History of computer Hex

Hex has been invented by matematicians and the rules are basic. Therefore it is relatively easy to make a simple artificial intelligence compared to chess for instance. However the branching factor is huge and a brutal approach is not as efficient in Hex than in Chess. This fact is another similarity to Go.

Chronology

• 1942 Invention of Hex.
• In 1953 Shannon and Moore build an electric machine able to play Hex. The board is considered as an electric circuit with one player's (Blue for example) hexes being off switches and the other's being on switches, the empty hexes are resistances. The machine measures the global resistance of the circuit between Red's edges, tries every move and then chooses the one that minimizes the resistance value of the circuit, trying to make it easier to join the two sides.

See also

• History of Hex
• Computer Hex

References

• Anshelevich, Vadim V., The Game of Hex: An Automatic Theorem Proving Approach to Game Programming - See paragraphs 2 and 3 for the first Hex playing machine.
• Gardner, Martin (1988), Hexaflexagons and Other Mathematical Diversions: The First Scientific American Book of Puzzles and Games, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-28254-6