Optimal Play
Optimal play for 2-player Pig was computed by Todd W. Neller and visualized by Clifton G. M. Presser in 2001. The figure to the right visualizes optimal play. At any time, the relevant decision information includes the player's score, the opponent's score, and the turn total. Such information corresponds to a 3D point in the graph's space. If this point is inside the gray solid, the player should roll. Otherwise, the player should hold.
Details of the analysis are available from the Game of Pig website, and:
- Todd W. Neller and Clifton G.M. Presser. Optimal Play of the Dice Game Pig, The UMAP Journal 25(1) (2004), pp. 25–47.
Analyses of many 2-dice variants are available in:
- Todd W. Neller and Clifton G.M. Presser. Pigtail: A Pig Addendum, The UMAP Journal 26(4) (2005), pp. 443–458.
Human-playable Pig strategies are compared to optimal play in:
- Todd W. Neller and Clifton G.M. Presser. Practical Play of the Dice Game Pig, The UMAP Journal 31(1) (2010), pp. 5–19.
A Pig applet with an optimal computer opponent is also available.
Read more about this topic: Pig (dice)
Famous quotes containing the words optimal and/or play:
“It is the child in man that is the source of his uniqueness and creativeness, and the playground is the optimal milieu for the unfolding of his capacities and talents.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“when the moment comes
we’ll talk turkey,
we’ll shoot words straight from the hip,
we’ll play it as it lays.
Yes,
when death comes with its hood
we won’t be polite.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)