
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
\(5N\) teams participated in a national basketball championship in which every two teams played exactly one game. Of the \(N\) teams, 251 are from California. It turned out that a Californian team Alcatraz is the unique Californian champion (Alcatraz has won more games against Californian teams than any other team from California). However, Alcatraz ended up being the unique loser of the tournament because it lost more games than any other team in the nation!
What is the smallest possible value for \(N\)?

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