Skip to main content

Infinite Connect-Four Is Solved: Draw

  • Conference paper

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNTCS,volume 7168))

Abstract

In this paper, we present the newly obtained solution for variants of Connect-Four played on an infinite board. We proved this result by introducing never-losing strategies for both players. The strategies consist of a combination of paving patterns, which are follow-up, follow-in-CUP, and a few others. By employing the strategies, both players can block their opponents to achieve the winning condition. This means that optimal play by both players leads to a draw in these games.

By rearrangement of the same paving patterns, the solution for a semi-infinite board, where either the height or the width is finite, are also presented. Moreover, it is confirmed that these results are effective under various placement restrictions.

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

Buying options

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. van den Herik, H.J., Uiterwijk, J.W.H.M., van Rijswijck, J.: Games solved: now and in the future. Artificial Intelligence 134(1-2), 277–311 (2002)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. Allen, J.D.: A Note on the Computer Solution of Connect-Four. In: Levy, D.N.L., Beal, D.F. (eds.) Heuristic Programming in Artificial Intelligence, The first Computer Olympiad, pp. 134–135. Ellis Horwood, Chichester (1989)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Allis, L.V.: A Knowledge-based Approach to Connect-Four, The Game is Solved: White wins: Master’s thesis, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (1988)

    Google Scholar 

  4. http://homepage3.nifty.com/yasda/dwnload/hako.htm (last accessed on February 3, 2011)

  5. Chiang, S.-H., Wu, I.-C., Lin, P.-H.: On Drawn K-In-A-Row Games. In: van den Herik, H.J., Spronck, P. (eds.) ACG 2009. LNCS, vol. 6048, pp. 158–169. Springer, Heidelberg (2010)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  6. Wu, I.C., Huang, D.Y., Chang, H.C.: Connect6. ICGA Journal 28(4), 235–242 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Tromp, J.: Solving Connect-4 on Medium Board Sizes. ICGA Journal 31(2), 110–112 (2008)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Halupczok, I., Schlage-Puchta, J.C.: Achieving Snaky. Electronic Journal of Combinatorial Number Theory 7(1), 1–28 (2007)

    MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Yamaguchi, Y., Yamaguchi, K., Tanaka, T., Kaneko, T. (2012). Infinite Connect-Four Is Solved: Draw. In: van den Herik, H.J., Plaat, A. (eds) Advances in Computer Games. ACG 2011. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 7168. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31866-5_18

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-31866-5_18

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-31865-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-31866-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics