In Thailand there is a time of year when people of all ages like to play water games. Here's a game which can be played with a group of children and a water pistol.
The children stand in a circle and are each given a number in order clockwise around the circle. Number 1 is given the water pistol.
Number 1 shoots the person to their left (number 2) who gets soaked and is out of the game. The pistol is passed to the next person around the circle (number 3).
Number 3 shoots the next person to her left (number 4) and then passes the pistol to the next person around the circle. This continues until one person is left. They are the winner.
Click the numbers in the circle in the order in which they are eliminated.
Can you predict who the winner will be if you know how many people are in the circle?
This is Songkran Game level 2. You can also try:
Level 1
Level 3
Level 4
Level 5
Level 6
Level 7
Level 8
Level 9
Level 10
The solutions to this and other Transum puzzles, exercises and activities are available here when you are signed in to your Transum subscription account. If you do not yet have an account and you are a teacher, tutor or parent you can apply for one by completing the form on the Sign Up page.
A Transum subscription also gives you access to the 'Class Admin' student management system, downloadable worksheets, many more teaching resources and opens up ad-free access to the Transum website for you and your pupils.
Paul Kottering, 85
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
"Really hard to find the nth term."
Martin Henderson, Hannover
Sunday, May 13, 2018
"This a less-violent version of the Josephus problem (where his group used swords instead of water-pistols)."