100th Game!!!

<-- 100th game!

Yesterday the terminator played it's 100th game! This is an important date so here it is: May 6, 2009. So far the terminator has really improved. During games 76-100 the terminator won 1 game, lost 6,and tied 18. That means during those 25 games it won 4% lost 24% and tied 72%. Pretty big improvement huh? Keep checking in.

Answer To The Brain Teaser

Finally, the moment you have all been waiting for!
The answer to the Brain Teaser...

WAIT!!!

There is a catch! You have to find the answer on the blog...
It is hidden, it could be anywhere!

JUST JOKING!!!

Go to the comments on the post "Brain Teaser."
The answer is in there. You got so close Rory!
And who ever agreed with Rory got very close too!

Learning to Draw

Tic-Tac-Terminator is not yet winning, but its ability to play a game that results in a tie is clearly improving. Of the last 25 games played, 12 ended in a draw; and 11 of those draws occurred in the 18 most recent games.

It is becoming more apparent in some of the common openings that moves that previously led to a loss are dying out as T3 is penalized a bead for each loss and awarded a bead for each draw. Box pattern #30, for example, began with 10 beads: 2 of each color for its five possible moves. That same box currently has 9 beads, 6 of those are orange and that is the one move that blocks a certain loss on the next move.

However, it is also clear that T3 is not yet trained for obvious wins. Several times in recent games it played a successful strategy that gave it a fork with two X's on two different lines. When its human opponent blocked one line, T3 unfortunately failed to choose the alternative winning move. Had it selected the winning square, it would have been rewarded 3 beads of that color, increasing the likelihood that it would play for victory the next time. By ending in a draw instead, and getting awarded a single bead, it reduced slightly the probability it will make the winning move the next time.

It should be interesting to watch how long it takes Tic-Tac-Terminator to discover winning moves and to begin playing them with regularity.

The Terminator's Accomplishment

Yesterday the Terminator made a big accomplishment: its very first cross country tic tac toe game using the phone. The challenger was from Massachusetts. (Thanks, Uncle Tom.) Although it lost, this is a very big accomplishment for the Terminator.

<--The challenger.

Statistics

So far the Terminator is doing well. It's certainly learning. So far it has played 50 games. Each score sheet contains 25 games. For the first 25 games it won twice, had a draw once, and lost 22 times. For the next 25 games it won zero times, tied seven times, and lost only 18. Now for all you math wizards out there, tell us what percentage of wins, draws, and losses the Terminator had for each page. Feel free to post your answers as a comment. Keep checking in.

First Game!

After a lot of of hard work the Tic-Tac-Terminator played its first game. Sadly, it lost to Kevin. (Congratulations, Kevin!) But at least it got smarter in the process. After 11 games, the Tic-Tac-Terminator won only one. But it is on the road to success! Keep checking in to hear about different matches. Soon we hope to find out how to put videos on the blog!

Putting on the Finishing Touch

At last, Tic-Tac-Terminator (T3 as I like to think of her) is ready to go. Here Justin pastes the tic-tac-toe grid on the final matchbox. It represents T3's first move.

Since T3 always plays first (and always plays X), there are three possible unique opening moves: a corner, the center, or a center side position. A color dot appears on the grid in one instance of each of those positions. Four beads of each of those three colors are already inside the box. To begin, one shakes the box and selects a bead at random to mark T3's opening move.

Tic-Tac-Terminator is officially primed and ready to go. You can sense that Justin can practically hear her whispering her first move and challenging all comers to face the stark logic of her tic-tac-toe brain.

Stay tuned.