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HACKENBUSH: a window to a new world of math

Owen Maitzen
Explainers
YouTube
3 HN users recommended this explainer3 months2022–2025 score 3.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN recommends it as an accessible, well-visualized entry point to Hackenbush, surreal numbers and their link to Nim.

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.

“I found the following video extremely useful and well-visualized” (HN, 2025)

1 strong recommendations · 2 recommendations · Explainers · intro

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@rini17 Sep 2022 Recommends
on HN thread Indefinite and Fictitious Numbers
All numbers are fictitious :) Though, I think "games" built on surreal numbers are akin to these. [link] An accessible intro: [this video]
Accessible intro to Hackenbush and surreal numbers.
@nthingtohide Dec 2024 Recommends
on HN thread Numbers Are Leaves
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]
Owen Maitzen's Hackenbush video, relevant to the blog post on numbers.

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