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Hexapawn
Hexapawn is a deterministic two-player game invented by Martin Gardner. It is played on a rectangular board of variable size, for example on a 3×3 board or on a regular chessboard. On a board of size ''n''×''m'', each player begins with ''m'' pawns, one for each square in the row closest to them. The goal of each player is to either advance a pawn to the opposite end of the board or leave the other player with no legal moves. Hexapawn on the 3×3 board is a solved game; with perfect play, White will always lose in 3 moves (1.b2 axb2 2.cxb2 c2 3.a2 c1#). Indeed, Gardner specifically constructed it as a game with a small game tree in order to demonstrate how it could be played by a heuristic AI implemented by a mechanical computer based on Donald Michie's Matchbox Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine. A variant of this game is octopawn, which is played on a 4×4 board with 4 pawns on each side. It is a forced win for White. Rules As in chess, a pawn may be moved in two differe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hexapawn
Hexapawn is a deterministic two-player game invented by Martin Gardner. It is played on a rectangular board of variable size, for example on a 3×3 board or on a regular chessboard. On a board of size ''n''×''m'', each player begins with ''m'' pawns, one for each square in the row closest to them. The goal of each player is to either advance a pawn to the opposite end of the board or leave the other player with no legal moves. Hexapawn on the 3×3 board is a solved game; with perfect play, White will always lose in 3 moves (1.b2 axb2 2.cxb2 c2 3.a2 c1#). Indeed, Gardner specifically constructed it as a game with a small game tree in order to demonstrate how it could be played by a heuristic AI implemented by a mechanical computer based on Donald Michie's Matchbox Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine. A variant of this game is octopawn, which is played on a 4×4 board with 4 pawns on each side. It is a forced win for White. Rules As in chess, a pawn may be moved in two differe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solved Game
A solved game is a game whose outcome (win, lose or draw) can be correctly predicted from any position, assuming that both players play perfectly. This concept is usually applied to abstract strategy games, and especially to games with full information and no element of chance; solving such a game may use combinatorial game theory and/or computer assistance. Overview A two-player game can be solved on several levels: ;Ultra-weak : Prove whether the first player will win, lose or draw from the initial position, given perfect play on both sides. This can be a non-constructive proof (possibly involving a strategy-stealing argument) that need not actually determine any moves of the perfect play. ;Weak : Provide an algorithm that secures a win for one player, or a draw for either, against any possible moves by the opponent, from the beginning of the game. ;Strong : Provide an algorithm that can produce perfect moves from any position, even if mistakes have already been made on one or b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matchbox Educable Noughts And Crosses Engine
The Matchbox Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine (sometimes called the Machine Educable Noughts and Crosses Engine or MENACE) was a mechanical computer made from 304 matchboxes designed and built by artificial intelligence researcher Donald Michie in 1961. It was designed to play human opponents in games of noughts and crosses (tic-tac-toe) by returning a move for any given state of play and to refine its strategy through reinforcement learning. Michie did not have a computer readily available, so he worked around this restriction by building it out of matchboxes. The matchboxes used by Michie each represented a single possible layout of a noughts and crosses grid. When the computer first played, it would randomly choose moves based on the current layout. As it played more games, through a reinforcement loop, it disqualified strategies that led to losing games, and supplemented strategies that led to winning games. Michie held a tournament against MENACE in 1961, wherein he expe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Gardner
Martin Gardner (October 21, 1914May 22, 2010) was an American popular mathematics and popular science writer with interests also encompassing scientific skepticism, micromagic, philosophy, religion, and literatureespecially the writings of Lewis Carroll, L. Frank Baum, and G. K. Chesterton.Martin (2010) He was also a leading authority on Lewis Carroll. ''The Annotated Alice'', which incorporated the text of Carroll's two Alice books, was his most successful work and sold over a million copies. He had a lifelong interest in magic and illusion and in 1999, MAGIC magazine named him as one of the "100 Most Influential Magicians of the Twentieth Century". He was considered the doyen of American puzzlers. He was a prolific and versatile author, publishing more than 100 books. Gardner was best known for creating and sustaining interest in recreational mathematicsand by extension, mathematics in generalthroughout the latter half of the 20th century, principally through his "Mathema ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematical Games
A mathematical game is a game whose rules, strategies, and outcomes are defined by clear mathematical parameters. Often, such games have simple rules and match procedures, such as Tic-tac-toe and Dots and Boxes. Generally, mathematical games need not be conceptually intricate to involve deeper computational underpinnings. For example, even though the rules of Mancala are relatively basic, the game can be rigorously analyzed through the lens of combinatorial game theory. Mathematical games differ sharply from mathematical puzzles in that mathematical puzzles require specific mathematical expertise to complete, whereas mathematical games do not require a deep knowledge of mathematics to play. Often, the arithmetic core of mathematical games is not readily apparent to players untrained to note the statistical or mathematical aspects. Some mathematical games are of deep interest in the field of recreational mathematics. When studying a game's core mathematics, arithmetic theory i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Octal Game
The octal games are a class of two-player games that involve removing tokens (game pieces or stones) from heaps of tokens. They have been studied in combinatorial game theory as a generalization of Nim, Kayles, and similar games. Revised and reprinted as Octal games are impartial meaning that every move available to one player is also available to the other player. They differ from each other in the numbers of tokens that may be removed in a single move, and (depending on this number) whether it is allowed to remove an entire heap, reduce the size of a heap, or split a heap into two heaps. These rule variations may be described compactly by a coding system using octal numerals. Game specification An octal game is played with tokens divided into heaps. Two players take turns moving until no moves are possible. Every move consists of selecting just one of the heaps, and either * removing all of the tokens in the heap, leaving no heap, * removing some but not all of the tokens, le ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1962 In Chess
Events in chess in 1962: Events *March 8 – 5th Interzonal Tournament at Stockholm won by Bobby Fischer (USA) with 17.5/22. Tigran Petrosian (USSR) and Efim Geller (USSR) tied for 2nd–3rd with 15 points, Victor Korchnoi (USSR) and Miroslav Filip (Czechoslovakia) tied for 4th–5th with 14 points. Pal Benko (USA) won the sixth and final qualifying position for the Candidates Tournament in a three-way playoff with Leonid Stein (USSR) and Svetozar Gligorić after all tied for 6th–8th with 13.5 points. Although Stein scored the most points in the playoff, he was barred from qualifying for the Candidates Tournament by a FIDE rule that allowed no more than three players from the same federation to qualify. The Interzonal was originally scheduled to be played in the Netherlands in 1961, but difficulties obtaining visas caused a delay while another site was found. * 5th Candidates Tournament in Curaçao won by Tigran Petrosian (USSR) with 17.5/27, a half point ahead of Paul Keres ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chess Variants
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from, or inspired by chess. Such variants can differ from chess in many different ways. "International" or "Western" chess itself is one of a family of games which have related origins and could be considered variants of each other. Chess developed from '' chaturanga'', from which other members of this family, such as ''shatranj'', Tamerlane chess, '' shogi'', and ''xiangqi'' also evolved. Many chess variants are designed to be played with the equipment of regular chess. Most variants have a similar public-domain status as their parent game, but some have been made into commercial proprietary games. Just as in traditional chess, chess variants can be played over the board, by correspondence, or by computer. Some internet chess servers facilitate the play of some variants in addition to orthodox chess. In the context of chess problems, chess variants are called heterodox chess or fairy chess. Fairy chess variants tend to be created ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scientific American
''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it is the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. ''Scientific American'' is owned by Springer Nature, which in turn is a subsidiary of Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. History ''Scientific American'' was founded by inventor and publisher Rufus Porter (painter), Rufus Porter in 1845 as a four-page weekly newspaper. The first issue of the large format newspaper was released August 28, 1845. Throughout its early years, much emphasis was placed on reports of what was going on at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Patent Office. It also reported on a broad range of inventions including perpetual motion machines, an 1860 device for buoying vessels by Abraham Lincoln, and the universal joint which now can be found ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Impartial Game
In combinatorial game theory, an impartial game is a game in which the allowable moves depend only on the position and not on which of the two players is currently moving, and where the payoffs are symmetric. In other words, the only difference between player 1 and player 2 is that player 1 goes first. The game is played until a terminal position is reached. A terminal position is one from which no moves are possible. Then one of the players is declared the winner and the other the loser. Furthermore, impartial games are played with perfect information and no chance moves, meaning all information about the game and operations for both players are visible to both players. Impartial games include Nim, Sprouts, Kayles, Quarto, Cram, Chomp, Subtract a square, Notakto, and poset games. Go and chess are not impartial, as each player can only place or move pieces of their own color. Games such as poker, dice or dominos are not impartial games as they rely on chance. Impartial games c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chess
Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to distinguish it from related games, such as xiangqi (Chinese chess) and shogi (Japanese chess). The recorded history of chess goes back at least to the emergence of a similar game, chaturanga, in seventh-century India. The rules of chess as we know them today emerged in Europe at the end of the 15th century, with standardization and universal acceptance by the end of the 19th century. Today, chess is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide. Chess is an abstract strategy game that involves no hidden information and no use of dice or cards. It is played on a chessboard with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. At the start, each player controls sixteen pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
