This counting-out game is known as the Josephus Problem, and dates back many centuries. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus_problem https://en.wikipedi

This counting-out game is known as the Josephus Problem, and dates back many centuries. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus_problem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephus_problem. I have a wood-block printed Japanese textbook from around 1700 with a good account of the problem.