Nim variation question?

Question

Three, Five, Seven is a two player game. To win you have to make your opponent take the last match. You can take any number of matches from 1 row only. You must take at least one match each turn. The game is set up as shown below.

I I I <-- row 1
I I I I I <-- row 2
I I I I I I I <-- row 3

My task is to devise a statagy to win the game. I need help if anyone can. Best answer goes to the one that was the most help within 4 days thnx.

Answer 1

To always win, you must go first and remove two matches from the top row. Your object is to leave yor opponent with:
a) 1 match in each row, or,
b) an equal number of matches in two rows, or,
c) 1 match in 1 row, 2 matches in another row, 3 matches a third row.

Opponents best response is to take 1 match from the 2nd row to which your response is to take 1 match from the 3rd row. After that, its all over.

Answer 2

nim is like tictactoe, if both players know the strategy, then the 1st player always wins.
Except for anormal situations where it's the 2nd player who always wins... (depends on the number of objects to remove and on the maximum number of objects you can remove each turn. But most of the time, these games are made so that the 1st player always wins)

Anyway, if you're playing against someone who knows the strategy to use, and if you start with the wrong position, then your only chance is to cheat. Therefore, since you already know who is the winner before you even start to play, then it's not a game : it's a waste of time...

I'd advise you to play to something else. Either something in which there are random events (card games) or a more complicated strategy game like chess or go, which can have simple rules, but in which there are "no" winning strategy since a human brain CANNOT think far enough ahead to find it.

Answer 3

A general winning strategy is described here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nim