NIM

Number of Players: 2

Instructions: On the screen you'll see coins.  These coins are divided into two or more piles, with each player able to remove one or up to all coins from one pile only in each move. There is no limit to the number of piles, nor to the number of coins in each pile. 

How to win: The player removing the last coin wins.

The Inside Scoop:  The game is so ancient that no one knows its origin.  Essentially, the player who is able to arrange the piles to total an even number, where the totals equal two or zero when added per the rules of the base two numbering system, will always win. For a more detailed explanation, see William Maxwell (Ed.D.) Thinking: The Expanding Frontier, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers (1983). See especially his chapter, "Games Children Play: Powerful Tools that Teach Some Thinking Skills." (This somewhat technical book is available in major university and city libraries, or can be ordered via electronic stores). 

Side Notes on NIM:  NIM is just one great example of the many IQ building games your child will play in the Inventive Quotient, I.Q. CD-ROM.  An interesting aspect of NIM is that its practical application was not realized until the cybernetic age. All computers use the logic behind binary mathematical theory. 

This game exercises the "computational muscles" of the brain; those parts of the brain that translate from base 10 to base 2; as well as those parts of the frontal lobes that process "If . . . then" thinking operations.
("If . . . then" thinking operation skills are particularly needed to master chess and other complicated and competitive games).

Click here to play NIM.