Difference between revisions of "Computer Hex"

Revision as of 01:08, 11 February 2011

This article enumerates diverse ways to exploit Hex with a computer.

AI techniques used in Hex

• Minimax and alpha-beta search were used by Queenbee.
• UCT is used in MoHex.

Programs with AI

There are several computer programs which play Hex.

Available programs

• The currently strongest available Hex program is MoHex is a UCT-Monte Carlo Hex program developed at the University of Alberta by Philip Henderson, Broderick Arneson and Ryan Hayward
• Wolve is the gold medallist of 2008 Computer Olympiads.
• Six by Gábor Melis, running on Linux or Unix or Windows.
• The second strongest program available is Hexy, running on Microsoft Windows. Hexy was the first program to use virtual connections and was champion of the 5th Computer Olympiad in 2000.
• Queenbee by Jack van Rijswijck finished second that year.
• An iPhone app also named Hexy (no relation), released in November 2008, offers an AI opponent; the AI appears to be a custom design and hasn't been rated.
• A second iPhone app named Hexatious released in August 2009, appears to offer a stronger AI than the iPhone Hexy app (in particular, Hexatious easily beats the other iPhone app in head-to-head competition).
• A third iPhone/iPad app named Hex Nash released February 2011, no AI but supports online asynchronous play and local play
• An online Java AI called Hexilla by Jonatan Rydh, released in October 2009.

Unavailable programs

• Mongoose by Yngvi Björnsson, Ryan Hayward, Mike Johanson, Morgan Kan, and Nathan Po.

Non playing programs

Front End

• HexGui is a graphical user interface designed by "ab", mostly used as a front end to play against Six. It is possible however to play against other programs that can communicate via GTP. It can be downloaded on "ab"'s web page.

Reviewing and Editing Programs

• JHex by Kevin lets you analyse a game, and databases of games.
• KHex by David King is a tool for reviewing games. Very well suited for sharing commented games (it exports games in Smart Game Format!)

External link

Articles

• Anshelevich, Vadim V. A hierarchical approach to computer Hex.
• van Rijswijck, Jack. Search and evaluation in Hex.
• Rasmussen, Rune K. and Maire, Frederic D. and Hayward, Ross F. (2006) A Move Generating Algorithm for Hex Solvers.
• Rasmussen, Rune K. (2008) Algorithmic approaches for playing and solving Shannon games (PhD Thesis).

See also

History of computer Hex

The International Computer Games Association also has some information on Hex. They organize an annual Computer Olympiad, which also covers Hex.