The Exploration and Analysis of Mancala from an AI Perspective

Through the study of popular games such as Chess and Go, countless artificial intelligence (AI) research has been conducted in an attempt to create algorithms equipped for adversarial search problems. However, there are still a plethora of avenues that offer insight into further development. Mancala is traditionally a two-player board game that originated in the East and offers a unique opponent-based playing experience. This thesis not only attempts to create a competitive AI algorithm for mancala games by analyzing the performance of several different algorithms on this classic board game, but it also attempts to extract applications that may have relevance to other “game-solving” AI problems

Review of Kalah Game research and the proposition of a novel heuristic-deterministic algorithm compared to tree-search solutions and human decision-making

The Kalah game represents the most popular version of probably the oldest board game ever-the Mancala game. From this viewpoint, the art of playing Kalah can contribute to cultural heritage. This paper primarily focuses on a review of Kalah history and on a survey of research made so far for solving and analyzing the Kalah game (and some other related Mancala games). This review concludes that even if strong in-depth tree-search solutions for some types of the game were already published, it is still reasonable to develop less time-consumptive and computationally-demanding playing algorithms and their strategies Therefore, the paper also presents an original heuristic algorithm based on particular deterministic strategies arising from the analysis of the game rules. Standard and modified mini-max tree-search algorithms are introduced as well. A simple C++ application with Qt framework is developed to perform the algorithm verification and comparative experiments. Two sets of benchmark tests are made; namely, a tournament where a mid-experienced amateur human player competes with the three algorithms is introduced first. Then, a round-robin tournament of all the algorithms is presented. It can be deduced that the proposed heuristic algorithm has comparable success to the human player and to low-depth tree-search solutions. Moreover, multiple-case experiments proved that the opening move has a decisive impact on winning or losing. Namely, if the computer plays first, the human opponent cannot beat it. Contrariwise, if it starts to play second, using the heuristic algorithm, it nearly always loses. © 2020 by the authors.European Regional Development FundEuropean Union (EU); Ministry of Education, Youth and SportsMinistry of Education, Youth & Sports - Czech Republic [LO1303 (MSMT-7778/2014)]; internal grant agency of VSB Technical University of Ostrava, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Czech Republic [SP2020/46

A Refinement-Based Heuristic Method for Decision Making in the Context of Ayo Game

Games of strategy, such as chess have served as a convenient test of skills at devising efficient search algorithms, formalizing knowledge, and bringing the power of computation to bear on “intractable” problems. Generally, minimax search has been the fundamental concept of obtaining solution to game problems. However, there are a number of limitations associated with using minimax search in order to offer solution to Ayo game. Among these limitations are: (i.) improper design of a suitable evaluator for moves before the moves are made, and (ii.) inability to select a correct move without assuming that players will play optimally. This study investigated the extent to which the knowledge of minimax search technique could be enhanced with a refinement-based heuristic method for playing Ayo game. This is complemented by the CDG (an end game strategy) for generating procedures such that only good moves are generated at any instance of playing Ayo game by taking cognizance of the opponent strategy of play. The study was motivated by the need to advance the African board game – Ayo – to see how it could be made to be played by humans across the globe, by creating both theoretical and product-oriented framework. This framework provides local Ayo game promotion initiatives in accordance with state-of-the-art practices in the global game playing domain. In order to accomplish this arduous task, both theoretical and empirical approaches were used. The theoretical approach reveals some mathematical properties of Ayo game with specific emphasis on the CDG as an end game strategy and means of obtaining the minimal and maximal CDG configurations. Similarly, a theoretical analysis of the minimax search was given and was enhanced with the Refinement-based heuristics. For the empirical approach, we simulated Ayo game playing on a digital viii computer and studied the behaviour of the various heuristic metrics used and compared the play strategies of the simulation with AWALE (the world known Ayo game playing standard software). Furthermore, empirical judgment was carried out on how experts play Ayo game as a means of evaluating the performance of the heuristics used to evolve the Ayo player in the simulation which gives room for statistical interpretation. This projects novel means of solving the problem of decision making in move selections in computer game playing of Ayo game. The study shows how an indigenous game like Ayo can generate integer sequence, and consequently obtain some self-replicating patterns that repeat themselves at different iterations. More importantly, the study gives an efficient and usable operation support tools in the prototype simulation of Ayo game playing that has improvement over Awal

Games of History

Games of History provides an understanding of how games as artefacts, textual and visual sources on games and gaming as a pastime or a “serious” activity can be used as sources for the study of history. From the vast world of games, the book’s focus is on board and card games, with reference to physical games, sports and digital games as well. Considering culture, society, politics and metaphysics, the author uses examples from various places around the world and from ancient times to the present to demonstrate how games and gaming can offer the historian an alternative, often very valuable and sometimes unique path to the past. The book offers a thorough discussion of conceptual and material approaches to games as sources, while also providing the reader with a theoretical starting point for further study within specific thematic chapters. The book concludes with three case studies of different types of games and how they can be considered as historical sources: the gladiatorial games, chess and the digital game Civilization. Offering an alternative approach to the study of history through its focus on games and gaming as historical sources, this is the ideal volume for students considering different types of sources and how they can be used for historical study, as well as students who study games as primary or secondary sources in their history projects

Games of History

Games of History provides an understanding of how games as artefacts, textual and visual sources on games and gaming as a pastime or a “serious” activity can be used as sources for the study of history. From the vast world of games, the book’s focus is on board and card games, with reference to physical games, sports and digital games as well. Considering culture, society, politics and metaphysics, the author uses examples from various places around the world and from ancient times to the present to demonstrate how games and gaming can offer the historian an alternative, often very valuable and sometimes unique path to the past. The book offers a thorough discussion of conceptual and material approaches to games as sources, while also providing the reader with a theoretical starting point for further study within specific thematic chapters. The book concludes with three case studies of different types of games and how they can be considered as historical sources: the gladiatorial games, chess and the digital game Civilization. Offering an alternative approach to the study of history through its focus on games and gaming as historical sources, this is the ideal volume for students considering different types of sources and how they can be used for historical study, as well as students who study games as primary or secondary sources in their history projects

Monte-Carlo Tree Search Algorithm in Pac-Man Identification of commonalities in 2D video games for realisation in AI (Artificial Intelligence)

The research is dedicated to the game strategy, which uses the Monte-Carlo Tree Search algorithm for the Pac-Man agent. Two main strategies were heavily researched for Pac-Man’s behaviour (Next Level priority) and HS (Highest Score priority). The Pacman game best known as STPacman is a 2D maze game that will allow users to play the game using artificial intelligence and smart features such as, Panic buttons (where players can activate on or off when they want and when they do activate it Pacman will be controlled via Artificial intelligence). A Variety of experiments were provided to compare the results to determine the efficiency of every strategy. A lot of intensive research was also put into place to find a variety of 2D games (Chess, Checkers, Go, etc.) which have similar functionalities to the game of Pac-Man. The main idea behind the research was to see how effective 2D games will be if they were to be implemented in the program (Classes/Methods) and how well would the artificial intelligence used in the development of STPacman behave/perform in a variety of different 2D games. A lot of time was also dedicated to researching an ‘AI’ engine that will be able to develop any 2D game based on the users submitted requirements with the use of a spreadsheet functionality (chapter 3, topic 3.3.1 shows an example of the spreadsheet feature) which will contain near enough everything to do with 2D games such as the parameters (The API/Classes/Methods/Text descriptions and more). The spreadsheet feature will act as a tool that will scan/examine all of the users submitted requirements and will give a rough estimation(time) on how long it will take for the chosen 2D game to be developed. It will have a lot of smart functionality and if the game is not unique like chess/checkers it will automatically recognize it and alert the user of it

Conservation of Natural and Cultural Heritage in Kenya

In Kenya, cultural and natural heritage has a particular value. This book brings together essays by heritage experts from different backgrounds, including conservation, heritage management, museum studies, archaeology, environment and social sciences, architecture and landscape, geography, philosophy and economics to explore three key themes: the underlying ethics, practices and legal issues of heritage conservation; the exploration of architectural and urban heritage of Nairobi; and the natural heritage, landscapes and sacred sites in relation to local Kenyan communities and tourism. It thus provides an overview of conservation practices in Kenya from 2000 to 2015 and highlights the role of natural and cultural heritage as a key factor of social-economic development, and as a potential instrument for conflict resolution