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Questions tagged [board-games]

Scientific analysis of board games, playing strategies and their complexity

91 questions
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Is Dominosa NP-Hard?

Dominosa is a relatively new puzzle game. It is played on an $(n+1)\times(n+2)$ grid. Before the game begins, the domino bones $\left(0,0\right),\left(0,1\right),\ldots,\left(n,n\right)$ are placed on the grid (constituting a perfect tiling).…
Yoav bar sinai
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distributed alpha beta pruning

I am looking for an efficient algorithm that lets me process the minimax search tree for chess with alpha-beta pruning on a distributed architecture. The algorithms I have found (PVS, YBWC, DTS see below) are all quite old (1990 being the latest). I…
wirate
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How to use Artificial Intelligence in Computer Chess

In some (historical) papers, chess has been referred to as the drosophila of artificial intelligence. While I suppose that in current research, the mere application of a search algorithm is at best advanced computer science, I believe that there are…
ljgw
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Machine learning algorithm to play Connect Four

I'm currently reading about machine learning and wondered how to apply it to playing Connect Four. My current attempt is a simple multiclass classificator using a sigmoid function model and the one-vs-all method. In my opinion, the input features…
Tom
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Is this classic puzzle book game NP-complete?

There is a classic puzzle book game very similar to a crossword puzzle, except a list of words is given and then a $N \times N$ square board made up of unit squares is given, with some squares blacked out just like a cross-word, and some squares…
user2566092
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Why do AlphaGo and AlphaGo Zero include board history in the input features

Both AlphaGo and AlphaGo Zero include prior board states as input features (the "Turns Since" planes for AlphaGo, and the repeated 8-step history planes for AlphaGo Zero). What is the purpose of including this history information in the input to the…
Mankarse
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An Alternative Hanoi Tower problem

We got tower $T_1$ with $n$ odd disks (1,3,5,...) and tower $T_2$ with $n$ even disks (2,4,6,...). Now we want to move all $2n$ disks to tower $T_3$. If $T(p,q)$ is a recurrence relation of minimum number of moves we make to move $p$ disks from…
Parisa
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Why isn't chess an impartial game?

In Combinatorial Game Theory, a major distinction is drawn between impartial games and partisan games. To be impartial, a game must satisfy these conditions: (1) The game is finite; i.e. there is a constant $c$ such that all games end in $c$ moves…
GMB
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Are there ways to automatically (no human testing) measure a $9 \times 9$ Sudoku puzzle's average hardness for a human to solve?

So most resources providing Sudoku puzzles assign a difficulty category to each puzzle, even some I've seen with 15 or more difficulty categories. But what is a good way to assign these difficulty categories? If enough human puzzle solvers were…
user2566092
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Trying to improve minimax heuristic function for connect four game in JS

I have made a connect four game in JS and currently have a functioning minimax algorithm. The problem I'm having is that it is very, very easy to beat, even with a large depth. This is leading me to believe that I need a better heuristic function,…
Chad
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Analysis of komi values for increasing Go board sizes and agents strength

Komi is the additional number of points given to the non-starting player in the game of Go. For 19x19 board, currently it is 6.5 under Japanese rules, 7.5 points under Chinese rules. In the past it was lower, even 2.5 points. A question arises:…
Adam Stelmaszczyk
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Mental poker: proving dealt hand is fair

I have just read mental poker, described in this fascinating paper(PDF) by cryptographic greats Adi Shamir, Ron Rivest, and Leonard Adleman. Assuming I have a website, (TTP) how can I prove to the player that the hand dealt to him is fair? Most…
user1841964
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Minimum number of givens for General Sudoku of size $n^2 \times n^2$

Here, it is well known that the minimal number of givens for a size $9 \times 9$ board of Sudoku requires 17 "givens" in order to be solved (i.e., no puzzle can be solved with $\le 16$ givens). What is the minimal number of givens for a size $n^2…
Ryan Dougherty
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Algorithms for Connect 4?

Im designing a program to play Connect 6, a variation of connect 4. I have narrowed down my options to the following: 1) Minimax with Alpha-Beta Proning 2) A Neural Net 3) Machine Learning My program has one second to make a move, so I can only…
asd
6
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Algorithms to play randomized game

I'm interested in building an AI algorithm to play a board game. This is a sequential two-player game, where they alternate taking turns, so minimax or alpha-beta algorithms sound natural. However, the twist here is that the game is randomized. …
D.W.
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