Re: Words With Friends Algorithm

[ColonelPanic]

This is a significant AI problem. The generic solution would be running simulated future game outcomes for each potential move to see which one maximizes your probable point advantage. However, this will get expensive very quickly--each move involves scanning thousands of possible word/location combinations, and your opponents' tiles are not known. It would get very interesting if you restrict the amount of time the player can run and the size of the code.

My suggestions:

• Think hard about a good set of rules. To keep this fun, you want to require the players to be fairly simple, and you don't want the games to take forever.
• To start out, just make a game module and post it here, along with a simplistic player that will give people a test opponent. Then people can download it and run it themselves with different players. If the idea draws interest, you can set up something more complex, like a web interface.