Gaming

A battle between “slimes” and “zoglins” could be the best way to calculate pi—at least for fans of this megahit game

A dispute over how to divvy up the pot in an interrupted game of chance led early mathematicians to invent modern risk assessment

A Roman stone board game has been unplayable since its discovery more than a century ago, but AI might have just worked out the rules

A traditional card deck happens to dodge a tricky poker paradox. Other poker variants aren’t so lucky

After decades of speculation, two writers uncovered the answer to the Kryptos code’s final cipher

Explore the words of science past from Scientific American

Explore Scientific American’s most fascinating magazine covers

Put your science knowledge to the test with this week’s news quiz. Play now.

In the early 20th century, a mathematician and economist sought the optimal strategy for Holmes to escape Moriarty’s pursuit

Can you find the pattern behind this progression of digits?

Baseball pitchers are throwing faster than ever—and needing Tommy John surgery

Poker players can now employ AI to find the optimal playing strategy, but they often don’t use it. Here’s why