Random-Turn Hex and other selection games

dc.creatorPeres, Yuval
dc.creatorSchramm, Oded
dc.creatorSheffield, Scott
dc.creatorWilson, David B.
dc.date2005-08-29
dc.date2006-04-26
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T12:46:22Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T12:46:22Z
dc.descriptionThe game of Hex has two players who take turns placing stones of their respective colors on the hexagons of a rhombus-shaped hexagonal grid. Black wins by completing a crossing between two opposite edges, while White wins by completing a crossing between the other pair of opposite edges. Although ordinary Hex is famously difficult to analyze, Random-Turn Hex--in which players toss a coin before each turn to decide who gets to place the next stone--has a simple optimal strategy. It belongs to a general class of random-turn games--called selection games--in which the expected payoff when both players play the random-turn game optimally is the same as when both players play randomly. We also describe the optimal strategy and study the expected length of the game under optimal play for Random-Turn Hex and several other selection games.
dc.description17 pages, 7 figures
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/math/0508580
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/math/0508580
dc.identifierAmerican Mathematical Monthly, 114:373--387, May 2007
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/221361
dc.subjectProbability
dc.subject91A15; 82B43; 06E30
dc.titleRandom-Turn Hex and other selection games
dc.typetext

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