Prehistory XVI: Gamnim (Nim)

Release Date: September 3, 1970

Platform: PDP-10

Genre: Strategy

Developer(s): Unknown

Publisher(s): DECUS

Next up, we have Gamnim, or Nim as the game calls itself internally. This is another of the 3rd of September crew of games (of which there is a second Nim game). I've already covered one Nim game, the Polish Marienbad, though I couldn't play it, making this the first Nim video game to be played on OGC (and it definitely won't be the last).

Once again, the author is unknown. BASIC Computer Games suggests the game originated at Dartmouth College, but provides no author. A modified version would appear on the Sol-20 microcomputer in 1977, once again courtesy of Ralph E. Hopkins. That version appears to be where the Gamnim title comes from.

Completely free to set the game up the way you want.

I think this might be the first game with options to modify gameplay - the game setup is fully customisable! It asks first for the win condition you want to play by: either as taking the last object, or forcing your opponent into taking the last object. It might be a small detail taken for granted nowadays, but I think that's pretty neat compared to the text games I've played so far. Afterwards, it asks for the number of object piles you want to play with, and how many objects to be in each pile. Even better. BASIC Computer Games recommends the traditional setup of Nim, which is 4 piles with 7, 5, 3 and 1 objects respectively. So that's what I go with.

It's been a little while since I played Nim - I think the last time would've been the Fairchild Channel F's version, hunting RetroAchievements. Vaguely, I remember there being some trick to win concerning odd and even numbers - can't quite remember specifically.

Just a bit rusty... yeah, let's go with that. Rusty.

I lost the first game. I think I'm remembering the trick being to make sure the pile is on an odd number if you play with the traditional win condition (taking the last object). Anyway, I play a few more times, losing every single time while I try to remember how to win. 

Eventually I had to go to the internet to refresh myself on the Nim strategy. There's this whole thing about the "Nim sum" and making sure that it equals zero at the end of your turn. I found the article that I used previously, and it makes decent sense of it. Other articles I looked at were a bunch of gobbledygook that overcomplicated things wildly, bringing binary multiplication and all sorts of other weird mathematical stuff in that I, frankly, don't care to read.

The most important thing that linked article notes is that, with the traditional setup, the player going first is disadvantaged. If you're playing a computer that is programmed to play perfectly, this means you'll always lose going first. It's the reverse of Tic-Tac-Toe, in that sense.

Having reminded myself of these facts about Nim, I won a game with the traditional settings going second. The "Nim sum" rule works the same way regardless of win condition, so going second will always net a win in this version if you play perfectly. I know because I tried the "avoid last object" win condition, thinking this would reverse the rule, but I quickly found out it doesn't. 

It took me about 30 minutes until I decided to refresh myself on how to win Nim.

Winning a game with each win condition was good enough for me. So, I decided it was time to push the limits. I was wondering - how many piles can I have? And how high can the numbers go?

You'd have to be really keen on Nim to try this...

I discovered that you can have up to 100 piles of objects, with a maximum of 2000 objects in each. I cannot even begin to fathom why you'd want to play a game of Nim that massive, or how long it would take to complete (and I'm not intending to find out, either). It's there if you're an absolute die-hard Nim fan, though, and have a few hours to kill. That's all there is to Gamnim, so on to the scores.

Time Played: 40 minutes. I did something a little differently, recording my playthrough while simultaneously note-taking and researching Nim strategy, hence why this number is a little higher than previous games.

Difficulty: 5

It's really tricky to judge, since it's so heavily user-defined. Putting it in the middle is fair, based on that. Plus, you're going to have a hard time winning, since the computer always plays perfectly.

Game Design: 3

It's quite standard as a Nim simulation, and doesn't do anything apart from allow you to simulate various Nim scenarios. But, on that point, I do have to give the game props for allowing you so much choice in how you set up the game. No other game up to this point has allowed for customisation, so it gets bonus points for that. The other issue is that you can only play against a computer that plays perfectly; this would be perfect as a two-player game. It essentially means that, to make use of the customisation, you have to really enjoy Nim as a game already.

Controls: 9

Can't complain much, has those comma inputs, but is otherwise very simple.

Visual: 3

That paragraph of instructions is quite an ungainly mess. The game itself is presented quite plainly.

Functionality: 5

I had no issues with stability, nor were there any glitches.

Accessibility: 3

Fairly standard for a text-based game; helps that it's based on a simple game concept.

Fun Factor: 2

To be honest, it's not that enjoyable for me. I don't really care for Nim as it is, especially when I have to play against a perfect computer opponent. While the customisation options are neat, I don't see myself ever coming back to try them out. This would work much better as a two-player game.

That's a total score of 25/70 (35.71%), placing Gamnim in the E tier, between 1Queen and PDP 10 Timesharing Basketball. Sounds about right.

[Add.] Upon completing the rescore project, Gamnim took a bit of a hit to its score, losing 4 points down to 21/70 (30%)

Next up is Horserace. Joy. I love horse racing.