Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Conference on Computers and Games

CG 2010: Computers and Games pp 238–249Cite as

Enhancements for Multi-Player Monte-Carlo Tree Search

  • Conference paper

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 6515))

Abstract

Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is becoming increasingly popular for playing multi-player games. In this paper we propose two enhancements for MCTS in multi-player games: (1) Progressive History and (2) Multi-Player Monte-Carlo Tree Search Solver (MP-MCTS-Solver). We analyze the performance of these enhancements in two different multi-player games: Focus and Chinese Checkers. Based on the experimental results we conclude that Progressive History is a considerable improvement in both games and MP-MCTS-Solver, using the standard update rule, is a genuine improvement in Focus.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Björnsson, Y., Finnsson, H.: CadiaPlayer: A simulation-based general game player. IEEE Transactions on Computational Intelligence and AI in Games 1(1), 4–15 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Brügmann, B.: Monte Carlo Go. Technical report, Physics Department, Syracuse University (1993), ftp://ftp.cse.cuhk.edu.hk/pub/neuro/GO/mcgo.tex

  3. Cazenave, T.: Multi-player go. In: van den Herik, H.J., Xu, X., Ma, Z., Winands, M.H.M. (eds.) CG 2008. LNCS, vol. 5131, pp. 50–59. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Cazenave, T., Saffidine, A.: Utilisation de la recherche arborescente Monte-Carlo au Hex. Revue d’Intelligence Artificielle 23(2-3), 183–202 (2009) (in French)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Chaslot, G.M.J.-B., Winands, M.H.M., Uiterwijk, J.W.H.M., van den Herik, H.J., Bouzy, B.: Progressive strategies for Monte-Carlo Tree Search. New Mathematics and Natural Computation 4(3), 343–357 (2008)

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  6. Coulom, R.: Efficient selectivity and backup operators in monte-carlo tree search. In: van den Herik, H.J., Ciancarini, P., Donkers, H.H.L.M(J.) (eds.) CG 2006. LNCS, vol. 4630, pp. 72–83. Springer, Heidelberg (2007)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  7. Gelly, S., Silver, D.: Combining online and offline knowledge in UCT. In: ICML 2007: Proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Machine Learning, pp. 273–280. ACM, New York (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Kloetzer, J., Iida, H., Bouzy, B.: Playing amazons endgames. ICGA Journal 32(3), 140–148 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Kocsis, L., Szepesvári, C.: Bandit based monte-carlo planning. In: Fürnkranz, J., Scheffer, T., Spiliopoulou, M. (eds.) ECML 2006. LNCS (LNAI), vol. 4212, pp. 282–293. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  10. Lorentz, R.J.: Amazons discover monte-carlo. In: van den Herik, H.J., Xu, X., Ma, Z., Winands, M.H.M. (eds.) CG 2008. LNCS, vol. 5131, pp. 13–24. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  11. Luckhart, C., Irani, K.B.: An algorithmic solution of n-person games. In: Proceedings of the 5th National Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), vol. 1, pp. 158–162 (1986)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Sackson, S.: A Gamut of Games. Random House, New York (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Schaeffer, J.: The history heuristic. ICCA Journal 6(3), 16–19 (1983)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Sturtevant, N.R.: An analysis of UCT in multi-player games. In: van den Herik, H.J., Xu, X., Ma, Z., Winands, M.H.M. (eds.) CG 2008. LNCS, vol. 5131, pp. 37–49. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  15. Sturtevant, N.R.: An analysis of UCT in multi-player games. ICGA Journal 31(4), 195–208 (2008)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  16. Sturtevant, N.R., Korf, R.E.: On pruning techniques for multi-player games. In: Proceedings of the Seventeenth National Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Twelfth Conference on Innovative Applications of Artificial Intelligence, pp. 201–207. AAAI Press / The MIT Press (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  17. Sutton, R.S., Barto, A.G.: Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction. MIT Press, Cambridge (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Winands, M.H.M., Björnsson, Y.: Evaluation function based monte-carlo LOA. In: van den Herik, H.J., Spronck, P. (eds.) ACG 2009. LNCS, vol. 6048, pp. 33–44. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  19. Winands, M.H.M., Björnsson, Y., Saito, J.-T.: Monte-Carlo Tree Search Solver. In: van den Herik, H.J., Xu, X., Ma, Z., Winands, M.H.M. (eds.) CG 2008. LNCS, vol. 5131, pp. 25–36. Springer, Heidelberg (2008)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  20. Winands, M.H.M., van der Werf, E.C.D., van den Herik, H.J., Uiterwijk, J.W.H.M.: The relative history heuristic. In: van den Herik, H.J., Björnsson, Y., Netanyahu, N.S. (eds.) CG 2004. LNCS, vol. 3846, pp. 262–272. Springer, Heidelberg (2006)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Games and AI Group, Department of Knowledge Engineering, Faculty of Humanities and Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    J. (Pim) A. M. Nijssen & Mark H. M. Winands

Authors
  1. J. (Pim) A. M. Nijssen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mark H. M. Winands
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tilburg Center for Cognition and Communication (TiCC), Tilburg University, P.O. Box 90153, 5000LE, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    H. Jaap van den Herik  & Aske Plaat  & 

  2. Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Research Unit for Computers and Games, 1-1, Asahidai, 923-1292, Nomi, Ishikawa, Japan

    Hiroyuki Iida

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Nijssen, J.(.A.M., Winands, M.H.M. (2011). Enhancements for Multi-Player Monte-Carlo Tree Search. In: van den Herik, H.J., Iida, H., Plaat, A. (eds) Computers and Games. CG 2010. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 6515. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17928-0_22

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-17928-0_22

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-17927-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-17928-0

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation