Last to move wins.
Generated at 06/09/2020, 15:41 from 1187 logged games.
Representative game (in the sense of being of mean length). Wherever you see the 'representative game' referred to in later sections, this is it!
Move one of your amazons (as a chess queen). After moving, that piece shoots an arrow (as a chess queen) which permanently blocks the destination space. Last to make a complete move wins.
General comments:
Play: Combinatorial
Mechanism(s): Stalemate,Territory,Movement
| BGG Entry | Amazons |
|---|---|
| BGG Rating | 7.13732 |
| #Voters | 284 |
| SD | 1.54635 |
| BGG Weight | 2.963 |
| #Voters | 27 |
| Year | 1992 |
| User | Rating | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| joemillions | 7 | This is one of the more underrated abstract games. There are so many move choices each turn! It is quite difficult to figure out exactly what your opponent is going to do, since it is quite easy to overlook his/her strongest move. However, you know generally what you are supposed to be doing, and you feel like you have a high degree of control over your fate. The duality of trying to box yourself in large areas, and box your opponents in small areas is highly interesting. Unfortunately, the first few moves of the game can seem quite random, and it is sometimes not clear what is helping you, and what is hindering you. The first person to make sense of it all will normally gain the advantage, but there will still be plenty of tactical fighting left. I generally find abstract games rewarding, but not fun. This one is actually quite fun though. |
| ChrisSmith4773 | 8.1 | |
| GreatPlainsGameFest | N/A | Cameron |
| mrraow | 10 | Beautifully simple territorial game |
| grognard72 | N/A | Playable via websites. Also can make a copy with some pieces. |
| jrsquee | 10 | |
| kollmerge | N/A | German Rule |
| fogus | 7.05 | [2014.11.25] The kind of game that you can explain in a few seconds and can feel quite confident in your first game. However, there is a depth here that I hope to explore for years to come. |
| Mashpotassium | 5 | Rating based on 2 players (bots) This is an elegant game with simple and clean rules, however it feels very static to me and is all about blocking, which I'm not a fan of. Like in Hey That's My Fish, each move will result in a smaller playing area, but in HTMF the value of areas changes over time as fish get claimed, and the game is very tight as each move only consists of one movement and with that you must claim points and trap your opponent(s). In Amazons, all areas are the same and each turn consists of a movement AND a firing of an arrow. This makes the game more rich in possible moves, but I'm not sure if if the extra step really adds to the satisfaction of making game decisions, or simply just makes things more chaotic. Not a bad game by any stretch, and I can see the appeal, but it's not my cup of tea. |
| cannoneer | 10 | Been playing more on SuperDuperGames.org. This game only goes up in my estimation. The more I play this, the more I love it. It's got clarity and depth, which is a somewhat elusive combo. I always feel like I have a shot at directing the outcome, even when I'm clearly outclassed. If I had to play just one abstract until the end of time, this would be it. EDIT: as of Jan 2011 I have begun to log my online plays of this game (only those played "real time", so not from SDG). Through the end of January I have over 100 plays logged at IG Game Center and Super Duper Games. |
| AsianInvasion | N/A | nestor |
| bcurfs | 8 | I just love the simplicity of the rules and the intrigue. As a combinatorial game, it is very interesting in that game situations exist that are the sum of separated parts. If understood correctly, it is a territory game. |
| dolzandavid | 6.5 | Sort of a more abstract version of Hey, That's My Fish. The strategy consists of trying to fence yourself off in large areas, and try to limit the opponent to smaller areas. However, sometimes it is not very clear which moves are good and which are bad, although that is probably just my lack of expertise in this game. A nice little abstract. |
| Aiken Drum | 6 | Interesting game |
| Lunga | 9 | Excellent abstract game! Seems to evolve as you get more plays in and you start to see more depth to a fairly simple concept. Move a piece, fire an arrow. Brilliant... and the Nestorgames version is very nice BTW |
| fuchsundbrunnen | 8.1 | |
| Bankler | 6 | Meh |
| danrodz | 7.5 | Very enjoyable, in the same vein as hey that's my fish or battle sheep as has been mentioned. |
| cerulean | 7 | Are you removing squares, or adding barriers? |
| leyton | 9 | Often when something is analysed the simple pleasures of life are forgotten or passed by for a deeper meaning. A search to define the mechanic or uncover a clever trick by a designer often prevents the critic from seeing what is right in front of them. Amazons is first a simple pleasure like cartoons on a Saturday morning and that should never be forgotten. Just as the cartoons may have depth and reveal some aspect of the human condition (Re: Simpsons) Amazons can provide a examination of how the balance between attack and defence or investigation into optimum play but I leave that up to you. Gameplay is reminiscent of an 80s Arcade game before computer games took control of our lives and you can analyse and strategise as much as you hearts content. But from the beginning to the end Amazons is a pure and simple pleasure. Draw a grid, get some chess pawns and go pieces and start you wont regret it. |
| Pionek | 9 | |
| fullhouse751 | N/A | Icehouse Game |
| boardmeeple | 8 | [i]Jugado en igGameCenter[/i] Buenísimo. Con tan pocas piezas y un tablero de damas internacionales se puede jugar a este juego de alta estratégia y profundidad. Tiene movimientos muy libres y la finalidad en muchos casos varía ya que si bien tu no debes quedar encerrado, a veces es buena idea quedarte sólo en un territorio. Tiene ciertos problemas luego de varias jugadas ya que siempre se torna algo repetitivo, los primeros movimientos generalmente no cambian ya que por lo general va de acción/reacción hasta que el primero quede al descubierto y el otro contraataque de una manera mucho mejor. [b]Nota:[/b] 8 (27/06/2015) |
| LurkingMeeple | 7 | Elegant. In the [geekurl=/video/216234]Numberphile video[/geekurl] featuring [person=5395]Elwyn Berlekamp[/person] describes simple adjustments for alternative board sizes and pawn positions, like 8x8 with 3 pawns each. That's fun, too. |
| marcio | 8 | |
| matango | 7 | it's a very nice abstract game |
| nycavri | 6 | Somewhat claustrophobic. I am absolutely appalling at this one . . . |
| simpledeep | 9 | |
| Schachtelhalm | 8 | Abstract strategy game with simple rules. |
| gabriel_k | N/A | PNP |
| schwarzspecht | 8 | |
| mhowe | 9 | |
| luribe | 8 | Simple but amazingly deep. |
| PSchulman | 8.5 | |
| netes | 8 | P&P [url=http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=290051972]Tabletop Simulator[/url] |
| El Diabolo | 7.5 | Very cool concept! If I could only rate the opening and middle, my number would be a 9. The end game has a tedious feel to it. |
| rio2002 | 10 | One of best abstract games developed in 20th century |
| arsmith7 | 9 | |
| unic | 8.5 | Very elegant game, with an overwhelming abundance of moves to choose between early on, gradually shrinking as the game moves on. There are interesting strategical tradeoffs to be made - how much is it worth to have numerical advantage in an area? How much territory can you afford to give the other player in order to end up with 4 queens against two, for example? How does one weigh flexibility and keeping one's options open against sealing off definite territory? Amazons is a deep game, yet accessible - as even with random play, the game will progress towards the end, and there will be a winner. No danger of repetition, and no need for clumsy rules to handle such a situation. |
| drunkenKOALA | 9 | Orthogonal Hey That's My Fish. Very good abstract with elements of Chess and Go (I'd say more Go than Chess.) |
| wizhyun | 10 | best game for 2 players |
| ticklerickle | 8 | |
| byturn | 6 | played with Baduk set. |
| grasa_total | 9 | I think my favorite of the Hey That's My Fish / Battle Sheep family. More directions to move means more opportunities for creative play, because your second-best move is more interesting. (Your opponent blocked the first-best move, obvs.) |
| DigitalMan | 8 | What a gem of a strategy game. So quick and easy to pick up, but with a little bit of the sneaky, territorial depth of Go. Nice! |
| madrasi | 10 | |
| ceenan | 9 | |
| aristid | 8 | |
| kgnunn | 7 | Interesting game. the constantly contracting nature of the board is reminiscent of Zertz, but Amazons brings its own constraints to the party. |
| srlindemann | 10 | With nearly 400 plays on LG, this is a 10 for me. Few games rival this one for me in terms of depth vs complexity. My play has gone through a number of stages: in the first, I payed extremely conservatively and actively attempted to carve out territory for myself. In the second, I played extremely aggressively and tried to trap opposing pieces (this works quite well against novice players). Now, a game feels more like a sumo match in which you look for a small imbalance to exploit. |
| BrotherScot | N/A | want to make |
| hseld | 9 | |
| nestorgames | 9 | |
| galbolle | 9 | |
| no_where_dense | 8 | Very good game. |
| Fenriz | 5.5 | A good abstract game. |
| Martin Ralya | 5 | Having been intrigued by Amazons for a while, I printed out a paper grid, grabbed some beads and Icehouse pyramids, and knocked together a set. Reviews had led me to think this would probably be the sort of abstract I enjoy -- fast-playing, easy to teach, but with ample depth to explore. It's kind of dull, though. Especially towards the end, where I suspect we could just have counted squares in the "eyes" and determined the winner without playing it out. The early and mid-game portions were okay, but not more interesting to me than my favorite abstracts (notably Hive and Yinsh, which take about the same amount of time to play). I'd play it again if there was reason to think it would be more interesting the second time, but I'm glad I didn't buy it. |
| plays for keeps | 8.05 | |
| dancingdanslc | 5 | TWO PLAYER ONLY: Was digital, removed from App Store. Interesting abstract game. To block the other player so they cannot move |
| trapeze | 8 | Excellent territorial abstract. Very dynamic. A pity that I'm finding it so hard to get it to the table. |
| chearns | 6 | I feel like I should like this game more than I do. It has the same shrinking board grab a piece of it while you can thing going on as Hey That's My Fish and Battle Sheep, but without the annoyhing set up issues of those two. And yet... I don't seem to enjoy it as much as those two. It is a puzzle. At the moment, I feel like perhaps it isn't as quick as those two. In those two you're fighting for your space right off the bat, whereas in this one you start off in a large space and the first moves have no immediate impact that I can tell. |
| Grupo_Lisboa | N/A | Kit Jogos Ludos |
| jwkeener | 8 | |
| dave doma | 9 | |
| guitarsolointhewind | N/A | Played for the first time today. Can't wait to show my friends. |
| ericlosiewicz | 7 | simple and elegant like a good abstract should be. This one really reminds me of a game I used to play at math pentathlon (kings and quadraphages i think) as a child in elementary school. |
| mbthrift | 6 | It's a fun chess like game. I enjoyed it. |
| _The_Inquiry_ | 9 | Prior to 2020: 30 plays (est) |
| ctalbot | 6 | A neat take on abstracts using a Chess board grid. |
| demeeste | 8 | |
| Jugular | 8 | |
| marcoms | 8 | |
| diterkemerovo | 8 | |
| glaurent | 7 | Homemade version using cardstock board, black go stones (arrows), counters (amazons) |
| jelomas | 9 | |
| Takvorian | 8 | |
| Nicolas Weiss | 5 | The large freedom of movement (and the resulting relative impossibility to trap pieces before a large amount of turns) makes Amazon's early game even harder to grasp the impact of than for most positional games, while the endgame is very Nim-like; an exacerbation of what drives my away from most positional abstracts, no matter how clever, elegant and deep they look. Although props for the slim ruleset and the clarity of the win condition. |
| Josquin | 9 | |
| ChristianDK | 8 | I quite like Amazons. Interesting game with simple rules. |
| big_buddha | 7 | Good game with simple rules, and a decent balance between attacking and defending strategies; you can try to close off big areas for yourself, or trap your opponent in small areas |
| CarlosXiangqi | 6 | Interesting mechanic. |
| darkbanan | 5 | Not my type of an abstract game. A bit boring, and too long. |
| davidhazardous | 9 | this game plays like it's hundreds of years older than it is (that's a good thing) |
| hiub | 8 | |
| cruidong | 10 | |
| avedefuego | 9 | |
| Friendless | 7 | Longer than I expected, and not as interesting. I'd rather play Hey! That's My Fish! or Through the Desert which feel similar. |
| msaari | 4 | I've played this on Little Golem. Not my cup of tea, felt dry and boring. Also, the strategies elude me. Worth checking out if one really enjoys abstract games. Avoid. |
| GeoMan | N/A | Transpose from Kadon contains everything you need to play Amazons! |
| Pergioco | 8 | |
| carontissimo | 8 | |
| taragalinas | 8 | Modern classic in the abstract genre. Simple, deep and a lot of fun! |
| Kaylaj_13 | 8 | |
| Rakasis | 9 | ~ |
| hiyou | 7 | 「移動して柵を放つ」を繰り返してエリアを区切っていく。基本的には相手を 閉じ込めるように動かしていくが、閉じ込めるというのは逆に言うと相手にエリアを与えることでもある。シンプルなルールで駆け引きや先を見越したプレイが必要で面白い。 |
| Pensator | 8 | 2 players. Abstract strategy. |
| molnar | 6 | This is a tough call, but I'm going to be conservative here. Amazons is interesting, but [gameid=8203] is the same type of game - try to isolate your opponent, but don't allow him to seal off too much area - and just clearly better. I would never choose Amazons over Fish. For one thing, Amazons seems to frequently be 'over' earlier, and an early(ish) tipping point is already one small issue with HTMF. And I haven't looked into it systematically, but I don't think the 'heat' is as good here. (In the Berlekamp/Conway/Guy sense.) I am also concerned about the first-player advantage; pretty sure the Pie Rule is in order. |
| Nap16 | 5 | Free Print & Play abstract game. |
| touchstonethefool | 8 | Clever little abstract about boxing your opponent in. I'm not good enough yet to keep the endgame up in the air (most of my games end when we box each other in and none of our pieces are sharing open spaces, relegating the endgame to "how many moves do each of us have left?"). I really like the freedom of movement and the shooting of arrows adds another layer. I need to play this more. |
| artyomch | 9 | |
| luigi87 | 9 | Very elegant. Rewarding positional play. |
| MikeBwithoutadot | N/A | Make a print 'n play version |
| Kpato | 8.6 | |
| rayzg | 9 | Favorite abstract territory game. (Go is too much game for me. Playing 9x9 Go against weak computer players is very, very demoralizing.) Siesta's game components are well suited for Amazons. |
| Cardboard1073 | 6 | PNP |
| mothertruckin | 9 | Some interesting plays. Made a Lego amazons. also have a makeshift glass gem set and the board from tactic blue. Fast playing. 25+ plays |
| gurzilish | 8 | On first try this is a very enjoyable game. I enjoy chess, but don't particularly like playing go. Strategy is deeper than we have gotten in one evening of course, but it will certainly be brought to the next Thursday night at Opal's. |
| pronoblem | 8 | I've only played this versus an AI. I'd love to build my own set. |
| Yuki Shimizu | 8 | |
| orangeblood | 6 | I love the uniqueness of firing the arrow. Play it on Little Golem. |
| Joseph Hill | 8 | |
| AgentPLE | 9 | Really clever game. Simple, elegant, definitly a classic every abstract gamer should try to master. |
| pled | 8 | |
| blakstar | 8 | |
| bdean152 | N/A | pnp |
| jmastill | 8 | |
| ErrantDeeds | 10 | I'm one of those curious folk who loves Abstract games, and this is one of the best. ‘Elegant’ and ‘Simple’ are words that people use, correctly, to describe Amazons. It is deep and fascinating, and has a curious property that it is tactically flat, i.e. it does not have the tactical interaction of chess, where tactical ideas have to be learnt. This means that it is almost entirely strategic. Decisions are difficult, since the player is aware that concessions must be made to the opponent, and a challenge lies in judging at what point to sacrifice mobility for territory. I wish this game had a larger following, so that there would be more players online to play against. |
| getareaction | 9 | [q="Past me"]I don't understand why Amazons isn't a more popular game - it's easy to improvise a set, very simple to learn, beautifully elegant and profoundly deep. We play on a 10x10 draughts board with chess pawns and go stones. Reminiscent of [thing=188][/thing], which is my #1 game. [thing=8203][/thing] does a great job of reimplementing the gameplay, extending it to 2-4 players and making it visually appealing.[/q] There are a lot of abstract games out there in the world, and their sheer number means that it's impossible to give most of them the time they require to uncover their hidden depths. Well, this is a rare one that's fun and fascinating right out of the gate. It's somehow so intuitive - to bastardise Lasker's quote: "the rules are so elegant, organic, and rigorously logical that if intelligent life forms exist elsewhere in the universe they almost certainly play Amazons." [b]PROS:[/b] - You can play this now with bits you've already got lying around. (It works fine on an 8x8 board.) [b]CONS:[/b] - I keep getting beaten. |
| Heyswyndon | N/A | I haven't played this one yet. It looks really easy to implement. |
| Ayanami77Ivy | 6 | Don't see the appeal with this one. Played it a few times now. |
| XMJA | 10 | Original and deep game. |
| gmoralesor | 8.2 | |
| chaosbreaker | 7 | Bought the Kadon edition. I play on littlegolem.net. |
| njsauer | 10 | |
| coweressel56 | 8 | |
| boydweiger | N/A | PnP |
| clark94 | 10 | The more that I play this game the more hooked that I become. Players are initially presented with an abundance of moves in the early stages of the game. As play continues and this number dwindles until there are no more moves available. The board is constantly changing as more and more arrows are placed splitting the board into multiple territories. Hopefully you have more squares compared to your opponent. Every competitive game that I've played seems to have "That unexpected move" that changes the outcome of the game. |
| Jefforama | 6 | Deserves another shot, but probably won't get it from me, just didn't wow me enough to play again. |
| bellowski | 9 | A relatively quick, easy to play abstract. Nice feel to game as board develops. One of my favorites. |
| CDRodeffer | 6 | I still have a lot to learn about Amazons strategy. Unfortunately, the games I have played seemed to devolve into a game of pure tempo about half way through with perfect clarity for the rest of the game. Such an early tipping point with perfect clarity made for a dénouement that I didn't like so well. |
| mxpf | 9 | |
| Adrianchantler | 10 | |
| ludopath | 10 | 2-player abstracts don't get better than this, and only a handful of games play in the same league (Lines of Action, Gyges, Dvonn, Tzaar - that's about it). |
| pleclenuesse | 8 | |
| ericbinnyc | 7 | Really well done abstract game that reminds me a bit of Battle Sheep -- without the stacking and ridiculous pasted-on theme. |
| russ | 8 | Studied by combinatorial game theorists. A kind of predecessor of Hey! That's My Fish! except the destroyed space is not where you left, but somewhere you choose in a line from where your pawn ends its movement. Traditionally played on a 10x10 square grid, so the square grid gives different effects from the hex grid of H!TMF! We played with scavenged bits. |
| Arcanio | 10 | |
| jcd2001es | 5.9 | http://www.labsk.net/wkr/index.php?entry=entry070218-143832 |
| oppenheimer | N/A | PnP, unplayed. |
| D Beau | 10 | This is exactly what I wanted Hey! That's My Fish to be like! The two have very similar mechanics, but Amazons has a lot more meat on its bones. Like H!TMF, the game ends on somewhat of an anti-climax, but in this case it doesn't feel premature, because the events leading up to it are decisive and involved. Faster set-up time too! --- The more I play, the deeper the rabbit hole goes. Because of the staggering freedom you have on each turn, coupled with the sheer power of the move-and-shoot mechanic, every turn [i]feels[/i] satisfying, which is a rare and magical quality few games are able to produce. This is quite possibly the best of all modern abstracts. My only qualm is that White has a statistically measurable advantage, but I don't think it's substantial enough to justify implementing the pie rule (or any other equalizing means). --- Upgraded to a 10. This is as perfect as board games get. An absolute joy to play. |
| Hjallti | 8 | Nice game! |
| Larry Chong | 8 | A territorial game of chess queen pieces. You cannot capture or reduce your opponent's pieces but rather resort to blocking or locking them out (and in doing so you've cut off a section of the board from yourself as well). You have to think positive and negative space at the same time with each move. Easiest way to play is grab a Shogi board (10x10) and use black/white pieces from a Go set... |
| adebisi | 5 | Amazons could be showcased as and example how certain seemingly minor can changes can take the experience to wholly new level. By this I refer to a game named Hey, That's My Fish. In both games players have the same goal, i.e., to secure the largest possible area to yourself by cutting the board by moving four pawns. The most apparent of the changes is the looks. By adding a (paste on) theme and art, Hey, That's My Fish feels much less abstract. The visual representation also makes it much easier to assess the situation and to calculate the worth of each move. So, even though games are often criticised for having a paste on theme, sometimes it is 100% justified and the game is much better with a theme than without. However, the greatest change is in the basic mechanic how the board evolves. In Amazons you keep adding stuff onto the board, and at least to my eye the Amazon's board in the late game with squares and tens of tokens on it appears very busy and it is quite easy to miss liberties. In contrary, Hey That's My Fish is started with a board full of tiles which are then taken off one by one. In other words, you'll a nice clean table in the end. Effectively both games achieve the same goal but there is a huge difference in playability. Third change is in the balance. Amazons is a 100% symmetrical game which in practice means that the starting player always has a slight edge. Although, I have to admit that the advantage seems quite small. Hey, That's My Fish features a modular asymmetric board and balancing rules regarding the initial placement of the pawns. But what do I think about the game then? Well, it is ok for an abstract and would not refuse to play but for the reasons mentioned above I'd rather play Hey, That's My Fish. However, since Amazons does not require anything but the simplest of components (although a lot of them), I could imagine myself playing Amazons when stranded on an island. |
| funpaul | 9 | I've been playing this by web at http://www.littlegolem.net/jsp/index.jsp and after a half-dozen games, I'm hooked. It would get a higher rating if not for my feeling that the opening game is (at least as far as I can tell) not all that important compared to the middle game, but it lasts a fair amount of time. Meaning for me at least, I doubt I would choose to play this face-to-face much, I think it would be a touch tedious. But I love it as a web game. EDIT: Actually, with more play against better opponents, I am finding that the opening game seems more and more important to me... EDIT: (20 games later) I hate this game, I always lose! :-) |
| kboginski | 9 | A great modern abstract game - I wish there was a pretty set to buy |
| ratpfink | 9 | I've started playing this on littlegolem.net and I am liking it a lot. Of all the abstracts I've tried recently this is easily the best so far. |
| nello | 7 | there is a lot going on in this modern abstract..still exploring..played only 5 times ................................................... they should (someone out there) produce a nice injection molded resin set ! |
| BozoDel | 6 | I don't get this one. Maybe I'm not used to this kind of reading, I don't know. It seems to me that early moves totally lack tactics. So I block one direction for you, big deal, you got 4 ways to escape. |
| Ottia | 9 | Move a piece, shoot a counter from it to a free square, now it's blocked. Supremely elegant. |
| Laeidz87 | N/A | An amazing & brilliant abstract game. It's extremely satisfying to ensnare a group of your opponent's pieces while simultaneously freeing yourself from a would-be trap. That feeling alone makes this game worth playing again and again. But it has a lot more to offer than that. |
| bwingrave | N/A | Should try this with Noah |
| Checkallday | 7 | Still learning it. A good game for people who like Chess but don't like Go. It kind of reminds me of both games in a very superfical way. Play it on LittleGolem! |
| milomilo122 | 5 | I have tried soooo hard to like this game, because it seems like the kind of game I should like. But I just can't achieve liftoff with it. After 40-50 plays, I think I'm done. I'll leave it with a 5 just because I respect the elegance of its architecture. |
| Kaffedrake | 6 | "Orthogonal Hey, That's My Fish!" is a largely accurate description. One of those abstracts that doesn't quite feel like it - hey, you get to blow holes in the board with rocket launchers! |
| VinceS | 9 | |
| jejo | 8 | |
| bop517 | 9 | Okay, this has been (and still is) on my must have list for awhile. I finally got to play this and it is as good as I thought it would be. It has a bit of HTMF! in it as you have your pieces and you are trying to block other pieces from moving around freely. Excellent game of position and blocking. I will make my own set. I will make my own set. I will make my own set. |
| bluebee2 | N/A | PnP |
| DarkYoder | N/A | Digital |
| joegrimer | 4 | It's okay... I get the impression that leveling up in this will be more like jumping rocks than the typical hill-climbing of abstracts like Chess and Go. |
| dbucak | 8 | |
| STICKPIN | 8 | Homemade ... repurposed pieces. A very good game. |
| ixnay66 | N/A | Made my own copy. |
| frs68 | 8.5 | |
| KTPrymus | 6 | I like the concept. A little more open ended than I like in my abstracts, but the ever shrinking board adds tension. |
| FiveStars | 10 | A little bit like Go, but different. |
| qswanger | 9 | Delicious decision making regarding the timing of maintaining Amazon mobility/flexibility and then deciding when it's beneficial to trade this for grabbing territory. |
| garygarison | 7 | Play this on a Traverse board. |
| Size (bytes) | 24239 |
|---|---|
| Reference Size | 10293 |
| Ratio | 2.35 |
Ai Ai calculates the size of the implementation, and compares it to the Ai Ai implementation of the simplest possible game (which just fills the board). Note that this estimate may include some graphics and heuristics code as well as the game logic. See the wikipedia entry for more details.
| Playouts per second | 12486.20 (80.09µs/playout) |
|---|---|
| Reference Size | 331345.26 (3.02µs/playout) |
| Ratio (low is good) | 26.54 |
Tavener complexity: the heat generated by playing every possible instance of a game with a perfectly efficient programme. Since this is not possible to calculate, Ai Ai calculates the number of random playouts per second and compares it to the fastest non-trivial Ai Ai game (Connect 4). This ratio gives a practical indication of how complex the game is. Combine this with the computational state space, and you can get an idea of how strong the default (MCTS-based) AI will be.
| Label | Its/s | SD | Nodes/s | SD | Game length | SD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Random playout | 14,176 | 609 | 1,932,637 | 82,896 | 136 | 14 |
| search.UCB | 14,280 | 1,422 | 151 | 15 | ||
| search.UCT | 13,641 | 1,529 | 154 | 15 |
Random: 10 second warmup for the hotspot compiler. 100 trials of 1000ms each.
Other: 100 playouts, means calculated over the first 5 moves only to avoid distortion due to speedup at end of game.
Rotation (Half turn) lost each game as expected.
Reflection (X axis) lost each game as expected.
Reflection (Y axis) lost each game as expected.
Copy last move lost each game as expected.
Mirroring strategies attempt to copy the previous move. On first move, they will attempt to play in the centre. If neither of these are possible, they will pick a random move. Each entry represents a different form of copying; direct copy, reflection in either the X or Y axis, half-turn rotation.
| 1: White win % | 51.31±2.84 | Includes draws = 50% |
|---|---|---|
| 2: Black win % | 48.69±2.83 | Includes draws = 50% |
| Draw % | 0.00 | Percentage of games where all players draw. |
| Decisive % | 100.00 | Percentage of games with a single winner. |
| Samples | 1187 | Quantity of logged games played |
Note: that win/loss statistics may vary depending on thinking time (horizon effect, etc.), bad heuristics, bugs, and other factors, so should be taken with a pinch of salt. (Given perfect play, any game of pure skill will always end in the same result.)
Note: Ai Ai differentiates between states where all players draw or win or lose; this is mostly to support cooperative games.
| AI | Strong Wins | Draws | Strong Losses | #Games | Strong Win% | p1 Win% | Game Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Random | |||||||
| Grand Unified UCT(rSel=s, secs=0.01) | 36 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 100.00 | 47.22 | 121.17 |
| Grand Unified UCT(rSel=s, secs=0.03) | 36 | 0 | 7 | 43 | 83.72 | 53.49 | 148.70 |
| Grand Unified UCT(rSel=s, secs=0.07) | 36 | 0 | 12 | 48 | 75.00 | 52.08 | 151.88 |
| Grand Unified UCT(rSel=s, secs=0.20) | 36 | 0 | 8 | 44 | 81.82 | 45.45 | 149.45 |
Level of Play: Strong beats Weak 60% of the time (lower bound with 90% confidence).
Draw%, p1 win% and game length may give some indication of trends as AI strength increases; but be aware that the AI can introduce bias due to horizon effects, poor heuristics, etc.
| Game length | 152.94 | |
|---|---|---|
| Branching factor | 19.60 | |
| Complexity | 10^160.70 | Based on game length and branching factor |
| Samples | 1187 | Quantity of logged games played |
Computational complexity (where present) is an estimate of the game tree reachable through actual play. For each game in turn, Ai Ai marks the positions reached in a hashtable, then counts the number of new moves added to the table. Once all moves are applied, it treats this sequence as a geometric progression and calculates the sum as n-> infinity.
| Distinct actions | 3040 | Number of distinct moves (e.g. "e4") regardless of position in game tree |
|---|---|---|
| Good moves | 454 | A good move is selected by the AI more than the average |
| Bad moves | 2586 | A bad move is selected by the AI less than the average |
| Terrible moves | 122 | A terrible move is never selected by the AI Too many terrible moves to list. |
| Response distance | 3.19 | Mean distance between move and response; a low value relative to the board size may mean a game is tactical rather than strategic. |
| Samples | 1187 | Quantity of logged games played |
A mean of 92.49% of board locations were used per game.
Colour and size show the frequency of visits.
Game length frequencies.
| Mean | 152.94 |
|---|---|
| Mode | [168] |
| Median | 156.0 |
This chart is based on a single representative* playout, and gives a feel for the change in material over the course of a game. (* Representative in the sense that it is close to the mean length.)
Table: branching factor per turn, based on a single representative* game. (* Representative in the sense that it is close to the mean game length.)
This chart is based on a single representative* game, and gives a feel for the types of moves available throughout that game. (* Representative in the sense that it is close to the mean game length.)
Red: removal, Black: move, Blue: Add, Grey: pass, Purple: swap sides, Brown: other.
This chart shows the best move value with respect to the active player; the orange line represents the value of doing nothing (null move).
The lead changed on 20% of the game turns. Ai Ai found 1 critical turn (turns with only one good option).
This chart shows the relative temperature of all moves each turn. Colour range: black (worst), red, orange(even), yellow, white(best).
| Measure | All players | Player 1 | Player 2 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean % of effective moves | 62.85 | 67.21 | 58.49 |
| Mean no. of effective moves | 13.70 | 13.11 | 14.29 |
| Effective game space | 10^103.54 | 10^52.22 | 10^51.32 |
| Mean % of good moves | 43.09 | 18.60 | 67.59 |
| Mean no. of good moves | 12.00 | 8.78 | 15.22 |
| Good move game space | 10^86.46 | 10^28.87 | 10^57.59 |
These figures were calculated over a single game.
An effective move is one with score 0.1 of the best move (including the best move). -1 (loss) <= score <= 1 (win)
A good move has a score > 0. Note that when there are no good moves, an multiplier of 1 is used for the game space calculation.
| Measure | Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hot turns | 87.50% | A hot turn is one where making a move is better than doing nothing. |
| Momentum | 33.55% | % of turns where a player improved their score. |
| Correction | 36.18% | % of turns where the score headed back towards equality. |
| Depth | 2.88% | Difference in evaluation between a short and long search. |
| Drama | 0.12% | How much the winner was behind before their final victory. |
| Foulup Factor | 44.74% | Moves that looked better than the best move after a short search. |
| Surprising turns | 0.00% | Turns that looked bad after a short search, but good after a long one. |
| Last lead change | 52.63% | Distance through game when the lead changed for the last time. |
| Decisiveness | 10.53% | Distance from the result being known to the end of the game. |
These figures were calculated over a single representative* game, and based on the measures of quality described in "Automatic Generation and Evaluation of Recombination Games" (Cameron Browne, 2007). (* Representative, in the sense that it is close to the mean game length.)
| Moves | Animation |
|---|---|
| g1-g3,b3,g10-g5 |  |
| d1-f1,j5,j7-c7 |  |
| d1-a1,g7,a7-c5 |  |
| g1-d4,f4,a7-c5 |  |
| j4-g4,b4,j7-h7 |  |
| d1-f1,d1,g10-c6 |  |
| j4-i5,e9,d10-d2 |  |
Colour shows the success ratio of this play over the first 10moves; black < red < yellow < white.
Size shows the frequency this move is played.
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 80 | 2256 | 170676 | 4375022 |
Note: most games do not take board rotation and reflection into consideration.
Multi-part turns could be treated as the same or different depth depending on the implementation.
Counts to depth N include all moves reachable at lower depths.
Inaccuracies may also exist due to hash collisions, but Ai Ai uses 64-bit hashes so these will be a very small fraction of a percentage point.
No solutions found to depth 4.