The game starts with 5 bowls. All but the last are filled with 2 beans. The player must select a bowl to empty and distribute forward (looping around back to 1). The next bowl to select must be the last bowl that was distributed to EXCEPT if the last bowl is the actual last bowl (in this example, 5), in which they can choose any bowl again. If t…

Beans & Bowls

function init_new_game(num_bowls)
	local bowls = {}
	
	for i=1, num_bowls - 1 do
		table.insert(bowls, 2)
	end
	
	table.insert(bowls, 0)
	
	return bowls
end

function move_beans(bowls, bowl)
	local beans = bowls[bowl]
	bowls[bowl] = 0
	
	while beans > 0 do
		bowl = bowl + 1
		if bowl > #bowls then bowl = 1 end
		
		beans = beans - 1
		bowls[bowl] = bowls[bowl] + 1
	end
	
	return bowl
end

function check_win(bowls)
	local beans = 0
	
	for i = 1, #bowls - 1 do
		beans = beans + bowls[i]
	end
	
	if beans > 0 then
		return false
	end
	
	return true
end

local win = false

while not win do
	local lose = false
	local bowls = init_new_game(5)
	local path = {}
	local next_bowl = #bowls
	
	while not win and not lose do
		if next_bowl < #bowls then
			if bowls[next_bowl] == 1 then
				lose = true
			else
				table.insert(path, next_bowl)
				next_bowl = move_beans(bowls, next_bowl)
			end
		else
			next_bowl = math.random(1, #bowls)
			
			while bowls[next_bowl] == 0 do
				next_bowl = math.random(1, #bowls)
			end
			
			table.insert(path, next_bowl)
			next_bowl = move_beans(bowls, next_bowl)
		end
		
		win = check_win(bowls)
		
		if win then
			local message = "WIN: "
			for k,v in pairs(path) do
				message = message .. v
			end
			
			print(message)
		end
		
		--[[
		if lose then
			local message = "LOSE: "
			for k,v in pairs(path) do
				message = message .. v
			end
			
			print(message)
		end
		--]]
	end
end