Re: computer-go: RE: new strategy game with $10,000 prize

[Don Dailey <drd@xxxxxxx>]

One could argue  that all games are  a waste of time, but  I don't.  I
have  written  several  game  playing programs  including  Go,  Chess,
monopoly, checkers,  scrabble, pousse, various  card playing programs,
and others I have probably  forgotten about.  I didn't consider any of
these a waste of time.

I  believe Go  is actually  harder than  this new  game  despite their
claims.  However, it often turns out  that things are not the way they
appear at first glance, so I may modify my opinion later!

Don


   From: "Ran Xiao" <ranxiao@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
   Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 22:54:34 -0600
   Content-Type: text/plain;
	   charset="iso-8859-1"
   X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
   X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
   Importance: Normal
   X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106
   Sender: owner-computer-go@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
   Precedence: bulk
   Reply-To: computer-go@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

   Why create a new problem as GO already hard enough for a computer to play? A
   wasting of time.


   -----Original Message-----
   I took  a look at this.   I'm not sure  it's as complex as  he claims.
   Even though the legal move count  at any given node is quite high, the
   game is very  threat oriented (tactical).  Also, for  what it's worth,
   there have not been hundreds of  years of human experience at the game
   which should help some!

   So if a program can be designed that is very good at seeing short term
   tactics, it might be very hard for a human to beat.

   $10,000 isn't worth the effort  by itself, but it seems like something
   that would certainly be worth the fun of trying.


   Don

   ...

      http://arimaa.com/arimaa/

      He thinks his game is 100x more complex than go, and offers $10,000 for a
   program that can beat a human by 2020, with $1000 for the best program at
   the end of 2003.

   ...
      David