Mis\`ere Games and Mis\`ere Quotients

Abstract

These lecture notes are based on a short course on mis\`ere quotients offered at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, in November 2006. They include an introduction to impartial games, starting from the beginning; the basic mis\`ere quotient construction; a proof of the Guy--Smith--Plambeck Periodicity Theorem; and statements of some recent results and open problems in the subject.