| Article ID: | iaor20032938 |
| Country: | United States |
| Volume: | 134 |
| Issue: | 1/2 |
| Start Page Number: | 241 |
| End Page Number: | 275 |
| Publication Date: | Jan 2002 |
| Journal: | Artificial Intelligence |
| Authors: | Sheppard B. |
| Keywords: | artificial intelligence, optimization |
Computer Scrabble programs have achieved a level of performance that exceeds that of the strongest human players. MAVEN was the first program to demonstrate this against human opposition. Scrabble is a game of imperfect information with a large branching factor. The techniques successfully applied in two-player games such as chess do not work here. MAVEN combines a selective move generator, simulations of likely game scenarios, and the B* algorithm to produce a world-championship-caliber Scrabble-playing program.