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        Arimaa >> Events >> Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
        
(Message started by: Fritzlein on Jul 17^th, 2009, 9:37am)

Title: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Jul 17^th, 2009, 9:37am

I am solidifying plans to give a demonstration of Arimaa on October 3 on the campus of Bethel College in my home town of Newton Kansas. Both of my parents were professors at Bethel, I grew up just across the street, and I even took a few classes at Bethel College, so it will be a homecoming for me. That weekend at Bethel will be an annual campus-wide open-air party that they call Fall Festival.

I will play against all comers simultaneously, on Z-Man's shiny new sets. I'm not sure how many people will sit down to play against me, though, so I am hoping to guarantee a special opponent over the Internet.

JDB, would you be willing to adapt clueless with a special time control and put it on-line for me to play during this event? It would be great PR for Arimaa if one of the simultaneous games I was playing was against the reigning Arimaa Computer Champion. The technical difficulty is that the game would have to be untimed to accommodate a simul of unknown size. But if the time control is 0/0/0/0/0, could clueless be made to move at regular intervals anyway?

If this is too much hassle, JDB, or if you wouldn't have a computer/connection available at time, etc., then I can always fall back on running my home copy of Bomb on a local laptop. If it can work out, though, there would be a great cachet in playing the 2009 Computer Champion rather than the 2008 Computer Champion.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by jdb on Jul 17^th, 2009, 4:30pm

I can set clueless up to move at x seconds per move, ignoring the time control.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Manuel on Jul 17^th, 2009, 11:38pm

Wouldn't it be more in the spirit of simultaneous play if clueless would be allowed to think all the time that fritzlein is away to play the other players, and then when he returns, clueless has to move quickly?

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Jul 18^th, 2009, 5:06am

Awesome, JDB. Thanks!

Manuel, your suggestion would fit exactly with the tradition of simultaneous chess, but I'm not sure how it would be implemented.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by rajmahendra on Jul 18^th, 2009, 8:23pm

Hi,

don't forget to take pics.... i cant come there :(

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by myopicblur on Jul 19^th, 2009, 8:18am

yeah, waiting for their photos on flickr.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Jul 19^th, 2009, 12:26pm

We will certainly take pictures, but that reminds me to pack my video camera too. Of course no one would want to view a couple of hours of me walking from board to board, but sometimes a minute of video can give a better sense of an event than dozens of photos.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by omar on Jul 20^th, 2009, 10:10am

Wow, sounds fun Karl. Looking forward to seeing the pics and video.

Maybe you might get more and better prepared players for the simul if a flyer is posted on campus about it.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Jul 20^th, 2009, 10:50am

on 07/20/09 at 10:10:01, omar wrote:

Maybe you might get more and better prepared players for the simul if a flyer is posted on campus about it.

What, do you want me to lose? Just kidding. ;) Actually the computer science professor is recruiting some players now, so they will have a chance to practice up if they want to.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by The_Jeh on Jul 23^rd, 2009, 2:09pm

Fritz, I am hindered by a 4.75 hour drive, but I will at least consider attending. Perhaps I could get that elusive win from you if you are distracted by a bunch of computer science majors.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Jul 23^rd, 2009, 5:17pm

Your odds of beating me in the simul are quite good. Even if the CS majors are all noobs, I will at least have clueless to contend with, not to mention trying to promote Arimaa on the side. Furthermore, I have promised to give a free Arimaa set to the first person that beats me. The question, then, is whether you will drive that far just to win a free Arimaa set!

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by The_Jeh on Oct 3^rd, 2009, 7:48pm

How did it go, sir?

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Oct 4^th, 2009, 3:17pm

My Arimaa demonstration at Bethel yesterday went far better than I had expected. In the morning I gave a computer science lecture. I expected to have only a tiny audience, but the classroom filled to overflowing, with at least forty people in attendance. The audience seemed quite engaged, with many questions about Arimaa and artificial intelligence.

After lunch I gave a simul on the green. I had expected only a few people to be willing to play an unfamiliar game, so I had planned to have a game against Clueless be the fallback conversation point. Unfortunately, our booth had no power, and my laptop battery ran out after only twelve moves. I apologize to JDB to have troubled him for naught, and to the on-line community that I couldn't provide this point of participation.

On the bright side, though, there was enthusiastic crowd participation, mostly from walk-on players who hadn't been at the lecture. At one point I was playing nine humans at once (plus Clueless before my battery died), and there were several humans waiting for a seat! All but two or three learned the rules on the spot, mostly from my wife Katie's tireless assistance.

In the first round I played Silver in all games, but later in the afternoon some players turned the board around and demanded that I play Gold! Several people stayed for a second game, and several also made the trek to the college bookstore to buy the set and/or my book.

I promised to give a prize of an Arimaa set to the first person to beat me, and I felt very secure for most of the exhibition, but towards the end I got sloppy and prematurely tried to force a rabbit to goal in a way that cost me both the advanced rabbit and my camel. I was left without MHHDR, having captured MHDRR, i.e. down a horse for a rabbit with the camels off. Fortunately, other boards were starting to finish, so I was able to focus more on the game where I was in trouble, and managed to come back for the win. It turned out that Jon Jantz, the the fellow who almost beat me, was playing his first game ever! If he should decide to take up Arimaa seriously, we may have a new rising star on our hands.

Katie took some pictures, which I have posted here (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/mwiki/index.php/2009_Bethel_College_Simultaneous_Exhibition), on the Arimaa Wiki. In the first picture, the onlooker in the leather jacket is Arlyn, who I see has joined the gameroom and started working up the ladder.

Overall, the lecture and the exhibition made for the most fun I have had in ages. Furthermore, the way newcomers jumped into Arimaa with both feet has renewed my hope that Arimaa could see widespread uptake, not just in the long run, but in the near future. Hurray for Arimaa!

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by omar on Oct 5^th, 2009, 11:56am

Wow, glad to hear you had a great turn out and thanks for sharing the pics with us. Looks like a lot of fun.

Darn, I missed my best chance to win against you Karl :-)

One time Karl and I were playing at a gaming group and while he was explaining the rules to someone as he played, I was giving it my best and managed to get a slight advantage. Then he realized what was going on and trounced me :-)

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Janzert on Oct 5^th, 2009, 7:13pm

Wow, sounds like it went great. Any material (slides, video, ...) available from the lecture?

Janzert

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Oct 6^th, 2009, 5:59am

on 10/05/09 at 19:13:55, Janzert wrote:

Wow, sounds like it went great. Any material (slides, video, ...) available from the lecture?

We did try to capture a video, but I haven't yet checked to see whether the video/audio is of acceptable quality. Somehow taking a video of a screen projection never works out very well.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by chessandgo on Oct 24^th, 2009, 8:48am

great :)

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Oct 31^st, 2009, 12:03pm

I have finally posted the video of my lecture here (http://www.motionbox.com/videos/4c96d0b21e14edc3c3). The audio isn't very good, in part because I was facing different directions in the classroom, rather than speaking into a microphone. Also the video isn't very good, because capturing a projected screen never works very well. It is hard to make out what is written on my PowerPoint slides. Also my speaking isn't very good, because I kept losing track of the point I wanted to make. Nevertheless, there may be something in there for someone. Enjoy at your own risk!

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by arimaa_master on Oct 31^st, 2009, 2:16pm

on 10/31/09 at 12:03:35, Fritzlein wrote:

Very nice - and you did it very funny especially towards the end!

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Janzert on Oct 31^st, 2009, 9:01pm

Great talk. I think you did an excellent job of presenting a very engaging and understandable short history and basics of game tree search.

I've struggled through much worse quality video and audio to listen to an online lecture than this. I didn't have any problem reading the slides while watching the high quality version of the video. If people do have an issue with it maybe you could upload the powerpoint presentation to scribd (http://scribd.com) so they can follow the slides along with the video.

Janzert

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Nov 1^st, 2009, 4:37pm

Thanks for the kind words, gentlemen. If you enjoyed it, then I am glad I posted it. But something I can't figure out when I watch the video is why I always put one hand in my pocket. No, it is not because I'm an Alanis Morisette fan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGjaaQAvSTA

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by camelback on Nov 1^st, 2009, 7:30pm

Wonderful presentation Karl, very funny and jovial. All your quirks, comments and analogies helped to keep the attention.

I thoroughly enjoyed it. I couldn't believe its your first presentation.

"Did I tell you book is available in the bookstore?" -- ha ha ha
Nice publicity for everything Arimaa ;D

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by omar on Nov 5^th, 2009, 6:03pm

Great video Karl. You really made it very interesting and lively.

I hope my talk at the BGG Con is half as good.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by megajester on Nov 7^th, 2009, 4:13am

on 11/05/09 at 18:03:49, omar wrote:

I hope my talk at the BGG Con is half as good.

Ooh are you gonna record that as well?

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by omar on Nov 10^th, 2009, 7:46pm

on 11/07/09 at 04:13:47, megajester wrote:

Ooh are you gonna record that as well?

I'll try.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Ice on Nov 10^th, 2009, 7:57pm

Karl,

How'd the come all takers games go? I assume you won them all?

It'd be interesting to know if anyone signed up and you'd get to play them again sometime.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Nov 10^th, 2009, 8:37pm

I did win all the games, but in one I blundered a camel and was somewhat losing for a bit. Fortunately that was toward the end and I had fewer boards to contend with, so I could recover more easily.

I did see at least one participant from the festival join the game room; maybe more did under names I didn't recognize.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by asfaklive on Jan 28^th, 2010, 2:13am

I am talking about the video at http://www.motionbox.com/videos/4c96d0b21e14edc3c3

I could not see the video after 26.49m. Is it possible to share the video in youtube? As far as I could see the video was very nice.

I was keeping notes while I was seeing the video. But alas!! I don't know why the remaining part can not be seen.

Is it possible to share the slide to somewhere?

Regards.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Jan 28^th, 2010, 4:30am

The video is far too big for YouTube to accept, which is why I uploaded it to MotionBox. Internet video is a big mystery to me; the only thing I can think to suggest is to try again, or try watching from a different computer.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by asfaklive on Jan 29^th, 2010, 9:22pm

Is it possible to share the slide to arimaa site or somewhere?

Regards.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Jan 30^th, 2010, 7:48am

on 01/29/10 at 21:22:46, asfaklive wrote:

Is it possible to share the slide to arimaa site or somewhere?

I thought I had lost the file when I turned in my old laptop, but I found a backup. Unfortunately the Arimaa Wiki doesn't permit file uploads for anything other than png, gif, and jpg. How would you suggest sharing the ppt file?

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Janzert on Jan 30^th, 2010, 2:00pm

scribd (http://www.scribd.com/) is a nice site for powerpoint sharing.

Janzert

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Jan 30^th, 2010, 4:29pm

Thanks Janzert. I have uploaded the slides here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/26127899/Lecture

They're not much to get excited about, but due to popular demand...

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by asfaklive on Jan 30^th, 2010, 8:33pm

Many many thanks.

Regards.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by asfaklive on Mar 6^th, 2010, 10:48pm

May I ask you about the slide 16. I might be wrong but

The slide has said something like the following:

Arimaa five-move search:

2^(14*10/2) = 2^80 = 10^24 = 31 billion years > lifetime of universe

Won't it be?:

Arimaa five-move search:
2^(14*10/2) = 2^70 = 10^21million = 31 688 764.6 years

Regards.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by asfaklive on Mar 6^th, 2010, 11:01pm

But this is also true that

In Chess each move consists of one step so 5 next moves means 10 steps for two players.

But In Arimaa each move consists of 4 steps so 5 next moves means 40 steps for two players.

In that case

2^(14*40/2) = 10^84 ....

Am I right?

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by Fritzlein on Mar 7^th, 2010, 7:37am

You are correct. The slide is in error. It should be

(2^14)^(10/2) / 1,000,000 seconds = 37 million years. Thanks for pointing this out.

Your second calculation based on steps doesn't work because the Arimaa branching factor per step is somewhat less than the chess branching factor per move.

Title: Re: Arimaa Demo at Bethel College, Kansas
Post by asfaklive on Mar 7^th, 2010, 9:29pm

Thanks a lot.

Regards.