Related papers: The Complexity of Rummikub Problems
We demonstrate that models trained only in simulation can be used to solve a manipulation problem of unprecedented complexity on a real robot. This is made possible by two key components: a novel algorithm, which we call automatic domain…
This paper provides a complexity analysis for the game of dark Chinese chess (a.k.a. "JieQi"), a variation of Chinese chess. Dark Chinese chess combines some of the most complicated aspects of board and card games, such as long-term…
The authors present formulas for the previous player's winning positions of two variants of restricted Nim. In both of these two games, there is one pile of stones, and in the first variant, we investigate the case that in k-th turn, you…
Learning to solve a Rubik's Cube requires the learners to repeatedly practice a skill component, e.g., identifying a misplaced square and putting it back. However, for 3D physical tasks such as this, generating sufficient repeated practice…
We analyze the computational complexity of the problem of deciding whether, for a given simple game, there exists the possibility of rearranging the participants in a set of $j$ given losing coalitions into a set of $j$ winning coalitions.…
In the classical coupon collector's problem, every box of breakfast cereal contains one coupon from a collection of n distinct coupons, each equally likely to appear. The goal is to find the expected number of boxes a player needs to…
Before chess came to Northern Europe there was Tafl, a family of asymmetric strategy board games associated strongly with the Vikings. The purpose of this paper is to study the combinatorial state-space complexity of an Irish variation of…
We investigate the following version of the well-known R\'enyi-Ulam game. Two players - the Questioner and the Responder - play against each other. The Responder thinks of a number from the set $\{1,\ldots,n\}$, and the Questioner has to…
Our ignorance of the winnability percentage of the solitaire card game `Klondike' has been described as ``one of the embarrassments of applied mathematics''. Klondike, the game in the Windows Solitaire program, is just one of many…
In this paper, we study the average case complexity of the Unique Games problem. We propose a natural semi-random model, in which a unique game instance is generated in several steps. First an adversary selects a completely satisfiable…
In this paper, we propose a new multi-armed bandit problem called the Gambler's Ruin Bandit Problem (GRBP). In the GRBP, the learner proceeds in a sequence of rounds, where each round is a Markov Decision Process (MDP) with two actions…
In this document, we collected the most important complexity results of tilings. We also propose a definition of a so-called deterministic set of tile types, in order to capture deterministic classes without the notion of games. We also…
For any odd integer $n\geq3$ a board (of size $n$) is a square array of $n\times n$ positions with a simple rule of how to move between positions. The goal of the game we introduce is to find a path from the upper left corner of a board to…
We establish a relationship between the word complexity and the number of generalized diagonals for a polygonal billiard. We conclude that in the rational case the complexity function has cubic upper and lower bounds. In the tiling case the…
With increasing game size, a problem of computational complexity arises. This is especially true in real world problems such as in social systems, where there is a significant population of players involved in the game, and the complexity…
From the 1970s up to now, Mastermind, a classic two-player game, has attracted plenty of attention, not only from the public as a popular game, but also from the academic community as a scientific issue. Mastermind with n positions and k…
Consider gambler's ruin with three players, 1, 2, and 3, having initial capitals $A$, $B$, and $C$ units. At each round a pair of players is chosen (uniformly at random) and a fair coin flip is made resulting in the transfer of one unit…
In the $15$-puzzle game, $15$ labeled square tiles are reconfigured on a $4\times 4$ board through an escort, wherein each (time) step, a single tile neighboring it may slide into it, leaving the space previously occupied by the tile as the…
We analyze the computational complexity of several new variants of edge-matching puzzles. First we analyze inequality (instead of equality) constraints between adjacent tiles, proving the problem NP-complete for strict inequalities but…
Games and puzzles play important pedagogical roles in STEM learning. New AI algorithms that can solve complex problems offer opportunities for scaffolded instruction in puzzle solving. This paper presents the ALLURE system, which uses an AI…