Related papers: Best play in Dots and Boxes endgames

We explain a highly efficient algorithm for playing the simplest type of dots and boxes endgame optimally (by which we mean "in such a way so as to maximise the number of boxes that you take"). The algorithm is sufficiently simple that it…

Dots-and-Boxes is a child's game which remains analytically unsolved. We implement and evolve artificial neural networks to play this game, evaluating them against simple heuristic players. Our networks do not evaluate or predict the final…

Dots-and-Boxes is a popular children's game whose winning strategies have been studied by Berlekamp, Conway, Guy, and others. In this article we consider two variations, Dots-and-Triangles and Dots-and-Polygons, both of which utilize the…

We present a new game, Dots & Polygons, played on a planar point set. Players take turns connecting two points, and when a player closes a (simple) polygon, the player scores its area. We show that deciding whether the game can be won from…

In this study we worked on the classification of the Chess Endgame problem using different algorithms like logistic regression, decision trees and neural networks. Our experiments indicates that the Neural Networks provides the best…

Bidding chess is a chess variant where instead of alternating play, players bid for the opportunity to move. Generalizing a known result on so-called Richman games, we show that for a natural class of games including bidding chess, each…

Two-player complete-information game trees are perhaps the simplest possible setting for studying general-sum games and the computational problem of finding equilibria. These games admit a simple bottom-up algorithm for finding subgame…

We analyze the computational complexity of two 2-player games involving packing objects into a box. In the first game, players alternate drawing polycubes from a shared pile and placing them into an initially empty box in any available…

Simple stochastic games are two-player zero-sum stochastic games with turn-based moves, perfect information, and reachability winning conditions. We present two new algorithms computing the values of simple stochastic games. Both of them…

We verify a conjecture of Nowakowski and Ottaway that closed $1 \times n$ Dots-and-Triangles is a first-player win when $n \neq 2$. We also prove that in both the open and closed $1 \times n$ Dots-and-Boxes games where $n$ is even, the…

We show how solutions to many recursive arena equations can be computed in a natural way by allowing loops in arenas. We then equip arenas with winning functions and total winning strategies. We present two natural winning conditions…

In robot games on Z, two players add integers to a counter. Each player has a finite set from which he picks the integer to add, and the objective of the first player is to let the counter reach 0. We present an exponential-time algorithm…

Stochastic games are an important class of problems that generalize Markov decision processes to game theoretic scenarios. We consider finite state two-player zero-sum stochastic games over an infinite time horizon with discounted rewards.…

We study an evolutionary game of chance in which the probabilities for different outcomes (e.g., heads or tails) depend on the amount wagered on those outcomes. The game is perhaps the simplest possible probabilistic game in which…

We investigate the Dots and Boxes game, also known as ``Strings and Coins,'' for certain specific families of graphs. These include complete graphs, wheel graphs, and friendship graphs.

We consider an autonomous navigation problem, whereby a traveler aims at traversing an environment in which an adversary tries to set an ambush. A two players zero sum game is introduced. Players' strategies are computed as random path…

In an investigation of the applications of Combinatorial Game Theory to chess, we construct novel mutual Zugzwang positions, explain an otherwise mysterious pawn endgame from "A Guide to Chess Endings" (Euwe and Hooper), show positions…

This paper provides effective methods for the polyhedral formulation of impartial finite combinatorial games as lattice games. Given a rational strategy for a lattice game, a polynomial time algorithm is presented to decide (i) whether a…

We present efficient algorithms for computing optimal or approximately optimal strategies in a zero-sum game for which Player I has n pure strategies and Player II has an arbitrary number of pure strategies. We assume that for any given…

Flip a coin repeatedly, and stop whenever you want. Your payoff is the proportion of heads, and you wish to maximize this payoff in expectation. This so-called Chow-Robbins game is amenable to computer analysis, but while simple-minded…