ABSTRACT
Computer programs that play games have been extensively studied in recent years. One reason for the popularity of game-playing programs is that games have well-defined problem environments and are sufficiently complex to provide a useful source of problem situations for testing different heuristic techniques. This chapter introduces a winning strategy for SIM which is based on a simple evaluation function. The objective for developing the computer program is to find a heuristic strategy simple enough to be useful as a guide for the second player when playing the game by hand, while sufficiently powerful to guarantee a high probability of winning. The chapter describes the heuristic approach employed in the program. It discusses the results of playing over one thousand games. The chapter compares the compared to the approach taken by Nairn and Sperry.
