You pass away and though you have not been a particularly bad person in
life, you have not been a particularly good one either. Waiting in the
reception room of hell, the devil comes out to meet you. `Well', says
the devil, `Since you have not been that bad, I am going to give you a
chance to get out of here.' The two of you then enter another room off to
the side of the reception. In the middle of the room is a giant circular
table and next to the walls are many sacks of coins. The devil continues,
`We are going to play a game. We will take turns putting coins down flat
on the table. I will put down a coin and then you will put down a coin,
and so on. The coins cannot overlap and they cannot hang over the edge of
the table. The last person to put down a coin wins, or equivalently, the
last person who can no longer put a coin down on the table loses. Since
you have never played this game before, I will also let you decide if you
want to play first.' Can you think of a winning strategy for the game?