NIM

The game from chapter 25 of Vitalik Buterin's novel Snowmoon. Learn Zei's XOR trick, then stake $NIM and bid to choose who moves first. Fan-made.

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

Proof

there's a game hiding in chapter 25 of Snowmoon, Vitalik Buterin's novel. here's how to play it, how to beat it, and why the first move costs money 👇

the scene
Zei sits Gladias at a table whose top is a screen. four piles of circles: 3, 4, 10, 13. Zei explains it in two lines: "you pick one pile, and take at least one circle from the pile. You can take more, but you have to take at least one, and you can only take from one pile." and "Whoever picks up the last circle wins."

the loss
"Gladias did not feel like he had any strategic insight about the game, and so he decided he would learn by playing." after four moves each: "Okay fine, I lost"
Zei's excuse for being that good: "It's a game that we would play often as children, especially before more modern things like Minpentai came along."

the trick
Gladias asks for the secret sauce. Zei: "Take the XOR of the circle counts of each box."
write each pile in binary and count the 1s in every column:
3 = 0011
4 = 0100
10 = 1010
13 = 1101
every column has two 1s, so the XOR sum is 0000. when it's 0 on your move, anything you do breaks it, and the other player can always fix it: "In that box, change its count from N to N XORed with the XOR sum."
that's exactly how the game went. Gladias took 3 → 2, Zei took 13 → 12, and it clicked: "Oh I see! And the XOR sum is back to zero!"
Gladias later sums up his side of it: "To me, it was just chaos."
Zei: "Indeed. Entropy is always in the eye of the beholder."

the problem
a game this solved falls apart the moment money is on it. Zei says so himself: "as long as you get to choose if you're going first or second, you will always win."
so in a duel the seat is for sale. you both stake the same $NIM, the contract deals a random board, and each of you seals a bid. the higher bid picks first or second, and only pays that bid to the other side if it wins.

a duel, with numbers
you both stake 5,000. the board comes out 7, 9, 12, 2.
7 ⊕ 9 ⊕ 12 ⊕ 2 = 0, so whoever moves first is in trouble. you want second.
you bid 1,200, they bid 900. the choice is yours and you take second.
win: the pot is 10,000, the 2% fee leaves 9,800, you hand them your 1,200 and keep 8,600. you're up 3,600, they're down 3,800.
lose: they keep the 9,800 and you walk away with nothing.
so bid what the seat is worth to you, and not a NIM more.

tips
• play chapter 25 first. it's free, needs no wallet, and you sit in Gladias's seat while Zei talks in the book's own words
• the XOR notebook toggle does the binary for you. Zei did it in his head: "It requires mental math"
• XOR sum not zero? take first. zero? take second
• every move is on a 30 minute clock. run it out and the other player can claim the pot

Zei ends the lesson with a question for Gladias: "Is the fight for Veridia a first-player-favoring or a second-player-favoring game?"
his answer is in the book: https://t.co/CLurI7P0dc
play: https://t.co/2kX0JkapKd

DYOR · NFA. you can lose your whole stake, no returns are promised, and $NIM can go to zero.

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

there's a game hiding in chapter 25 of Snowmoon, Vitalik Buterin's novel. here's how to play it, how to beat it, and why the first move costs money 👇

the scene
Zei sits Gladias at a table whose top is a screen. four piles of circles: 3, 4, 10, 13. Zei explains it in two lines: "you pick one pile, and take at least one circle from the pile. You can take more, but you have to take at least one, and you can only take from one pile." and "Whoever picks up the last circle wins."

the loss
"Gladias did not feel like he had any strategic insight about the game, and so he decided he would learn by playing." four moves later: "Okay fine, I lost"
Zei's excuse for being that good: "It's a game that we would play often as children, especially before more modern things like Minpentai came along."

the trick
Gladias asks for the secret sauce. Zei: "Take the XOR of the circle counts of each box."
write each pile in binary and count the 1s in every column:
3 = 0011
4 = 0100
10 = 1010
13 = 1101
every column has two 1s, so the XOR sum is 0000. when it's 0 on your move, anything you do breaks it, and the other player can always fix it: "In that box, change its count from N to N XORed with the XOR sum."
that's exactly how the game went. Gladias took 3 → 2, Zei took 13 → 12, and it clicked: "Oh I see! And the XOR sum is back to zero!"
Gladias later sums up his side of it: "To me, it was just chaos."
Zei: "Indeed. Entropy is always in the eye of the beholder."

the problem
a game this solved falls apart the moment money is on it. Zei says so himself: "as long as you get to choose if you're going first or second, you will always win."
so in a duel the seat is for sale. you both stake the same $NIM, the contract deals a random board, and each of you seals a bid. the higher bid picks first or second, and only pays that bid to the other side if it wins.

a duel, with numbers
you both stake 5,000. the board comes out 7, 9, 12, 2.
7 ⊕ 9 ⊕ 12 ⊕ 2 = 0, so whoever moves first is in trouble. you want second.
you bid 1,200, they bid 900. the choice is yours and you take second.
win: the pot is 10,000, the 2% fee leaves 9,800, you hand them your 1,200 and keep 8,600. you're up 3,600, they're down 3,800.
lose: they keep the 9,800 and you walk away with nothing.
so bid what the seat is worth to you, and not a NIM more.

tips
• play chapter 25 first. it's free, needs no wallet, and you sit in Gladias's seat while Zei talks in the book's own words
• the XOR notebook toggle does the binary for you. Zei did it in his head: "It requires mental math"
• XOR sum not zero? take first. zero? take second
• every move is on a 30 minute clock. run it out and the other player can claim the pot

Zei ends the lesson with a question for Gladias: "Is the fight for Veridia a first-player-favoring or a second-player-favoring game?"
his answer is in the book: https://t.co/CLurI7P0dc
play: https://t.co/2kX0JkapKd

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

sent 20,000,000 $NIM (2% of supply) to vitalik.eth

Nim comes straight out of chapter 25 of his novel Snowmoon, so it felt right for the author to hold a piece of it. unsolicited, no strings, not an endorsement

https://t.co/d7OMGGiKpt

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

nim is live on ethereum 🟦

the game from chapter 25 of vitalik buterin's novel snowmoon, now for real $NIM. bid for the first move, take the last circle, the contract pays the pot

come duel: https://t.co/aJ034eCkBa

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

$NIM

CA: 0x974d1F2dFB80FeCa64134B610980bb87d03Bd2F4

Nim is the game from chapter 25 of Vitalik Buterin's novel Snowmoon. Learn Zei's XOR trick in the free tutorial, then duel for $NIM.

The book: https://t.co/qO5Ppzi4qY
Play: https://t.co/aJ034eCkBa

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

Dexscreener paid.

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

$NIM is live on Ethereum.

CA: 0x974d1f2dfb80feca64134b610980bb87d03bd2f4

Nim is the game from chapter 25 of Vitalik Buterin's novel Snowmoon. Learn Zei's trick in the free tutorial, then stake $NIM and bid to choose who moves first.

https://t.co/aJ034eCkBa

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

To be clear: Nim is fan-made. Snowmoon is published under the GPL, so we can quote it. Zei's and Gladias's lines in the chapter 25 tutorial are the book's own words; the narrator is ours.

We are not affiliated with Vitalik Buterin or the Ethereum Foundation.

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

On Ethereum, every step of a duel is a transaction on one contract, NimDuel: stake, sealed bid, reveal, seat, each move, payout.

The leaderboard is rebuilt from the contract's records, in 28-day seasons. Nobody has to trust a server.

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

Why the auction matters: a stronger player has to outbid you for the choice, and if they win, they pay you their bid. You lose the seat, but you're paid for it.

Bots pay for the choice like everyone else, so they can't farm free wins.

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

A $NIM duel:
1. Both stake the same amount
2. A random board appears
3. Sealed bids, up to the stake, for the right to choose
4. Higher bid picks first or second
5. Last circle wins

The chooser pays its bid to the other player only if it wins. 2% of the pot is burned.

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

Nim is a solved game, and Zei says so: "as long as you get to choose if you're going first or second, you will always win."

So a coin flip for the first move would decide every duel. In Nim you bid for that choice instead.

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

Zei's trick, in his own words: "Take the XOR of the circle counts of each box."

3 = 0011
4 = 0100
10 = 1010
13 = 1101
XOR = 0000

When the XOR sum is 0, whoever moves loses against perfect play. Gladias moved first.

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

How to play Nim:
1. Pick one box
2. Take one circle or more, only from that box
3. Whoever takes the last circle wins

A game takes about a minute. Chapt

[NIM @NimonEthereum]

In chapter 25 of Snowmoon, Vitalik Buterin's novel, Zei sits Gladias at a tabletop screen with four piles of circles: 3, 4, 10 and 13.

Gladias moves first and loses.

We turned that scene into a game you can play in your browser. It's called Nim.