Preliminary Design, Implementation and Observations of the Multi-player Game Tri-Othello

Abstract

To study game characteristics, e.g., effective searching strategies and consequence of rules on playing styles, of multi-player games, we extend the popular two-player game Othello to be played by three players and is called Tri-Othello. Previous multi-player games are either too much knowledge involved, e.g., Poker and Mahjong, so that the focus is usually on designing heuristics, or not too much different by simply extending from their two-player versions so that not much extra game related information can be found. Tri-Othello is a simple, fun-to-play, asymmetry, imperfect information game where one player, initially unknown to the opponents, has a goal different from the rest. Through the design and implementation, we understand better how that piece of hided information can be used towards the advantage of particular players. From experimental results, we also understand better why and when multi-player alpha-beta pruning cannot be as effective as its two-player version.