Mis\`ere Cricket Pitch

TL;DR

This paper studies the misere version of Cricket Pitch, a novel Blocking game, analyzing outcomes of single-component positions and providing reductions, advancing understanding of algebraic structures in misere combinatorial games.

Contribution

It introduces the first analysis of Misere Cricket Pitch within the Blocking games class, providing outcome classifications and reduction techniques for complex positions.

Findings

Outcome classifications for single-component positions.

Reductions applicable to positions in Blocking games.

Outcome determination for disjunctive sums of positions.

Abstract

Mis\`ere games in general have little algebraic structure, but if the games under consideration have properties then some algebraic structure re-appears. In 2023, the class of Blocking games was identified. Mis\`ere Cricket Pitch was suggested as a problem at the Games-at-Dal-2023 Workshop, and is the first game in this class to be studied. Normal play Cricket Pitch was analyzed in 2011. The game involves flattening `bumps' with a roller. The main reduction of normal play, reducing every bump by $2$, is not applicable in mis\`ere play. In this paper, we find the outcomes of single (linear) component \textsc{cricket pitch} positions, where the proof is based on first considering the bumps to the left and to the right of the roller separately. We also give reductions, true in Blocking games in general, of positions that occur in simple positions of Cricket Pitch. These allow us to find the outcomes of the disjunctive sum of single bump positions. At the time of writing, it was not possible to find game values since the relevant theory for Blocking games does not exist.