About the Fruit Game

With the initial set-up given, whoever goes first loses.

If losing at the fruit game has brought you any frustration, we apologize. It's really just a mathematical boondoggle, sometimes known as Nim.

If you'd like to swindle your friends with the Fruit Game, just follow these simple rules:

The positions of the game can be expressed as three numbers. For example, the starting position is 7-5-2.
Some positions are losing. When you've got a losing positions, there's nothing you can do. During your move, you always want to turn your current position into a losing position.
Memorize the losing positions and always present your opponent with a losing position on his or her move. The losing positions are: 1-0-0 (of course), 1-1-1, 2-2-0, 3-2-1, 3-3-0, 4-4-0, 5-4-1, 5-5-0, 6-4-2, and 7-5-2.
Note that 7-5-2, the initial position, is a losing position. Therefore, you should always try to "be a sport" and offer your friends the first move. However, a good players often wins even moving first, against a novice who doesn't know the combinations to shoot for. If forced to go first, I like to remove one orange to produce 7-5-1. Only an experienced player knows enough to take 3 peaches (producing 5-4-1)--and all other moves lose.

The Fruit Game was designed by the talented staff 20/20 Technologies. We also have a more technical discussion of the methods employed to create this site.

Love it? Hate it? Let us know, send email to fruit@2020tech.com. Also check out our Fruit Game Letters Page.