I got a lot of answers for this puzzle. Some worthy mentions include Rohit Gupta, Ruchir Godura and Jyotsana Dube. Among children, only Anisha Sharma Goyal solved this one.

Reason I liked the puzzle so much is that if you play this game with children, it helps them figure out patterns just by playing and also when you explain it to them, they are learning recursion, without actually knowing that term.

Quick answer – player playing first will win both with 11 or 30 matches. Full solution explained on the following video:

http://www.educreations.com/lesson/view/solution-to-puzzle-25/9417312/?s=LIsxJB&ref=link

Hope you had fun!