Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!rutgers!ucla-cs!zen!ucbvax!ICST-CMR.ARPA!rbj From: rbj@ICST-CMR.ARPA (Root Boy Jim) Newsgroups: comp.emacs Subject: Gomoku: a strategic board game for GNU Emacs. Message-ID: <8709181528.AA00892@icst-cmr.arpa.ARPA> Date: Fri, 18-Sep-87 11:28:52 EDT Article-I.D.: icst-cmr.8709181528.AA00892 Posted: Fri Sep 18 11:28:52 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 20-Sep-87 03:17:28 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 37 From: Joe Talmadge Speaking of Gomuku (and not at all of emacs, oh well), does anyone know anything about a computerized Go game, like the computerized chess games? Or is Go not widely played enough, or too complicated? I was going to say `now how about "go.el" :-)', but obviously not everyone would get the joke. As far as I know, go programs are in their infancy. It is just not very easy to write a program to play go with any real degree of skill. Usenix is having (or already had) a go tournament where you submit a subroutine to make a move and the referee program coordinates and checks the validity of your response. I would like to know what happenned. I was going to submit code that made symmetrical moves to the opponents move or took the center point if playing black, but never got around to it. While this is not a very interesting strategy with humans, it might just win the tournament, as it should produce a draw with almost every program it plays against, and would win against any buggy code it played against (if your program makes an illegal move, it forfeits). My strategy is based on the `Prisoners Dilemna' tournament, where the winning entry was called `Tit For Tat'. It echoed it's opponents last move, and always `cooperated' on the first round. Interestingly enough, it never beat anyone, but by drawing every `battle', it won the `war'. Interested people can read about the Prisoner's Dilemna in `Metamagical Themas', by Douglas Hofstadter. Disinterested people will I hope excuse my ramblings in this newsgroup. Joe (Root Boy) Jim Cottrell National Bureau of Standards Flamer's Hotline: (301) 975-5688