Last Stick
Take from one row. Don't take the last stick. Best of 3 boards.
Last Stick is a two-player version of Nim, played with rows of matchsticks. On your turn take as many sticks as you like from one row, and whoever is forced to take the last stick loses.
The rules fit in one breath: take as many sticks as you like from one row, and whoever takes the last stick loses. Then three sticks are left, you're both counting, and when someone finally takes the last one it strikes and flares on the table between you.
Also known as Nim, Misère Nim, Matchstick game.
- How you hold it
- Face-off
- Match
- Best of 3 boards
- Length
- About 1 to 2½ minutes
- Play
- Friend or bot
How to play Last Stick: quick rules
About 1 to 2½ minutes for best of 3 on the classic rows. Full rules, options and bot levels are further down.
- 1On your turn, tap sticks in one row to lift them.
- 2Press Take to take them. Take as many as you like from that row.
- 3Whoever takes the last stick loses.
- 4Once a board you may tap your token to pass.
- 5The loser of a board chooses who starts the next one.
Play Last Stick here
Two of you on this screen, or you against the bot. The full game is in the app.
Last Stick rules
Setup
- Rows of matchsticks lie on the table. The classic rows have 1, 3, 5 and 7 sticks: 16 in all.
- Each player has a wooden dish at their own end, where the sticks they take go.
- Who starts the first board is a coin flip. After each board, and before a rematch, the player who lost the last board chooses to start or to pass the start to their rival.
- A 3-2-1 countdown starts every board.
Turns
- On your turn, take one or more sticks from one row only. Tap sticks to lift them, then press Take in your dock.
- Tap a lifted stick to put it back. Tap a stick in a different row and your pick moves to that row instead.
- Take does nothing until at least one stick is lifted.
- With Pass token on (it is by default), each player has one token beside their dish. Tap it on your turn to skip that turn without taking anything. One pass per player per board.
Winning
- Whoever takes the last stick loses the board. You can switch this to Last stick: Wins, where taking the last stick wins.
- The match is single, best of 3 or best of 5 boards and ends as soon as one player has a majority.
Ties
- Last Stick can't end in a draw: someone always takes the last stick, so no board is ever replayed.
Hints against the bot
- Playing the bot, you can spend 20 coins on your turn for a hint. It rings the winning take for 2 seconds, without taking it.
- There are no hints against a friend, online or in a tournament.
Rules and rows
- Last stick loses
- Misère Nim: whoever takes the last stick loses. The default.
- Last stick wins
- Normal Nim: whoever takes the last stick wins. Star emblems on the dishes remind you.
- New each board
- Each board lays out 3 to 5 random rows of 1 to 7 sticks, the same for both players.
Tips to win at Last Stick
- 1Think in pairs. If the rows can be split into matching pairs, like 3 and 3 or 1, 2 and 3, whatever your rival takes from one you can copy in its partner.
- 2Write each row as 4s, 2s and 1s. If every size appears an even number of times across the rows, that position is a loss for the player to move, so try to leave it for your rival.
- 3In last stick loses, play as if the last stick wins until only rows of 1 stick would be left. Then leave an odd number of single sticks, so your rival takes the last.
- 4Save your pass token for the endgame. A pass near the end flips who has to move, which can turn a lost board into a won one.
- 5Against the Hard bot, set your trap early, while there are lots of sticks. It plays loosely then, but perfectly at the end.
Where Last Stick comes from
Games of taking objects from piles are very old and are thought to have been played in many places, including ancient China. The name Nim was given by the American mathematician Charles Bouton, who published a complete winning strategy for it in 1901. The 1, 3, 5, 7 layout became famous from the 1961 French film Last Year at Marienbad.
Controls
Phone flat between you. Each player owns a half, and the far half faces the far player.
- Tap a stick in a row to lift it; lifted sticks rise with an outline and Take shows how many.
- Press Take in your own dock to take them. Your pass token sits at your end of the board.
- Taken sticks and your rival's token ignore taps.
- Between boards, the player who lost gets Start and Pass buttons in their own dock to choose who goes first.
Options
Every option is free. Defaults are marked.
| Option | Choices | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Last stick | Loses (default)Wins | Whether taking the last stick loses or wins the board. |
| Rows | 1 · 3 · 5 · 7 (default)New each board | The classic rows, or a fresh random layout each board. |
| Boards | SingleBest of 3 (default)Best of 5 | How many boards decide the match. |
| Take up to | Whole row (default)Three a turn | Extra. Cap each take at three sticks. |
| Pass token | OffOne skip a board (default) | Extra. Each player may skip one turn per board. |
| Fuse | Off (default)12 s a turn | Extra. Each human turn has 12 seconds; when the fuse burns out, the table takes for you: your lifted sticks, or one stick from the longest row. Never applies to the bot. |
Play Last Stick against the bot
The bot plays Blue and sees only the rows and the pass tokens. At its best it knows the winning take in any position, pass tokens included. It thinks for a moment, then lifts its sticks briefly so you can see them before it takes. When it loses a board, it chooses whether to start the next.
Easy
Takes a random number of sticks more often than not, so its mistakes are easy to punish.
Normal
Usually finds the winning take, with the odd random one.
Hard
Plays loosely while there are lots of sticks left, then plays the endgame perfectly. That early slack is what makes it beatable.
Online, tournaments and hints
- Online
- PlannedOnline play for Last Stick is planned, not available yet. Today you play a friend on one phone or the bot.
- Tournament
- Can be drawn in a tournamentIn a tournament it is always best of 3 on the classic rows, last stick loses, with extras at their defaults, and hints are off.
- Hints
- Stuck against the bot? A hint lights up the strongest move for a few coins. Never with a friend, online or in a tournament.
Coming soon
- Online play. Play Last Stick against a friend online, with a turn timer and reconnect. Planned, not available yet.
How it feels
- A soft tick as each stick lifts, and a wooden clack per stick as they slide to your dish.
- The last stick strikes, flares and burns, in slow motion, before it flies to the taker's dish.
- A whoosh and a "Pass" sticker when someone uses their token.
Accessibility
- Counts are numbers and the rule emblems are shapes, so nothing relies on colour.
- One finger, with tall touch areas on every stick and a large Take button.
- There is no clock on a turn unless you switch on Fuse.
Last Stick questions
Take turns taking one or more sticks from a single row. Whoever takes the last stick loses the board. You can switch the rule so that taking the last stick wins instead.
Yes. It is misère Nim on the classic 1, 3, 5 and 7 rows by default, with a once-a-board pass token on top. You can also play normal Nim, where the last stick wins.
Pure skill: there are no dice or hidden cards, and every position has a perfect answer if you can count it out.
The first board is a coin flip. After that, whoever lost the last board chooses to start or to let their rival start.
Yes. Last Stick in Duo Clash is built for two players on the same phone. Phone flat between you. Each player owns a half, and the far half faces the far player.
Yes. The bot plays Blue and sees only the rows and the pass tokens. Choose Easy, Normal or Hard.
Play Last Stick on one phone
Free on Android. Sit face to face, or take on the bot on Easy, Normal or Hard.
