Project information

Isolation Game AI

This project involved implementing the minimax algorithm with alpha-beta pruning to create an AI that can plan and win a variation of Skid Isolation. Georgia Tech's AI Instructions described the game in the following way:

"The rules of Skid Isolation are a variation of the original Isolation. In the original form of the game there are two players, each with their own game piece, and a 7-by-7 grid of squares. At the beginning of the game, the first player places their piece on any square. The second player follows suit, and places their piece on any one of the available squares. From that point on, the players alternate turns moving their piece like a queen in chess (any number of open squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally). When the piece is moved, the square that was previously occupied is blocked, and cannot be used for the remainder of the game. The first player who is unable to move their queen loses.

In this variant called the Skid Isolation, each player leaves behind a trace when they move their queen. We say the piece/queen "skids", and as a result the skid places a permanent block in the previously occupied block and the block "just before" the player's current position, through which the piece/queen passed. The opponent cannot move on or through squares blocked by this skid."

The slide images illustrate this game. In implementing my solution, I was able to achieve an 85% win ratio.