563K views · Aug 22, 2021 · 57:03 · 3 HN recommenders · 3 mentions · discussed 2022–2025
Owen Maitzen's animated hour-long introduction to Hackenbush, a simple combinatorial game, and how its strategy leads to surreal numbers and the roots of the number system.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN recommends it as an accessible, well-visualized entry point to Hackenbush, surreal numbers and their link to Nim.
“I found the following video extremely useful and well-visualized”HN comment, 2025
“I found the following video extremely useful and well-visualized”
Well-visualized explanation of Hackenbush and its relation to Nim.
Nim is, in fact, a proper subset of Hackenbush, a game extensively studied by Conway. I found the following video extremely useful and well-visualized: this video
“An accessible intro”
Accessible intro to Hackenbush and surreal numbers.
All numbers are fictitious :) Though, I think "games" built on surreal numbers are akin to these. link An accessible intro: this video
“HACKENBUSH: a window to a new world of math”
Owen Maitzen's Hackenbush video, relevant to the blog post on numbers.
HACKENBUSH: a window to a new world of math this video Thanks for the blogpost, I think you will like this above SOME3 entry. Owen Maitzen committed suicide which is mentioned in the following video. The Endless Universe of "Bean and Nothingness" link
