- Arimaa (pronounced Ah-REE-ma) is a very deep strategy game with simple rules. It was designed to be:
Playable with a standard chess set.
Easy to learn.
Difficult for computers (the $10,000 programming challenge is still available).
Fun and interesting for humans.
The creation of Arimaa was inspired by the Deep Blue vs Gary Kasparov match in which the computer defeated the world chess champion. Arimaa was created to show that humans can still outplay computers using a chess set and provide the next challenge to the AI community.
This looks great. I could imagine if you got two good players it would be crazy fun to play. In comparison to chess though, it seems like it would be significantly harder to plan your moves in a way that accounts for all the possible moves your opponent could make. I'm guessing this would make it a lot more of reactionary type game rather than careful analysis, planing, and execution of specific tactics. In that way, it might have a similar dynamic to Othello/Reversi, where one turn can drastically change the whole board without any type of particular foreshadowing.
I think so. I've never played, but my sense it that the game can turn quickly as one move can cascade into an advantage. I found it in this article, which talks about a game's 'depth': http://rjlipton.wordpress.com/2014/12/28/the-new-chess-world-champion/
Have you played? This looks like fun, there aren't enough fun two player games that we play in my house.