6 of 6 Items .... Source: Sam Loyd

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Everyone older than ten knows that there is a way to play tic-tac-toe so that you can never lose. Any game that can be played to a draw unless someone makes a newbie's mistake, is boring once you know the secret.

Let's look at this game and see if you can find a strategy for it:




There are thirteen pins and the two players take turns bowling.When bowling, you can knock down any pin or two adjacent pins (but not two that are separated by a space) that you like. The loser knocks over the last pin.

The gnome has bowled first, knocking down #2. How do you best play this game so that you are guaranteed to win?

If you go first, what is your best play?

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From Sam Loyd's Puzzle Encyclopedia:

We lived way back in the country and used to order our ball by mail, according to sizes advertised in a sporting house catalog, which advised patrons to "give the exact number of inches required," and that is where the problem comes in. We were told to give the size in inches, but we did not know whether it meant the number of square inches of rubber on the surface or the number of cubic inches of wind contained within  the ball so we combined  the two principles and ordered a ball which should contain just as many cubic inches of wind as it had superficial inches of surface!

How many of our puzzlists can guess the diameter of the ball which was ordered?

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To show how little the patrons of the turf know about the theory of odds as practiced at the race track, let readers seek a solution to the following elementary problem:

If the odds are 7 to 3 against Apple Pie and 6 to 5 against Bumble Bee, what should be the odds against the famous horse, Cucumber?

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It is recorded that in a mile race between two graceful skaters, the rivals started from opposite points to skate to the other's place of beginning.

With the advantage of a strong wind, Jennie performed the feat two and a half times as quick as Maude, and beat her by six minutes.

The problem, which has created no end of discussion, is to tell the time of each in skating the mile.

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When the lily stands straight up in the water, the flower projects 10 inches above the surface. When Sarah pulls it to one side, the flower touches the water 21 inches away from where it stood vertical.
How deep is the pond?