Playing to Lose

(I was contemplating calling this post "Every Loser Wins", but I hate that song).

As all of you should know by now, I'm a winner. I win things. So when my friend Stacy challenged me to a game of Noughts and Crosses today, I was prepared to win. Until she said this:

"The winner is the person who loses. The aim is to NOT get three in a row".

As you can imagine, I was flummoxed. Winning is easy, losing is difficult. She told me to go first, which, now that I think about it, was a sneaky way of increasing my chance of winning - and hence losing. I obviously avoided the middle square. I figured the corner squares were also too good to use. So I opted for a side square. That decision was pretty easy. The rest was not so trivial. Stacy lost the game, and hence won. Apparently I am such a winner that even when I'm trying to lose, I win.

Please please please grab your partner/your child/your flatmate/the guy next to you on the bus and challenge them to lose a game of Noughts and Crosses. It's the only way you can really think about the strategy involved.

Have fun!

Emma x x x