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        Arimaa >> General Discussion >> Best type of handicap for Arimaa?
        
(Message started by: aaaa on Apr 4^th, 2008, 6:59am)

Title: Best type of handicap for Arimaa?
Post by aaaa on Apr 4^th, 2008, 6:59am

The various kinds of bot bashing challenges leads me to wonder what kind of a handicap (both against bots and humans) would distort the game the least, i.e. allow players as much as possible to play their natural game, letting the rating differences make up for the handicap and leave as little benefit as possible for becoming specialized therein.

Title: Re: Best type of handicap for Arimaa?
Post by arimaa_master on Apr 4^th, 2008, 9:07am

on 04/04/08 at 06:59:43, aaaa wrote:

I think "time handicap" will fit your wants.

Title: Re: Best type of handicap for Arimaa?
Post by Arimabuff on Apr 4^th, 2008, 10:29am

on 04/04/08 at 06:59:43, aaaa wrote:

I don't think giving up a piece is that much of a distortion. Champions used to do it all the time in Chess back when it was difficult for them to find a match, it didn't keep them from being champions in the original game. So a piece handicap from rabbit to camel and even two pieces doesn't seem that outlandish to "classic" Arimaa.

Title: Re: Best type of handicap for Arimaa?
Post by Fritzlein on Apr 4^th, 2008, 12:09pm

Piece handicaps up to a horse didn't significantly change the way I played, but a camel handicap was a major disruption. I wonder whether a N-rabbit handicap (say four to six rabbits) would have a lesser impact than the camel handicap.

Title: Re: Best type of handicap for Arimaa?
Post by Fritzlein on Apr 4^th, 2008, 12:16pm

Another handicap we have toyed with only a little is setup handicap. This would work better face-to-face than in the gameroom. Silver could set up Gold's pieces as badly as possible, then set up his own pieces to try take advantage of it. Play might seem more or less normal from then on, apart from an extremely awkward initial position for Gold.

Title: Re: Best type of handicap for Arimaa?
Post by Fritzlein on Apr 4^th, 2008, 12:34pm

on 04/04/08 at 09:07:06, arimaa_master wrote:

I think "time handicap" will fit your wants.

I think arimaa_master is right. One measure of the amount of distortion is whether is handicap is worth the same number of rating points anywhere in the rating scale. A camel handicap is worth a lot less to a 1500 player against a 2000 player and a lot more to a 2000 player against a 2500 player. The higher the level of play, the more important any advantage on the board becomes. We are not yet at the level where a rabbit handicap is very significant, but it probably would decide every game among 3500-rated players.

Time advantage, however, seems to apply at all levels. Getting to think twice as long should be equally valuable at all levels. The only disadvantage I see with time handicaps is that they affect bots less than they affect humans, so they are perhaps not the best way to handicap man vs. machine contests.

Title: Re: Best type of handicap for Arimaa?
Post by 99of9 on Apr 4^th, 2008, 9:50pm

on 04/04/08 at 12:34:39, Fritzlein wrote:

Time advantage, however, seems to apply at all levels.

I agree, but perhaps they don't apply to all length games. For example, I don't think this would help balance a postal much.

Title: Re: Best type of handicap for Arimaa?
Post by mistre on Apr 6^th, 2008, 1:47pm

on 04/04/08 at 12:34:39, Fritzlein wrote:

One measure of the amount of distortion is whether is handicap is worth the same number of rating points anywhere in the rating scale. A camel handicap is worth a lot less to a 1500 player against a 2000 player and a lot more to a 2000 player against a 2500 player. The higher the level of play, the more important any advantage on the board becomes.

I was going to pose the question of how many rating points each type of handicap is worth and if there is any way to back it up with any type of statistical basis. However, you state that it would change based on the rating scale. Still, it might be useful to have some kind of ball-park figure, like an Elephant is worth 500 rating points, for example.

This type of scale could be used in setting up nearly equal human vs. human handicap matches with unevenly matched players (which I don't think has been used all that much to date).