In Greenwich Village, tic-tac-toe is played in an atypical way. At each turn a player marks as many squares as he wishes provided they are in the same vertical or horizontal row (they need not be adjacent). The winner is the one who marks the last square.

Which player has the advantage, and what strategy should he employ?

At a particular ice cream van two types of ice creams are being sold. The small one costs 1 dollar, the big one 2 dollars. Marsha puts an amount of 2 dollars one the counter and gets without asking the big ice cream. Martha also would like to have an ice cream. She also puts an amount of 2 dollars on the counter. Then the ice cream seller asks her which ice cream she would like to have. Assuming that the persons do not know each other, how can you explain their behavior.

How many characters does the right answer to this question have?