Title: Two games designed by a computer Post by: kram1032 on January 31, 2014, 03:59:34 PM I had a really hard time to find the best category for this but here are two games designed by a computer program, based on evolutionary algorithms. Presumably, one started from Tic-Tac-Toe or Connect-4 and the other one from Go: Yavalath (http://www.cameronius.com/games/yavalath/) is played on a hexagonal grid by two players. Pieces are placed inside hexagon. Each player has either black or white pieces. You start with an empty board. You take turns placing one piece each time. Win by making a line of four pieces. However, if you made a row of three pieces, you loose. So X_XX is almost won and will force the oponent to play in the _ to make it XOXX, but _XXX is lost, because you didn't get to four in a row without getting to three in a row first. There is a three-player extension. - Find the explanation in the link above. The other game is called Pentalath (pdf) (http://www.nestorgames.com/rulebooks/PENTALATH_EN.pdf) and can be played on a hexagonal board or, as the computer originally designed it, on a trapezoid board, e.g. half a hexagon. (Perhaps other geometries cause different interesting playstyles) It's played more like Go but there are some differences. The link above is to the rule book. There also is a three-player variant, also found in that rule book. Have fun playing if you try them out :) |