GA-gammon: A backgammon player program based on evolutionary algorithms

Oscar Irineo-Fuentes, Nareli Cruz-Cortés, Francisco Rodríguez-Henríquez, Daniel Ortiz-Arroyo, Henrik Legind Larsen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

In this paper we describe a genetic algorithm approach able to confection strong backgammon automata players. We first prepared an initial vector of weights representing a set of heuristic strategies suggested by expert human players. Then, employing a genetic algorithm approach we were able to fine tune such initial vector of weights by repeatedly testing it against Pubeval, a strong benchmark player program. The vector of weights was therefore used as an evaluation function for performing a genetic heuristic selection of the best board positions during a game. Best GA-Gammon individuals so obtained were tested in separated 5000-game tournaments against Pubeval itself, and Fuzzeval, a fuzzy controllerbased player. Our experimental results indicate that the best individuals generated by GA-Gammon show similar performance than Pubeval. Furthermore, GA-Gammon consistently outperforms Fuzzeval.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - Fifth Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, MICAI 2006
Pages207-216
Number of pages10
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006
Externally publishedYes
Event5th Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, MICAI 2006 - Apizaco, Mexico
Duration: 13 Nov 200617 Nov 2006

Publication series

NameProceedings - Fifth Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, MICAI 2006

Conference

Conference5th Mexican International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, MICAI 2006
Country/TerritoryMexico
CityApizaco
Period13/11/0617/11/06

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