In the quarter of a century since three mathematicians and game theorists collaborated to create Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays, the book has become the definitive work on the subject of mathematical games. Now carefully revised and broken down into four volumes to accommodate new developments, the Second Edition retains the original's wealth of wit and wisdom, but in a more easily accessible format. The authors' insightful strategies, blended with their witty and irreverent style, make reading a profitable pleasure.

In Volume 1, the authors do the spadework, presenting theories and techniques to "dissect" games of varied structures and formats in order to develop winning strategies. Their focus is on "adding games," including Nim, Hackenbush, and Kayles. The inclusion of many examples helps the reader to put the mathematical analysis to immediate use.

Reviews of the first edition of Winning Ways for Your Mathematical Plays:

"Winning Ways is the greatest contribution of this century to the burgeoning field of recreational mathematics. No other work has been so packed with completely new and significant material, or presented with so much wit, depth, and clarity." - Martin Gardner

"Winning Ways is chaotic, rich with more examples than you can digest, full of diagrams, cartoon pictures, tables, in-jokes, silly jokes, silly puns, mnemonic devices, who knows what other devices, and it has more information and game winning strategies than you would ever want to know. In short, it is more fun than the Three Stooges, albeit more intellectual." - Mathematical Reviews