Nim is one of the oldest and most fascinating games in history. Two players take turns removing objects from a set of piles, often represented as matchsticks or rocks. However, a player may only remove objects from a single pile. The last player forced to remove objects loses. Other variants of the game, i.e. the misere varient, require that the last person to remove objects is the winner.

This game requires no luck, only strategy in order to win.

The ancient roots of the game are a little hazy. Some historians trace the game back to China, where a similair game called "picking stones" was played thousands of years ago. The game "Nim" as we know it today first appeared in Europe in the early 20th century from the mathematician Charles Bouton. He published the first complete mathematical analysis of the game in 1901, proving that a perfect strategy always exists.