Problem

Source: 2001 Singapore TST 1.3

Tags: combinatorics, game



A game of Jai Alai has eight players and starts with players $P_1$ and $P_2$ on court and the other players $P_3, P_4, P_5, P_6, P_7, P_8$ waiting in a queue. After each point is played, the loser goes to the end of the queue; the winner adds $1$ point to his score and stays on the court; and the player at the head of the queue comes on to contest the next point. Play continues until someone has scored $7$ points. At that moment, we observe that a total of $37$ points have been scored by all eight players. Determine who has won and justify your answer.