A. I. Connect-Four

Overview

Objectives/Goals I am using the game Connect-Four to study artificial intelligence. I wanted to determine the effects of ply depth (the number of plies, which are turns by a single player, that the program looks ahead) and the effects of getting the first move on both the chance of winning and the time taken. Methods/Materials To do this, I wrote some computer programs in C to simulate games between computer-controlled players. Results I found that increasing the ply depth increases the chance of winning, as does getting the first move. I found that the effect of a single ply depth increase was greater than the effect of getting the first move. I found that when two identical players faced off, there would be more draws if both had even ply depths. I also found that increasing the ply depth by 1 make the program take about 7 times as long per move. Conclusions/Discussion My results agree with my hypothesis, though I did not expect the result with more draws at even ply depths. Each extra ply taking 7 times as long fits with the prediction based on branching width.

Awards (1)

• Third Place

Competition history

• CSEF 2010 Mathematics & Software · Entry J1606

Resources

• CSEF project summary ↗

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