for example the intersection of $2$ lines will block at least $2$.
$endgroup$
– athin
3 hours ago
$begingroup$
Precisely as Gareth said. Also, it's not always the case that the $n$-th dot you put make $n-1$ new lines. If you tried to make $3$ in-a-line for example, the number of new lines will be fewer; and how about more in-a-line. Also, the judge may not only block $1$ line, it can be more, for example the intersection of $2$ lines will block at least $2$.
$endgroup$
– athin
3 hours ago
add a comment |
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