
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
In a chess tournament, there were two girls and several boys. Each participant played against every other participant exactly once. The two girls together scored 8 points, and all the boys scored the same number of points. How many boys could have participated in the tournament? (A victory awards 1 point, a draw awards $\frac{1}{2}$ point, and a loss awards 0 points.)

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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