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        Arimaa >> General Discussion >> "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
        
(Message started by: megajester on Apr 28^th, 2011, 10:17am)

Title: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Apr 28^th, 2011, 10:17am

This is an idea that I ran past Omar a while back but never got around to implementing, and I'd like some input from the community.

I think the e-mail I sent Omar explains the premise fairly well:

When I started getting into Arimaa, I'm sure that one of the most important factors was that I read the wikibook very early on. Without the wikibook I think it's very hard for newcomers to get a grip on the game.

I'm trying to teach my wife to play Arimaa, bless her. Instead of silently playing against each other (which would be frustrating for her because all she would do is lose pieces without knowing why) we chat about our moves as we play them. What tends to happen is we both move our elephant and maybe a horse out a bit. She goes to make a move that would leave a piece hanging, and I show her why it's not a good idea. Then there's silence and she says "So what am I supposed to do now then?" It was similar with my dad.

In a way I think the Arimaa learning curve has a slight "spike" immediately after you've learnt the moves that you don't get with chess. Chess is a very tactical game, so new players can very quickly find something to do even if it's not strategically sound. A beginner starts by getting his pieces out, and then tries to capture stuff. He makes lots of mistakes and doesn't understand what they are, but at least the game is moving along. However in Arimaa once you've exhausted the tactical possibilities you're into the murky world of strategy, which is even murkier than in chess, and an uninformed beginner can be at a loss as to what to do next. This "murkiness" is of course why we're all here, so it's a good thing. But I think it would be nice if we could give beginners just a little boost to get them started.

(Something else that adds to the learning curve is the fact that Arimaa is a highly reversible game, by which I mean that positions can be reversed much more easily than in chess. This is another sticking point for beginners, because if neither player feels particularly adventurous the opening can theoretically go on forever, which is not the case with chess.)

At the time Omar agreed with me that a "Arimaa Crash Course" would be helpful. We talked about a sequence of videos. The first one could be "How to Play Arimaa" from the homepage, and the subsequent videos would help beginners out with getting to grips with basic tactics and deeper strategic concepts.

However after thinking some more I can see some potential downsides to this idea. A course of videos would be an awful lot of work to produce, and would likely just end up being a rehash of the information already available in the wikibook. In any case it would be too long and involved to give my wife what she's looking for when she asks me "So what do I do now?"

We just need a "bridge", a quick video, to take a beginner who only knows the basic rules and has no idea what he's doing, and make him feel like he's got the gist of Arimaa and can start playing some meaningful games.

I've only just got straight in my head exactly what I think this video might be like. Basically, it entails helping a beginner to formulate a thought process, by giving him a list of simple questions. The difficulty here is taking concepts (such as camel hostages) and boiling them down into simple questions you can ask yourself. The wikibook already explains concepts well enough. What I want is a few simple questions to give beginners that kernel, to point them in the right direction towards discovering those concepts.

The problem is I'm not sure exactly what these questions should be. So I'd like your help. What thought processes helped the veterans of Arimaa to find the concepts we all swear by now? What questions do you ask yourself when it's your move?

I'll provide a blueprint to get us started. Imagine something like the following.

Title: "How to Think in Arimaa"

"So you've learnt the rules. You don't just want to play Arimaa, you want to play Arimaa well. You want to feel like you're learning something every time you play.

"Well, if you want to get good, there are N simple questions you have to ask yourself on every move.

"Question 1: [Insert question here. The narrator goes into more detail about what the question means, and provides one or two examples from past games]. If the answer's no, it's time to ask...

"Question 2: ... "

...and so on and so forth.

I'll write down a few questions so you get the idea, and then you can correct me and suggest extra questions from there.

1. "Can I or my opponent get a rabbit to goal?" (Include examples of 1- and 2-move combinations.)

2. "Can I or my opponent threaten any pieces?" (Include examples of 1- and 2-move combinations.)

Deep Strategies

3. "Which is the strongest free piece?" (Explain the concept, why it's a good idea to have the strongest free piece, and give a couple of examples of how hostages and frames can help you to get it.)

4. "Who has control of each of the traps?" (Explain trap control etc.)

5. ... ?

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by ocmiente on Apr 28^th, 2011, 1:43pm

I like the idea of a checklist when making a move. In fact, I made a few different versions of my own during the World League last year to try to avoid doing stupid stuff - and it worked sometimes. For next year's championship, I'm adding 'is the opponent's horse hanging?' question near the top since I missed that in two of my games.

I would like to think that I go through something like the following list each move, applying each question to myself and my opponent (e.g. do I have an immediate goal? does my opponent have an immediate goal?) before and after my planned move, and hopefully before actually making the move. In practice, I often don't go through the list and end up paying for it.

1. immediate goal, or does it look like a forced goal?
2. capture?
3. frame (or how can I/my opponent break one)?
4. hostage?
5. threaten capture?
6. blockade?
7. swarm?
8. rotate out piece?
9. block? (phalanx or other)?
10. rabbits advanced appropriately?
11. balance, and how are the pieces working together?
12. long term plan?

One of the problems I have with this is that there is so much to think about, it has been difficult to use such a list every time when under time pressure. On the other hand, I would be very interested to know if other people make such lists and what is on them.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Swynndla on Apr 29^th, 2011, 12:08am

It seems to me (just my opinion) that those lists would be good for an intermediate player who has already past the stage of reading the wiki (and therefore wouldn't be good as a bridge between learning the rules and the wiki).

I'd like to see something like a game where both elephants are dragging pieces to their own traps, and then one side gets the upper hand by controlling an enemy trap, but then blunders & loses when the the other side gets a rabbit through & wins (something like that)?

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by ginrunner on Apr 29^th, 2011, 12:18am

I watched the commented games by C&G and Fritz

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Apr 29^th, 2011, 12:38am

on 04/28/11 at 13:43:44, ocmiente wrote:

Thanks ocmiente that's really helpful.

As a player who's fairly advanced, all these questions reflect the understanding you already have. What I'm trying to do is boil it all down to the questions that help a beginner to reach that understanding. I want to be able to give a beginner maybe 3-5 easy-to-remember questions he can ask himself with every move, that will hold true throughout his Arimaa career as he discovers the deeper concepts. A easy way for beginner to answer the question "So what do I do now?"

So for example, your point 1 fits with my question 1 "Can I or my opponent get a rabbit to goal?" In the video perhaps we could hint at your point 10, that long term you need to think about making goal threats.

My question 2 "Can I or my opponent threaten any pieces?" would cover your points 2 and 5.

My question 3 "Which is the strongest free piece?" could be used to introduce your points 3, 4, 6 and 8. Even if we don't mention them all in the video, telling a beginner to always ask himself the question "Which is the strongest free piece?" will help him towards discovering those concepts.

My question 4 "Who has control of each of the traps?" would similarly cover 7, 9 and 11.

And so on. Do you see what I mean?

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by UruramTururam on Apr 29^th, 2011, 2:22am

Heh, the checklist is great. I've printed it out! ;D

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by ocmiente on Apr 29^th, 2011, 12:26pm

on 04/29/11 at 00:38:28, megajester wrote:

... What I'm trying to do is boil it all down to the questions that help a beginner to reach that understanding. I want to be able to give a beginner maybe 3-5 easy-to-remember questions he can ask himself with every move, that will hold true throughout his Arimaa career as he discovers the deeper concepts. A easy way for beginner to answer the question "So what do I do now?"

Yes, I think I understand what you mean completely. When I first played Arimaa, I gave up on it for a while because I couldn't grasp a lot of the basic concepts - and I wasn't inclined to ask a lot of questions on the site to get the basic information needed. It wasn't until Fritz' book (http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Arimaa-Reborn-Computer-Comprehension/dp/0982427409/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1304097910&sr=8-1) came out that I was able to begin to understand the game.

Unfortunately, telling someone to read a book to learn how to play an abstract game is a lot to ask of most people who just want a casual experience.

So, I hope you're able to succeed in condensing the basic concepts down to just a few things. Something like that would help a lot.

With respect to my list, I left out at least one major thing: Frozen?

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by omar on Apr 29^th, 2011, 1:40pm

Great idea Joel. A checklist is a good way to get better at Arimaa. Initially it might seem a bit tidious, but later on it becomes second nature.

Explaining the rules of Arimaa to a new player is like explaining how the steering wheel, brake and accelerator in a car work to a new driver. They need to know that, but it doesn't tell them how to drive. When you are first learning to drive you need to consciously think about stuff like staying in your lane; using your turn indicator; looking out for traffic signs, etc. But after years of driving it becomes second nature and you probably can't even enumerate all the things that you do automatically while driving.

So with Arimaa also I think just lots of experience is the only way to let your unconscious mind automate playing well, but when starting out having a list to consciously review will certainly help.

Here is a file that I had started with tips for beginners. It's a bit more than a checklist, but you might find parts of it useful.

http://arimaa.com/arimaa/learn/tips.html

It's last modified date is Feb 14, 2004 :-) I don't know why I didn't finish this and link it somewhere.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Swynndla on Apr 29^th, 2011, 5:14pm

I taught my boys how to play arimaa, and I think it was important that I didn't say too often "don't do that because this" and "don't do that because of the other", otherwise they'd sit there and say "well what can I do?", where I'd prefer them to try all sorts of stuff and find out a certain amount from experience (although I point out what they might have done differently after they've moved if they missed a really good move). So at their level, advancing rabbits early works (when they play each other), as it often leads to a win, and I'm absolutely fine with that.

It's like playing chess - I'm not that good, but I certainly have fun trying all sorts of things when I play others at my level. I also know at the same time that experts would say my moves are wrong (and that I should be doing safe, solid moves), but when I play opponents at my level, it doesn't matter and it's a lot of fun (and therefore not wrong).

So when beginners play arimaa against other beginners, the long-term strategy of slowly pulling an h-file rabbit shouldn't even be mentioned (for example).

I remember when chessandgo first started playing arimaa, and when I played him I was trying to "school" him (if you can believe that), and I was saying that him advancing his E, M & H at the same time early in the game wasn't a good idea. I was the one that got schooled! ;)

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Fritzlein on Apr 29^th, 2011, 5:53pm

My hunch is that there are a number of different overlapping frustrations that beginners have. It is very easy as a teacher to be over-zealous in trying to communicate everything that they need to know. I doubt that the best answer to the question, "So what should I be trying to do?" is to give a checklist of everything important to think about. Information overload isn't the best cure for confusion.

The key might be to understand the specific nature of the question a little better. Why is a beginner having a problem generating a move? Certainly part of what I think about on every move is whether I can take a piece or score a goal or protect my hanging piece or defend a goal. However, if any of those situations were present, the beginner would probably be asking, "How can I get that rabbit to goal?" or, "Can I capture that piece?", i.e. they would be wondering how to achieve an identifiable objective instead of wondering what the immediate objective is.

At one point in my writing about Arimaa, I went to great lengths to explain the "two threats" doctrine, i.e. that no matter what you try to achieve in Arimaa, the opposing elephant can stop it, so you need to be thinking, even as you make one threat, about a potential for a second one. The beauty of thinking in terms of "two threats" is that it heads off a second round of beginner frustration that will almost inevitably follow from a careless answer to the first question. If you tell a beginner that what they should be doing in the position at hand is to pull a rabbit, or to try to get a horse frame, or to swarm an opposing trap, etc., then the beginner will gamely try to do what you told them to do, find that the opposing elephant has stopped it, and then be left wondering, "Why did I do that? Did it help me in any way?". Quite possibly it didn't help them at all. For example they pulled a rabbit that turned into a goal threat, or framed a horse when the frame can be broken to create a swarm, or launched a swarm that got their own elephant pinned. None of the strategic objectives we toss around casually are worthwhile in themselves; all of them can backfire.

What a beginner needs to understand after mastering basic tactics, and is indeed capable of understanding after mastering basic tactics, is that the opposing elephant can defend against any one threat, and the great majority of strategy is an attempt to work around that limitation. I don't frame a horse for the sake of the frame; I make it with the intent to rotate out my elephant to make a second threat the opposing elephant can't defend, and if the second half isn't feasible the first half is a bad idea.

In my annotation of my 2005 Postal Mixer game against Omar (http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Arimaa/Sample_Games), I laid great stress on the two-threats doctrine. Indeed, I was so successful communicating the idea to IdahoEv, a relative beginner at the time, that he concluded Arimaa was pretty simple after all, i.e. that there wasn't very much to Arimaa strategy, and wanted to complicate the rules of Arimaa to make it less simple to comprehend. That's the sort of feedback that lets me know I have been clear as a teacher! :)

As I think now about how I teach and talk about Arimaa, I realize that I have been assuming that the two-threats doctrine is second nature to everyone. Like Omar says, it's like turning on the blinker before making a lane change; it is automatic. But it is totally futile trying to explain swarms or rabbit pulls to someone who doesn't get the importance of the two-threats doctrine.

I submit, therefore, that this is the core of answering megajester's concern about the bump in the learning curve. Suppose a beginner finds himself knowing basic capture and basic goal, but not knowing any strategy. How to start to bridge that gap? Perhaps the very next concept is to show how elephant defense means that no progress can happen without making two threats. Then when you start talking about hostages, frames, etc., it is in the context of creating two threats, i.e. the learner will know why these other strategic markers are important. Hopefully, if we explain it clearly enough, they will not think Arimaa is frustratingly opaque, but rather join with IdahoEv in saying that Arimaa strategy is fundamentally very simple.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Fritzlein on Apr 29^th, 2011, 6:09pm

on 04/29/11 at 17:14:59, Swynndla wrote:

Ah, yes, I didn't consider to what extent fear of making a bad move might be the root of the problem. You definitely don't want to paralyze the people you are teaching with criticism.

Quote:

It's like playing chess - I'm not that good, but I certainly have fun trying all sorts of things when I play others at my level. I also know at the same time that experts would say my moves are wrong (and that I should be doing safe, solid moves), but when I play opponents at my level, it doesn't matter and it's a lot of fun (and therefore not wrong).

Yes, I quite agree with this attitude. It is relatively bad pedagogy to reject someone's move out of hand, because they might take it to mean that they shouldn't be trying to accomplish what they are trying to accomplish. At worst the teacher should praise the intent of the move while expressing doubt about the efficacy of the move. That way the learner will know that he at least has a grasp on what strategy is about. He can then say, "OK, I know what I am trying to do, but am not going about it the best way."

I was answering a different question, namely how to help a beginner who can't think of anything to do next. I believe that this confusion is a real problem that needs to be addressed. The defensive nature of Arimaa makes it more likely that beginners will have some frustration like this. But also we teachers of Arimaa should be very aware that the complaint, "I can't think of anything to do," could very well be code for, "I can't think of anything to do that you won't criticize, so I am afraid to move."

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Apr 30^th, 2011, 5:36am

on 04/29/11 at 17:53:58, Fritzlein wrote:

What a beginner needs to understand after mastering basic tactics, and is indeed capable of understanding after mastering basic tactics, is that the opposing elephant can defend against any one threat, and the great majority of strategy is an attempt to work around that limitation. I don't frame a horse for the sake of the frame; I make it with the intent to rotate out my elephant to make a second threat the opposing elephant can't defend, and if the second half isn't feasible the first half is a bad idea.

[...]

I submit, therefore, that this is the core of answering megajester's concern about the bump in the learning curve. Suppose a beginner finds himself knowing basic capture and basic goal, but not knowing any strategy. How to start to bridge that gap? Perhaps the very next concept is to show how elephant defense means that no progress can happen without making two threats. Then when you start talking about hostages, frames, etc., it is in the context of creating two threats, i.e. the learner will know why these other strategic markers are important. Hopefully, if we explain it clearly enough, they will not think Arimaa is frustratingly opaque, but rather join with IdahoEv in saying that Arimaa strategy is fundamentally very simple.

Bingo!

There's no other word for it.

I know you don't believe in giving beginners a long list of questions to learn, but I still feel like we can condense it all down into three questions.

Question 1: "Can I or my opponent get a rabbit to goal?"

Question 2: "Can I threaten any of my opponents pieces?"

Question 3: "What are my two threats?"

Of course the meat and potatoes are in question 3. As Fritz said, we have to make sure we explain it clearly. You could have a couple of examples, such as camel hostage+goal threat, and horse frame+swarm. You wouldn't go into detail about all the individual concepts. But still at the end of the video you'd be able to tell a beginner that he has all the basic tools he needs to discover the game.

What do you say, are we ready to start drafting a script?

on 04/29/11 at 13:40:10, omar wrote:

Explaining the rules of Arimaa to a new player is like explaining how the steering wheel, brake and accelerator in a car work to a new driver. They need to know that, but it doesn't tell them how to drive. When you are first learning to drive you need to consciously think about stuff like staying in your lane; using your turn indicator; looking out for traffic signs, etc. But after years of driving it becomes second nature and you probably can't even enumerate all the things that you do automatically while driving.

I like this analogy. That tips page (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/learn/tips.html) is also very nice. Perhaps this could be turned into a third video, "Tips and Tricks"?

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Hippo on Apr 30^th, 2011, 10:43am

I would add one more tought ... sometimes it is not question of where do I have second threat, but who has stronger threat. Will I have time to apply my threat or I will be forced to start defending stronger threat.

Interesting question is how many steps do I need to apply the threat and how many steps opponent needs. If number of defense steps required plus number of attacking steps required is higher than 4 player could not do both (interference could spoil this computation).

... in my 2010WC game with naveed, I have sacrified cat for free not thinking that way ... naveed had 4 step threats and must do 1 defense step. I have sacrified cat to be captured in 3 steps :) ...

So ability to create strong enough threat even when 1 step defense is possible often prevets 4 step threats to be applied. This should be taken into account when swinging wings with phant is considered.

OK ... this probably does not help with easy questions to ask ... so rather avoid racy positions till you become familiar with "threat step optimisations".

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Apr 30^th, 2011, 2:23pm

OK... so maybe we could generalise question 3 slightly, eg. "What are the second threats?" meaning both yours and your opponent's. Just like with the first two questions.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on May 2^nd, 2011, 6:09am

on 04/30/11 at 14:23:51, megajester wrote:

OK... so maybe we could generalise question 3 slightly, eg. "What are the second threats?" meaning both yours and your opponent's. Just like with the first two questions.

Or might it be clearer for a beginner if we say "How might we tie down each other's elephant?"

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Jun 20^th, 2011, 9:52am

Partly following on from arimaaphile's thread (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/forum/cgi/YaBB.cgi?board=talk;action=display;num=1307767560), I thought I'd actually get around to writing a draft script. I wonder what you all make of it.

Welcome! This video assumes you already know the rules, so if you haven't already done so you can [plug both text and video materials]

Once you've learnt the rules you should go over to arimaa.com and get started with the first bots on the bot ladder. [Explain how.] That way you can get used to how pushing, pulling, capturing and freezing works. Then come back to this video.

--------

So, welcome to the Arimaa experience! Hopefully in this video we'll be able to give you a little boost to help you start to feel like you understand the game. But before we do, we'd just like to say two things.

Firstly, except for obvious mistakes, it's no good asking which strategy is *the* best, because they're all still being discovered! Everybody has a different approach to the game, a different style, a different philosophy. Who knows, with your own unique approach maybe you will end up teaching us all something new!

Secondly, don't worry if you find yourself making lots of mistakes, even silly ones. We all do, just ask any world champion. There's no shame in losing. Try to see every game, win or loss, as a learning experience. Another piece in the puzzle, another step in the journey taking you up the mountain we're all still climbing.

-------

Now let's get started. We're going to give you three questions to ask yourself on every move, that should help you to analyse the position. Of course you may well find that another way of thinking works better for you, but this should at least help to get you started.

1. Can either of us score a goal?

Of course it sounds obvious, but you'd be surprised how easy it is to forget to check for immediate goal threats.

In this position Silver was too busy thinking about [other things] to realise that Gold could goal immediately [show].

Sometimes the threat can be a little further off, but still equally deadly. Look at this position. Gold to move. Can Silver goal? Not immediately. But if Gold doesn't do anything about that rabbit, and does this for example [show], Silver in the very next move will do this [show]. Silver is now so close to goal that there's nothing Gold can do about it.

So that's the first thing you need to think about "Can either of us score a goal?"

Now on to the second question:

-----

2. Can either of us make a capture?

After goal threats, this is the second most important thing to watch for. As you will have realised from your games against the bots, you have to be ready for double push-pull maneuvers such as flipping and swinging. Start from the elephant and work your way down, trying to spot ways your opponent could make a capture, and then do the same for yourself.

Here are a couple of ways you can get caught out. [Demonstrate false protection, and 2-move captures]

-------

Now before we go on to the third question we have to talk about an important concept called distraction.

As you've probably realised already, the elephant is the only piece that cannot be pushed or pulled. What this means is, whenever you drag a piece towards a trap threatening to capture it, all your opponent needs to do is plonk his elephant right next to the trap, and that's the end of that.

So what you need to do is distract the elephant. Create more than one threat so that the elephant gets overloaded. Of course your opponent is trying to do the same thing...

This means that the third question to ask yourself is:

3. What are the threats in the current position?

[Introduce concepts such as camel hostages, frames, hostage baskets, trap control, swarms]

It's a work in progress as you can see. I haven't written a conclusion yet, but it would be a fairly straightforward wrapup of "the three questions." Input would be greatly appreciated.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Aug 4^th, 2011, 3:24am

I thought proof27h's recent thread "Strategy in a beginner's eyes" (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/forum/cgi/YaBB.cgi?board=talk;action=display;num=1312315609) was very interesting. Maybe some of those points could be incorporated...

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Oct 22^nd, 2011, 10:06am

After several months of mulling it over, I have a new idea for this video:

Three Tips for Better Arimaa
1. Always analyse the tactics
2. Create more than one threat
3. Expand your "toolbox" of concepts and strategies

If people think this will be useful...

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Fritzlein on Oct 22^nd, 2011, 11:41am

Oh, yes, it would definitely be useful. But who has the time and enthusiasm to do it? Thinking back to the massively successful "How to play Arimaa" video we made for the Board Game Geek contest, I can't contribute as much to another video right now. I could only play a "helpful comments" sort of role while others took the lead.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Oct 22^nd, 2011, 11:55am

I would be more than happy to take it on and write a script, if you would just be happy to review it and make some suggestions.

Same goes for everyone else of course.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Dolus on Oct 26^th, 2011, 11:55am

I'd be happy to help with looking over a script and providing comments/suggestions.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Fritzlein on Oct 26^th, 2011, 2:50pm

For comparison:
http://www.wikihow.com/Play-Arimaa

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Oct 29^th, 2011, 2:14pm

OK here we go.

Part of it will involve my own ugly mug, so I hope it won't seem too self-promoting of me, but I think a personal touch can be good.

All constructive criticism is very welcome. You'll all get your names on the credits :)

_________________________

3 TIPS FOR BETTER ARIMAA
A video script by Joel Thomas
This draft: 29 October 2011

(All text represents narration unless otherwise stated. Square brackets are used to describe what is visible on the screen while the following text is being read. Screen text is enclosed in quotes.)

START

[TITLE SCREEN] Three Tips for Better Arimaa.

[ARIMAA-RELATED GRAPHICS] Arimaa is an innovative game unlike any that has come before it. After only a decade it has proven itself as worthy of inclusion among the strategy greats such as go and chess. It's also very exciting both to play and to watch.

[FADE TO WEBCAM] It is such a unique game, however, that it can be a challenge to get a grip on it at first. If you've already learnt the rules and played a few games then hopefully this video will help you to feel as if you understand what's going on and how you can go deeper into Arimaa strategy.

[SCREENSHOTS OF THE VIDEO] If you haven't already learnt the rules you can watch the video How to Play Arimaa, and then go over to arimaa.com [GAMEROOM] and play a few games in the gameroom. [OPENING BOT LADDER] You'll find a bot ladder, or a list of computer opponents ranked according to strength, that you can play against. Start at the bottom and try to work your way up.

[WEBCAM] So you've played your first games of Arimaa and you're saying to yourself "OK I understand the rules now, but I don't know what to do."

Well, you're not alone! There are so many ways to play that even the experts are still discovering new strategies. The most important thing is this: Don't be afraid to try new things even if you make lots of mistakes along the way. We all do.

There's no shame in losing, just see every game as a learning experience. One more piece in the puzzle, one more step in the journey taking you up the mountain we're all still climbing.

[TITLE SCREEN] So let's get to it: Three Tips for Better Arimaa. They are: [TIP 1 TEXT] one, "Analyze all the tactics"; [TIP 2 TEXT] two, "Create multiple threats"; [TIP 3 TEXT] and three, "Expand and perfect your toolbox of concepts." There are other ways of looking at the game, who knows maybe in time you'll come up with a better one. But at least it'll get you started.

[TIP 1 TEXT] So let's get to it with Tip One, "Analyze all the tactics." Basically, check to see if you're about to lose any pieces, let a rabbit through, or leave yourself open to any other nasty surprises. It sounds obvious, but even world champions throw games away because of not analyzing the tactics. So get into good habits now.

[SAMPLE POSITION 1] Systematically analyze what your opponent's elephant can do, what his camel can do and so on. For example, in this situation it would be easy to just make a developing move like our opponent. [MOVE] But if we had stopped to check what his elephant is capable of we would have spotted this... [ELEPHANT PUSHES OUR PIECE INTO TRAP FROM BEHIND] Practically everyone makes this mistake at some stage or another. The solution? "Analyze all the tactics"!

[SAMPLE POSITION 2] Sometimes the threat can be a little further off, but still equally deadly. Look at this position; it's our move. Can Silver goal? Not immediately. But if we doesn't do anything about that rabbit, and do something like this for example [MOVE], Silver in the very next move will do this [MOVE]. Silver is now so close to goal that there's nothing we can do about it.

[SAMPLE POSITION 3] Here's another way you can get caught out. In this position it's our opponent's move. Our dog in XX is safe, right? Wrong! Watch. [MOVE] That's called "false protection", because your piece looks safe when it isn't. You get lulled into a false sense of security.

[TIP 1 REVIEW SCREEN] So that's tip 1, "Analyze all the tactics." Each move, get into the habit of asking yourself questions like [SHOW] "What can his elephant do? His camel?" And so on. Also, [SHOW] "What can push or pull what?" Don't forget to then check what you can do.

[TIP 2 TEXT] Great so now we're on to Tip Two, "Create multiple threats." An analogy might be helpful at this point.

[CHESS DIAGRAM] If you've ever played chess you'll know that it's a very tactical game with a lot of "shock and awe" [CHESS COMBINATION] Bang, bang, bang, bang, checkmate! [MUHAMMAD ALI PHOTO] It's a bit like boxing in that you're always looking for that killer punch.

[WRESTLING FOOTAGE] Arimaa is more like wrestling. No fast and furious moves here. One by one you have to accumulate advantages until your opponent loses his footing. Quite often there are lulls where neither player appears to be doing much, but very soon you have exciting twists and turns, and almost until the end it's never clear who's going to come out on top.

[TIP 2 TEXT] That's why our second tip is "Create multiple threats." You have to get out of the habit of looking for something spectacular. You're looking for the straw that breaks the camel's back.

[SAMPLE POSITION 4] Let's see how this works. [MOVE] So we've tried to get a piece to our side, but our opponent [MOVE] has unfreezed it and moved it back to his side. This could go on all day. "Now what?" we say to ourselves. The answer is to create multiple threats.

In this position we could think about [MOVE] gearing up for an assault on his other trap. "But his elephant will just stop that too" you say. Maybe, but it can't stop a minor piece attack and our elephant at the same time!

Basically our threats in this position are, [CAPTIONS APPEAR] "capture" and "trap control". Another kind of threat is, obviously, a "goal threat".

[SAMPLE POSITION 5] Check out this position where we're trying to hammer through our attack. We've lost our camel, but we can still win.

[MOVE] We threatened to do X [MOVE] but he stopped us by plonking a piece on XX. Never fear, [MOVE] we can threaten a capture on XX. MOVE] Of course he can stop that too. Hmm, now I think it's time [MOVE] for a goal threat. [MOVE] He can stop it, [MOVE] but there's more where that came from! He'll never be able to stop them all.

[TIP 2 REVIEW SCREEN] So that's our second tip: "Create multiple threats." The threats we can make are basically these, in order: [SHOW]
"Goal threats", and if we can't do that, [SHOW] "Capture threats", and if we can't do that, [SHOW] "Trap control threats."

This is, of course, an extreme oversimplification, but this will be a good start in helping you to analyze positions to see what the threats are and what you need to be thinking about doing next.

So what's next? [TIP 3 TEXT] "Expand and perfect your toolbox of concepts" [WOODWORKING PICTURES] Imagine you're a woodworker. Every day you're making something different. In your toolbox you've got [TOOL PICTURES] screwdrivers, files, saws, planes, routers, spirit levels and so on. You don't know which one you're going to need and when, so you just take them all with you and take each one out whenever it's needed.

[TIP 3 TEXT] Arimaa's a bit like that in that there are several concepts, that you pick up and learn to use as you get better at Arimaa. Some of these are actually techniques, such as:

[SHOW] "Hostaging",
[SHOW] "Blockading",
[SHOW] "Swarming",
[SHOW] and "Rabbit pulling",

and some of these are more general concepts such as:

[SHOW] "Trap control", as we mentioned a minute ago,
[SHOW] "Space control"
[SHOW] the "Strongest Free Piece"
[SHOW] the most "Efficient Use of Pieces", to do with utilizing the "Piece Hierarchy"
...and so on.

Every game is different so you don't need all of these concepts all of the time. You take them out of your toolbox as and when you need them to find your way forward. To give you an example, [CAMEL HOSTAGE SCREEN] the "camel hostage" is probably one of the most important concepts in Arimaa.

[SAMPLE POSITION 6] If you look at this position, you can see that our elephant has frozen our opponent's camel. The camel can't get out, because even if Silver could get a piece to XX to unfreeze it, there's nowhere for it to go. So we've basically created a permanent capture threat. What can our opponent do about it?

If he tries to stop the capture [MOVE] with an X, then our elephant [MOVE] can just drag it into the trap, and our opponent's back to square one. [BACKTRACK] So his only choice at the moment [MOVE] is to bring the elephant down to stop the capture. This is called a "hostage" situation; we have taken our opponent's camel hostage.

Now another concept comes into play: the "strongest free piece". Of course the strongest pieces on the board are always the elephants, but they're busy right now, ours with hostaging the camel, and his with stopping the camel from being captured. So the strongest *free* piece is now: our camel. [MOVES] Provided we're careful not to let it get too close to our opponent's elephant, we can use it and our other pieces to start making threats around the XX trap square.

[TIP 3 TEXT, WITH LIST] So you see how these different concepts come together to point the way forward. These are not the only ones, and many are still being discovered.

If you want to get up to speed on all these without having to reinvent the wheel, I have a few suggestions for you.

[WIKIBOOK] Over at ... there's a fantastic wikibook that explains a lot of the fundamental strategic concepts you'll need. It doesn't quite reflect *all* the latest trends, but it's an excellent place to swot up.

[FRITZ'S BOOK] Arimaa veteran and two-time world champion Karl Juhnke, also known as Fritzlein, has published the first Arimaa book. It's a superb strategy primer, and also includes intriguing accounts about the history of Arimaa. Well worth the money.

[CHESSANDGO'S BOOK, QUESTION MARK] Four-time world champion Jean Daligault, known as chessandgo, also has a book in the works, so watch this space!

[CHATROOM, TEAMSPEAK, FORUM] Apart from that the best way to keep up to date is to be around for the major Arimaa events. There's usually expert commentary either on Internet radio or in the arimaa.com chatroom, and you're always welcome to post in the arimaa.com forum if you have any questions. There's always a helpful soul to explain things for you.

[TITLE SCREEN] Here they are again, the Three Tips for Better Arimaa:

[SHOW] "Analyze all the tactics",
[SHOW] "Create multiple threats", and
[SHOW] "Expand and perfect your toolbox of concepts"

Hopefully this video has helped to give you a little boost to get you started. Take up the Arimaa gauntlet, and join us as we conquer uncharted territories! And as always,

[LAST SCREEN] "Don't forget to have fun!"
END

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Fritzlein on Oct 29^th, 2011, 3:08pm

Looks great in general. Just a few minor things that caught my eye:

"So let's get to it" happens twice too close.

Perhaps insert instead: "You have to get out of the habit of looking for something spectacular. Instead you're looking for the straw that breaks the camel's back"

has unfreezed -> has unfrozen

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Oct 29^th, 2011, 5:21pm

on 10/29/11 at 15:08:03, Fritzlein wrote:

Oh wow if we're onto minutiae already I take that as a compliment!

Please don't hold back from suggesting anything more substantial if you think it's needed.

Thanks very much again for taking the time to review it.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Oct 31^st, 2011, 4:48am

I can't decide on what style of background music to use:

80's pop (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpc7TBhilFI)

Toned-down Dubstep (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5SD2GPckkU)

Turkish/Ottoman instrumental (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN1UKrLAjmI#t=0m27s)

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by mistre on Oct 31^st, 2011, 10:36am

I caught one error - "But if we doesn't do anything about that rabbit" should be "But if we don't do anything....".

I like the dub-step music of the three you chose.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Nombril on Nov 14^th, 2011, 9:00pm

Would it be OK to have 4 tips instead of 3? I really prefer the first 2 rules in the first iteration (Goals, Captures) as being separate from each other instead of combined under "tactics". They are much more concrete, and deserve to be their own topics. "tactics" is overly general in my mind - especially if the target audience is looking for some good tactics to think about! (I know tips/tactics/strategy have very different meanings, but for someone new to the game...)

I think your update to the introduction was great.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Nov 15^th, 2011, 1:02am

Fritzlein and mistre, I will make those changes you proposed. Thanks!

on 11/14/11 at 21:00:40, Nombril wrote:

Thank you very much for the feedback.

Basically, points 1 and 2 are "tactics" and "strategy" respectively. By that measure goal threats and capture threats definitely belong together under "tactics." Perhaps because I see them as subcategories and not separate categories it just feels wrong to present them as two individual points.

However I hear you when you say that presenting goal threats and capture threats as if they're almost the same thing can cause a disconnect. They're clearly not the same thing. In chess a goal threat is just another capture threat, a threat to capture the king. In Arimaa the way you goal is nothing to do with capturing, in fact you can get so distracted you forget about it.

So here's what I propose: Still keep goal threats and capture threats under tip 1, but present them more clearly as distinct subcategories, or bullet points.

Something like this:

[TIP 1 TEXT] So let's get to it with Tip One, "Analyze all the tactics." Basically, check to see if you're about to ~~lose any pieces, let a rabbit through, or~~ leave yourself open to any ~~other~~ nasty surprises. It sounds obvious, but even world champions throw games away because of not analyzing the tactics. So get into good habits now.

The two most important tactical threats you need to watch out for are [BULLET POINT] Capture Threats, and [BULLET POINT] Goal Threats.

[SAMPLE POSITION 1] To avoid capture threats, systematically analyze what your opponent's elephant can do, what his camel can do and so on. For example, in this situation it would be easy to just make a developing move like our opponent. [MOVE] But if we had stopped to check what his elephant is capable of we would have spotted this... [ELEPHANT PUSHES OUR PIECE INTO TRAP FROM BEHIND] Practically everyone makes this mistake at some stage or another. The solution? "Analyze all the tactics"!

[SAMPLE POSITION 3] Here's another way you can get caught out. In this position it's our opponent's move. Our dog in XX is safe, right? Wrong! Watch. [MOVE] That's called "false protection", because your piece looks safe when it isn't. You get lulled into a false sense of security.

[SAMPLE POSITION 2] Now let's look at goal threats. Basically you have to do the same thing for goal threats as with capture threats. Ask yourself how close to goal each rabbits can get in one move. Sometimes the threat can be ~~a little further off~~ more than one move away, but still ~~equally~~ deadly. Look at this position; it's our move. Can Silver goal? Not immediately. But if we doesn't do anything about that rabbit, and do something like this for example [MOVE], Silver in the very next move will do this [MOVE]. Silver is now so close to goal that there's nothing we can do about it.

[TIP 1 REVIEW SCREEN] So that's tip 1, "Analyze all the tactics." Each move, look out for [BULLET POINT] Capture Threats, and [BULLET POINT] Goal Threats. Get into the habit of asking yourself questions like [SHOW] "What can his elephant do? His camel?" And so on. Also, [SHOW] "What can push or pull what?" And, [SHOW] "How far can he advance his rabbits?" Don't forget to then check what you can do.

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by Nombril on Nov 15^th, 2011, 4:32pm

OK, that differentiation helps. I missed the point of tip 1 being tactics and tip 2 being strategy because tip 2 was a particular strategy being put forward, not strategy in general. So I didn't see the parallel structure you are aiming for.

I suppose tip 3 is a list of additional strategies?

Title: Re: "Playing Arimaa: How to Think"
Post by megajester on Nov 16^th, 2011, 4:10am

Actually, tip 2 is the overarching metastrategy that binds everything in the "toolbox of concepts" together.