Qfyilyi

So I'm taking a programming course in high school, right now and I am making a program of a game that the teacher assigned for all of us make. The game is called "game of sticks" (if you would like a better run down on how the game works skip about half way through this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUXW3Kh_kxo&t=280s). Basically we have 15 sticks on a table and you can take away 1, 2, or 3 sticks. I have a code that works for the game but it says I'm doing an illegal move for 5 sticks left with any play. I cant find the problem and was hoping someone else could.

pl1 = input("Player 1, what is your username?") #player 1

pl2 = input("Player 2, what is your username?") #player 2

turnsa = 0 #player1 turns

turnsb = 0 #player2 turns

x = 15 #number of sticks

whichplayer = 1 

while(x != 1): 

 while(whichplayer == 1):

   P1 = int(input(pl1 + ', choose an amount of sticks from 1-3 ' + str(x) + 

' sticks remaining')) 

   if P1 < x and P1 < 4: # check for legal move

     x = x - P1

     turnsa = turnsa + 1

     whichplayer = 2 #ending loop to start player 2 turn

   if P1 > 3 or P1 > x: #check for illegal move

     print('illegal move')

     continue #restarting player 1 loop

 while(whichplayer == 2):

   P2 = int(input(pl2 + ', choose an amount of sticks from 1-3 ' + str(x) + 

' sticks remaining'))

   if P2 < x and P2 < 4:

     x = x - P2

     turnsb = turnsb + 1

     whichplayer = 1

   if P2 > 3 or P2 > x:

     print('illegal move')

     continue 

if turnsa > turnsb:

  print('congrats ' + pl1 + ' you win')

if turnsb > turnsa:

  print('congrats ' + pl2 + ' you win')

You are decreasing x in the first if statement, then when the second if checks P1 > x, it's true because you set x from 5 to 2, and the P1 is 3. You could just use an if/else here since if the move is not valid, you already know it will be an invalid move. Also you have some edge cases that need checking with your >, <, and != comparisons (try taking 3 sticks each turn and see what happens). I will leave the rest for you to work out as this is school work and will be a good learning experience. Will edit later if assistance is needed.

if P1 < x and P1 < 4: # check for legal move

    x = x - P1 # <========= decrementing here then checking it in the next if

    turnsa = turnsa + 1

    whichplayer = 2 #ending loop to start player 2 turn

if P1 > 3 or P1 > x: #check for illegal move

    print('illegal move')

    continue #restarting player 1 loop