Computer Olympiad
Encyclopedia
The Computer Olympiads are a multi-games event taking place every year in which computer programs compete against each other. The majority of the games are board games but other games such as Bridge
take place as well. The Olympiad was originally held in either London
or Maastricht
, lately however, cities from around the world have hosted the Olympiad.
For many board games the Computer Olympiads are an opportunity to take the "world's best computer player" title.
in London
.
The games ran on a yearly basis until after the 1992 games, after when the Olympiad's ruling committee was unable to find a new organiser. This resulted in the games being suspended until 2000 when the Mind Sports Olympiad resurrected them. Recently, the ICGA
has adopted the Computer Olympiad and tries to organise the event on an annual basis.
In 2010, several puzzles were included in the competition:
Games which the Olympiad would like to run, but have so far been unable to due to lack of entrants:
Contract bridge
Contract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
take place as well. The Olympiad was originally held in either London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
or Maastricht
Maastricht
Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
, lately however, cities from around the world have hosted the Olympiad.
For many board games the Computer Olympiads are an opportunity to take the "world's best computer player" title.
History
The Olympiad was created in the 1980s by David Levy with the first contest taking place in 1989 at the Park Lane HotelPark Lane Hotel
The Park Lane Hotel is a 5 Star hotel on Piccadilly, London.The hotel was built in the 1920s in the Grand Art Deco Style by Sir Bracewell Smith. The building is a fine example with a mansard roof and Portland stone facade...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
The games ran on a yearly basis until after the 1992 games, after when the Olympiad's ruling committee was unable to find a new organiser. This resulted in the games being suspended until 2000 when the Mind Sports Olympiad resurrected them. Recently, the ICGA
International Computer Games Association
The International Computer Games Association was founded as the International Computer Chess Association in 1977 by computer chess programmers to organise championship events for computer programs and to facilitate the sharing of technical knowledge via the ICCA Journal.Renamed the 'ICGA' in...
has adopted the Computer Olympiad and tries to organise the event on an annual basis.
Games
The games which have been played are:- AbaloneAbalone (board game)Abalone is an award winning two-player strategy board game designed by Michel Lalet and Laurent Levi in which each player is represented by marbles of opposing colors...
- AmazonsGame of the AmazonsThe Game of the Amazons is a two-player abstract strategy game invented in 1988 by Walter Zamkauskas of Argentina. It is a member of the territorial game family, a distant relative of Go and chess...
- Awari/Bao/MancalaMancalaMancala is a family of board games played around the world, sometimes called "sowing" games, or "count-and-capture" games, which describes the game-play. Mancala games play a role in many African and some Asian societies comparable to that of chess in the West, or the game of Go in Eastern Asia...
- BackgammonBackgammonBackgammon is one of the oldest board games for two players. The playing pieces are moved according to the roll of dice, and players win by removing all of their pieces from the board. There are many variants of backgammon, most of which share common traits...
- BridgeContract bridgeContract bridge, usually known simply as bridge, is a trick-taking card game using a standard deck of 52 playing cards played by four players in two competing partnerships with partners sitting opposite each other around a small table...
- Checkers
- ChessChessChess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
- Chinese ChessXiangqiXiangqi is a two-player Chinese board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, shogi, Indian chess and janggi. The present-day form of Xiangqi originated in China and is therefore commonly called Chinese chess in English. Xiangqi is one of the most popular board games in China...
- Chinese Dark Chess
- ClobberClobberClobber is an abstract strategy game invented in 2001 by combinatorial game theorists Michael H. Albert, J.P. Grossman and Richard Nowakowski. It has subsequently been studied by Elwyn Berlekamp and Erik Demaine among others...
- Computational PoolBilliardsCue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
- Connect-Four
- Connect6Connect6Connect6 introduced in 2003 by Professor I-Chen Wu at Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Chiao Tung University, is a two-player game similar to Gomoku....
- DominoesDominoesDominoes generally refers to the collective gaming pieces making up a domino set or to the subcategory of tile games played with domino pieces. In the area of mathematical tilings and polyominoes, the word domino often refers to any rectangle formed from joining two congruent squares edge to edge...
- Dots and boxesDots and BoxesDots and Boxes is a pencil and paper game for two players first published in 1889 by Édouard Lucas.Starting with an empty grid of dots, players take turns, adding a single...
- International draughtsInternational draughtsInternational draughts is a board game, one of the variants of draughts. It is played on a 10×10 board with alternatingly dark and light squares, of which only the 50 dark ones are used. There are two players on opposite sides, with 20 pieces each, light for one player and dark for the other...
- Gin RummyGin rummyGin rummy, or simply gin, is a two-player card game created in 1909 by Elwood T. Baker and his son C. Graham Baker. According to John Scarne, Gin evolved from 18th-century Whiskey Poker and was created with the intention of being faster than standard rummy, but less spontaneous than knock...
- GIPFGIPF (game)GIPF is an abstract strategy board game by Kris Burm, the first of six games in his series of games called the GIPF Project.GIPF was recommended by Spiel des Jahres in 1998.-Gameplay:...
- 19×19 Go
- 13x13 Go
- 9×9 Go
- Go-Moku
- HavannahHavannahHavannah is an abstract strategy board game invented by Christian Freeling. It is played on a base-10 hexagonal board, ten hexes to a side...
- HexHex (board game)Hex is a board game played on a hexagonal grid, theoretically of any size and several possible shapes, but traditionally as an 11x11 rhombus. Other popular dimensions are 13x13 and 19x19 as a result of the game's relationship to the older game of Go...
- Kriegspiel (chess)Kriegspiel (chess)Kriegspiel is a chess variant invented by Henry Michael Temple in 1899 and based upon the original Kriegsspiel developed by Georg von Rassewitz in 1812. In this game each player can see their own pieces, but not those of their opponent...
- Lines of ActionLines of ActionLines of Action is a two-player abstract strategy board game invented by Claude Soucie. The objective of the game is to connect all of your pieces...
- Nine Men's MorrisNine Men's MorrisNine Men's Morris is an abstract strategy board game for two players that emerged from the Roman Empire. The game is also known as Nine Man Morris, Mill, Mills, Merels, Merelles, and Merrills in English....
- Octi
- OthelloReversiReversi is a board game involving abstract strategy and played by two players on a board with 8 rows and 8 columns and a set of distinct pieces for each side. Pieces typically are disks with a light and a dark face, each face belonging to one player...
- Phantom Go
- PokerPokerPoker is a family of card games that share betting rules and usually hand rankings. Poker games differ in how the cards are dealt, how hands may be formed, whether the high or low hand wins the pot in a showdown , limits on bet sizes, and how many rounds of betting are allowed.In most modern poker...
- QubicQubicQubic is the brand name of a four-in-a-row game played in a 4×4×4 matrix sold by Parker Brothers starting in 1953. The original box, and the 1972 reissue, described the game as "Parker Brothers 3D Tic Tac Toe Game." Players take turn placing pieces to get four in a row horizontally or...
- QuoridorQuoridorQuoridor is a 2- or 4-player abstract strategy game designed by Mirko Marchesi and published by Gigamic Games. Quoridor received the Mensa Mind Game award in 1997 and the Game Of The Year in the USA, France, Canada and Belgium.-Rules of the game:...
- RenjuRenjuRenju is the professional variant of Gomoku, a board game originated from Japan in Heian Period. It was named Renju by Japanese journalist Ruikou Kuroiwa on December 6, 1899 in a Japanese newspaper Yorozu chouhou . It is played with black and white stones on a 15x15 intersection Go board...
- ScrabbleScrabbleScrabble is a word game in which two to four players score points by forming words from individual lettered tiles on a game board marked with a 15-by-15 grid. The words are formed across and down in crossword fashion and must appear in a standard dictionary. Official reference works provide a list...
- ShogiShogi, also known as Japanese chess, is a two-player board game in the same family as Western chess, chaturanga, and Chinese Xiangqi, and is the most popular of a family of chess variants native to Japan...
- SurakartaSurakarta (game)Surakarta is a little-known Indonesian abstract strategy game for two players, named after the ancient city of Surakarta in central Java. The game features an unusual method of capture which is "possibly unique" and "not known to exist in any other recorded board game."Surakarta is also among the...
In 2010, several puzzles were included in the competition:
- Light UpLight UpLight Up , also called Akari, is a binary-determination logic puzzle published by Nikoli. As of 2011, three books consisting entirely of Light Up puzzles have been published by Nikoli.-Rules:...
- Nonograms
- NurikabeNurikabeNurikabe is a binary determination puzzle named for an invisible wall in Japanese folklore that blocks roads and delays foot travel...
Games which the Olympiad would like to run, but have so far been unable to due to lack of entrants:
- ArimaaArimaaThe objective of the game is to move a rabbit of one's own color onto the home rank of the opponent. Thus Gold wins by moving a gold rabbit to the eighth rank, and Silver wins by moving a silver rabbit to the first rank...
- Matrix
- TwixtTwixTTwixT is a two-player abstract strategy game invented by Alex Randolph. It is a member of the connection game family, along with games such as Hex, Havannah, Y, PÜNCT and *Star...
Olympiads
- 1st Computer Olympiad1st Computer OlympiadThe 1st Computer Olympiad took place at the Park Lane Hotel in London, UK from 9 August 1989 to 15 August 1989. In this Computer Olympiad, computer programs competed against each other at a variety of games, including Awari, Backgammon, Bridge, Checkers, Chess, Chinese Chess, Connect-Four,...
- 1989, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... - 2nd Computer Olympiad2nd Computer OlympiadThe 2nd Computer Olympiad took place in London, UK from 15 August 1990 to 21 August 1990. As with each year's Computer Olympiad, computer programs competed against each other at a variety of games, including Awari, Backgammon, Bridge, Checkers, Chess, Chinese Chess, Go, Go-Moku, Othello, Qubic,...
- 1990, London, United Kingdom - 3rd Computer Olympiad3rd Computer OlympiadThe 3rd Computer Olympiad took place in Maastricht, The Netherlands, from 22 to 25 August 1991. As with each year's Computer Olympiad, computer programs competed against each other at a variety of games, including Awari, Bridge, Chess, Chinese Chess, Draughts, Go, Go-Moku, Nine Men's Morris,...
- 1991, MaastrichtMaastrichtMaastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border and near the German border...
, NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders... - 4th Computer Olympiad4th Computer OlympiadThe AST 4th Computer Olympiad took place in London, UK from 5 August 1992 to 11 August 1992. As with each year's Computer Olympiad, computer programs competed against each other at a variety of games, including Awari, Backgammon, Bridge, Chess, Chinese Chess, Draughts, Gin rummy, Go, Go-Moku,...
- 1992, London, United Kingdom - 5th Computer Olympiad5th Computer OlympiadThe 5th Computer Olympiad took place at Alexandra Palace, the West Hall in London, UK from 21 August 2000 to 25 August 2000. After an eight-year hiatus, it was revived by bringing it into the Mind Sports Olympiad...
- 2000, London, United Kingdom - 6th Computer Olympiad6th Computer OlympiadThe CMG 6th Computer Olympiad took place at Ad Fundum of the Universiteit Maastricht in Maastricht, The Netherlands from 18 August 2001 to 23 August 2001...
- 2001, Maastricht, Netherlands - 7th Computer Olympiad7th Computer OlympiadThe 7th Computer Olympiad was held in Maastricht, The Netherlands from July 5 till July 11, 2002. There were 68 participants from over 13 countries.The chess event played here was adopted by the ICCA as the 10th World Computer Chess Championship....
- 2002, Maastricht, Netherlands - 8th Computer Olympiad8th Computer OlympiadThe 8th Computer Olympiad was held November 23-November 27, 2003 in Graz, Austria.The Computer Olympiad was held in conjunction with the International Computer Games Association 11th World Computer Chess Championship 2003 and the 10th Advances in Computer Games Conference...
- 2003, GrazGrazThe more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
, AustriaAustriaAustria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the... - 9th Computer Olympiad9th Computer OlympiadThe 9th Computer Olympiad took place in Ramat-Gan, Israel from July 3, 2004 to July 12, 2004. As with each year's Computer Olympiad, computer programs competed against each other at a variety of games, including Amazons, Chinese Chess, Go, Lines of Action, Hex and Octi.The event was held in...
- 2004, Ramat Gan, IsraelIsraelThe State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea... - 10th Computer Olympiad10th Computer OlympiadThe 10th Computer Olympiad took place in Taipei, Taiwan from 3 September 2005 to 6 September 2005. As with each year's Computer Olympiad, computer programs competed against each other at a variety of games, including Amazons, Chinese Chess, Clobber, Dots and Boxes, Computational Pool , Go, and...
- 2005, TaipeiTaipeiTaipei City is the capital of the Republic of China and the central city of the largest metropolitan area of Taiwan. Situated at the northern tip of the island, Taipei is located on the Tamsui River, and is about 25 km southwest of Keelung, its port on the Pacific Ocean...
, TaiwanTaiwanTaiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following... - 11th Computer Olympiad11th Computer OlympiadThe 11th Computer Olympiad was held in Turin, Italy between May 25 and June 4, 2006 in conjunction with the 14th World Computer Chess Championship and the 5th Computer and Games conference...
- 2006, TurinTurinTurin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... - 12th Computer Olympiad12th Computer OlympiadThe 12th Computer Olympiad was held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in conjunction with the 15th World Computer Chess Championship and Computer Games Workshop 2007 ....
- 2007, AmsterdamAmsterdamAmsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
, Netherlands - 13th Computer Olympiad13th Computer OlympiadThe 13th International Computer Games Championship, 16th World Computer Chess Championship and a scientific conference on computer games was held in Beijing, China from 28 September–5 October 2008...
- 2008, BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
, ChinaPeople's Republic of ChinaChina , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
. - 14th Computer Olympiad14th Computer OlympiadThe 14th Computer Olympiad, 17th World Computer Chess Championship and a scientific conference on computer games was held in Pamplona, Spain, 10–18 May 2009.-World Computer Chess Champion:Chess #Rybka...
- 2009, PamplonaPamplonaPamplona is the historial capital city of Navarre, in Spain, and of the former kingdom of Navarre.The city is famous worldwide for the San Fermín festival, from July 6 to 14, in which the running of the bulls is one of the main attractions...
, SpainSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... - 15th Computer Olympiad15th Computer OlympiadThe 15th Computer Olympiad, 18th World Computer Chess Championship and a scientific conference on computer games was held in Kanazawa, Japan, September 24 to October 2, 2010.-World Computer Chess Champion:Chess #Rybka...
- 2010, KanazawaKanazawa, Ishikawais the capital city of Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.-Geography, climate, and population:Kanazawa sits on the Sea of Japan, bordered by the Japan Alps, Hakusan National Park and Noto Peninsula National Park. The city sits between the Sai and Asano rivers. Its total area is 467.77 km².Kanazawa's...
, JapanJapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...