1823. Find the Winner of the Circular Game
Description
There are n
friends that are playing a game. The friends are sitting in a circle and are numbered from 1
to n
in clockwise order. More formally, moving clockwise from the ith
friend brings you to the (i+1)th
friend for 1 <= i < n
, and moving clockwise from the nth
friend brings you to the 1st
friend.
The rules of the game are as follows:
- Start at the
1st
friend. - Count the next
k
friends in the clockwise direction including the friend you started at. The counting wraps around the circle and may count some friends more than once. - The last friend you counted leaves the circle and loses the game.
- If there is still more than one friend in the circle, go back to step
2
starting from the friend immediately clockwise of the friend who just lost and repeat. - Else, the last friend in the circle wins the game.
Given the number of friends, n
, and an integer k
, return the winner of the game.
Example 1:

Input: n = 5, k = 2 Output: 3 Explanation: Here are the steps of the game: 1) Start at friend 1. 2) Count 2 friends clockwise, which are friends 1 and 2. 3) Friend 2 leaves the circle. Next start is friend 3. 4) Count 2 friends clockwise, which are friends 3 and 4. 5) Friend 4 leaves the circle. Next start is friend 5. 6) Count 2 friends clockwise, which are friends 5 and 1. 7) Friend 1 leaves the circle. Next start is friend 3. 8) Count 2 friends clockwise, which are friends 3 and 5. 9) Friend 5 leaves the circle. Only friend 3 is left, so they are the winner.
Example 2:
Input: n = 6, k = 5 Output: 1 Explanation: The friends leave in this order: 5, 4, 6, 2, 3. The winner is friend 1.
Constraints:
1 <= k <= n <= 500
Follow up:
Could you solve this problem in linear time with constant space?
Solutions
Solution 1
Python3
class Solution:
def findTheWinner(self, n: int, k: int) -> int:
if n == 1:
return 1
ans = (k + self.findTheWinner(n - 1, k)) % n
return n if ans == 0 else ans
Java
class Solution {
public int findTheWinner(int n, int k) {
if (n == 1) {
return 1;
}
int ans = (findTheWinner(n - 1, k) + k) % n;
return ans == 0 ? n : ans;
}
}
C++
class Solution {
public:
int findTheWinner(int n, int k) {
if (n == 1) return 1;
int ans = (findTheWinner(n - 1, k) + k) % n;
return ans == 0 ? n : ans;
}
};
Go
func findTheWinner(n int, k int) int {
if n == 1 {
return 1
}
ans := (findTheWinner(n-1, k) + k) % n
if ans == 0 {
return n
}
return ans
}
TypeScript
function findTheWinner(n: number, k: number): number {
if (n === 1) {
return 1;
}
const ans = (k + findTheWinner(n - 1, k)) % n;
return ans ? ans : n;
}
Rust
impl Solution {
pub fn find_the_winner(n: i32, k: i32) -> i32 {
if n == 1 {
return 1;
}
let mut ans = (k + Solution::find_the_winner(n - 1, k)) % n;
return if ans == 0 { n } else { ans };
}
}
JavaScript
/**
* @param {number} n
* @param {number} k
* @return {number}
*/
var findTheWinner = function (n, k) {
if (n === 1) {
return 1;
}
const ans = (k + findTheWinner(n - 1, k)) % n;
return ans ? ans : n;
};
Solution 2: Simulation
TypeScript
function findTheWinner(n: number, k: number): number {
const arr = Array.from({ length: n }, (_, i) => i + 1);
let i = 0;
while (arr.length > 1) {
i = (i + k - 1) % arr.length;
arr.splice(i, 1);
}
return arr[0];
}
JavaScript
function findTheWinner(n, k) {
const arr = Array.from({ length: n }, (_, i) => i + 1);
let i = 0;
while (arr.length > 1) {
i = (i + k - 1) % arr.length;
arr.splice(i, 1);
}
return arr[0];
}