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July 5, 2008 7:02:43 PM CDT

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Computers Master Checkers

Posted Jul 19, 07 6:25 PM CDT in Technology,  Arts & Living    Editor's Choice

(Newser) – After 18 years of number-crunching, a checkers-playing computer program has conquered the game. Checkers is the most complicated game computers have mastered, Scientific American reports, beating Connect Four by a factor of a million. "I was a bit obsessed," says the lead researcher. "My wife would say more than a bit obsessed."

University of Alberta researchers "solved" checkers by examining which arrangement of pieces and moves would result in a win, loss, or draw. They concentrated on openings and endgames; the total number of possible permutations is 50 billion billion. No word on whether the computer's little brother scatters the pieces across the sunporch when he realizes he can't win.

Source Scientific American

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Cookie Checkers, starting out   ((c) oskay)
checker devastation   ((c) rick)
Makeshift checkers   ((c) goldberg)
P1020436-1   ((c) steenslag)
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computer  • IBM  • university  • games


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