Advent of Code

Neil Smith (AoC++) 38*

   sub y{2016}

--- Day 19: An Elephant Named Joseph ---

The Elves contact you over a highly secure emergency channel. Back at the North Pole, the Elves are busy misunderstanding White Elephant parties.

Each Elf brings a present. They all sit in a circle, numbered starting with position 1. Then, starting with the first Elf, they take turns stealing all the presents from the Elf to their left. An Elf with no presents is removed from the circle and does not take turns.

For example, with five Elves (numbered 1 to 5):

  1
5   2
 4 3

So, with five Elves, the Elf that sits starting in position 3 gets all the presents.

With the number of Elves given in your puzzle input, which Elf gets all the presents?

Your puzzle answer was 1830117.

--- Part Two ---

Realizing the folly of their present-exchange rules, the Elves agree to instead steal presents from the Elf directly across the circle. If two Elves are across the circle, the one on the left (from the perspective of the stealer) is stolen from. The other rules remain unchanged: Elves with no presents are removed from the circle entirely, and the other elves move in slightly to keep the circle evenly spaced.

For example, with five Elves (again numbered 1 to 5):

So, with five Elves, the Elf that sits starting in position 2 gets all the presents.

With the number of Elves given in your puzzle input, which Elf now gets all the presents?

Your puzzle answer was 1417887.

Both parts of this puzzle are complete! They provide two gold stars: **

At this point, you should return to your advent calendar and try another puzzle.

Your puzzle input was 3012210.

You can also this puzzle.