Related papers: Solving Mahjong Solitaire boards with peeking
We introduce a generalization of "Solo Chess", a single-player variant of the game that can be played on chess.com. The standard version of the game is played on a regular 8 x 8 chessboard by a single player, with only white pieces, using…
We analyze the computational complexity of Tetris clearing (determining whether the player can clear an initial board using a given sequence of pieces) and survival (determining whether the player can avoid losing before placing all the…
We propose a graph-based sweep algorithm for solving the steady state, mono-energetic discrete ordinates on meshes of high-order curved mesh elements. Our spatial discretization consists of arbitrarily high-order discontinuous Galerkin…
The shellability status of previously investigated simplicial complexes with up to 24 facets is settled. In case of shellability the exact number of shellings is determined. Our algorithm merely relies on the facets, and not on additional…
We prove that king chasing problem in Chinese Chess is NP-hard when generalized to $n\times n$ boards. `King chasing' is a frequently-used strategy in Chinese Chess, which means that the player has to continuously check the opponent in…
The hitting set problem asks for a collection of sets over a universe $U$ to find a minimum subset of $U$ that intersects each of the given sets. It is NP-hard and equivalent to the problem set cover. We give a branch-and-bound algorithm to…
When solving k-in-a-Row games, the Hales-Jewett pairing strategy [4] is a well-known strategy to prove that specific positions are (at most) a draw. It requires two empty squares per possible winning line (group) to be marked, i.e., with a…
The analysis of several algorithms and data structures can be framed as a peeling process on a random hypergraph: vertices with degree less than k and their adjacent edges are removed until no vertices of degree less than k are left. Often…
We prove that the classic falling-block video game Tetris (both survival and board clearing) remains NP-complete even when restricted to 8 columns, or to 4 rows, settling open problems posed over 15 years ago [BDH+04]. Our reduction is from…
We study self-adjoint matrix polynomial equations in a single variable and prove existence of self-adjoint solutions under some assumptions on the leading form. Our main result is that any self-adjoint matrix polynomial equation of odd…
We present two recursive strategy improvement algorithms for solving simple stochastic games. First we present an algorithm for solving SSGs of degree $d$ that uses at most $O\left(\left\lfloor(d+1)^2/2\right\rfloor^{n/2}\right)$…
A perfect matching in a hypergraph is a set of edges that partition the set of vertices. We study the complexity of deciding the existence of a perfect matching in orderable and separable hypergraphs. We show that the class of orderable…
The Nash equilibrium problem is a widely used tool to model non-cooperative games. Many solution methods have been proposed in the literature to compute solutions of Nash equilibrium problems with continuous strategy sets, but, besides some…
Peg solitaire is a game generalized to connected graphs by Beeler and Hoilman. In the game pegs are placed on all but one vertex. If $xyz$ form a 3-vertex path and $x$ and $y$ each have a peg but $z$ does not, then we can remove the pegs at…
We introduce a new family of one-player games, involving the movement of coins from one configuration to another. Moves are restricted so that a coin can be placed only in a position that is adjacent to at least two other coins. The goal of…
We explore the problem of $M$-guarding polygons with holes using $k$-visibility guards, where a set of guards is said to $M$-guard a polygon if every point in the polygon is visible to at least $M$ guards, with the constraint that there may…
We will describe a combinatorial game that models the problem of resolution of singularities of algebraic varieties over a field of characteristic zero. By giving a winning strategy for this game, we give another proof of the existence of…
We have developed a program called MUDoS (Maastricht University Domineering Solver) that solves Domineering positions in a very efficient way. This enables the solution of known positions so far (up to the 10 x 10 board) much quicker…
We study the problem of arithmetic billiards from a new perspective. We first raise a similar problem about reflecting lights inside grids. For the solution to this problem, we will give three proofs. Next, we consider a similar problem in…
Abalone is a 2-player board game with perfect information. The game is played on a 5x5x5 hexagonal grid and ends when a player pushes 6 of their opponents' pieces off the board. Abalone is similar to games like chess and Go in that all…