Re: Mancala solved!

[Chris Nash <chris_nash@prodigy.net>]

--- Bram Cohen <bram@bitconjurer.org> wrote: 
> > I did notice a few things about their method that were confusing -
> > mainly it appears that the "value" of the game for their analysis
> > depends only on the remaining position, not the current score
> Couldn't that lead to situations in which were 'drawn' because neither
> player could guarantee positive expectation from the current situation,
> but weren't drawn in practice because one player is ahead enough that they
> can sacrifice a lot for the few more stones needed to win?

I think this is true. I am looking at the http://awari.cs.vu.nl/statistics.html page to see if
that makes any sense, they seem to have assigned each position a score (expectation?). I have got
the applet to work now and now I understand what is going on, the applet always plays until all
the stones are used - so final score = current score + value of position.

It works very well - it's been very educational as well, there are many positions where what seems
like a sensible move can have a disastrous result. For instance, any opening move other than f
loses (against an infallible opponent). I actually wondered how many of the games on the server
open with moves other than f.

- Chris