Connect-k 2.0

Connect-k project is a framework for experimenting with and testing general AIs for games within the connect-k family.

Connect-k family of games contains games defined by three parameters: k, p, and q. The game is played on a Go-style (but not necessarily size) board. There are two players, black and white, who take turn placing stones on the board. The first player (black) plays q stones on the first turn and each player then plays p stones on every succeeding turn. The first player to form a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal sequence of k stones wins.

The game family includes Tic-Tac-Toe, Go-moku without capture rules, and a new game, Connect-6. Connect-6 was formally introduced and analyzed by Dr. I-Chen Wu in a series of papers that attempted to show that the game is fair. This has not been decisively proven but appears to be the case.

The Connect-k program originated as a University of Minnesota undergraduate Artificial Intelligence course project for the Spring 2007 semester. Aside from me, the project group included Jeff Deitch, Gabe Emerson, and Erik Shimshock. We attempted to develop general game playing algorithms capable of playing any game within the Connect-k family. The Connect-k program we produced is currently the only open source program to play Connect-6.