Computer programs able to play different kinds of games (aka bots) is a growing area of interest for the computer game industry as the demand for better skilled computerized opponents increase. We propose a general architecture of a Multi-agent System (Mas) based bot able to play complex board games and show that this solution is able to outperform other bots in two quite different games, namely no-press Diplomacy and Risk. Based on these results, we formulate a hypothesis of the applicability of Mas based bots in the domain of board games and identify the need for future investigations in the area. Categories and Subject Descriptors I.2.11 [Distributed Artificial Intelligence]: [Multiagent systems, Coherence and coordination] General Terms Algorithms Keywords Multiagent system architecture, Board games, RISK, Diplomacy
Stefan J. Johansson