The 2021 Computer Olympiad will be held online. You must register by August 18, and play will commence on August 23.
As was the case last year, we are delighted to be using the Ludii software to conduct some of the Olympiad competitions. “Ludii is a general game system designed to play, evaluate and design a wide range of games, including board games, card games, dice games, mathematical games, and so on.” There are over 300 games currently available on the Ludii site. For many of them, you have the chance to build the world’s best AI! Ludii has an appealing graphical user interface, as well as many useful tools for the game competitor.
Note that for some competitions, if all the competitors agree, an established non-Ludii site can be used for the Olympiad competition. For example, a few popular games have established servers that facilitate computer-versus-computer play. It may be more convenient for competitors to use a site they are familiar with, rather than having to build a Ludii interface.
Games
In recent Olympiads, the following games have been contested. If your favorite games is not on this list and you know that there are at least two potential entrants, please contact us and we can add a new game to the Olympiad.
In the 202 Olympiad, competitions were held for the following games: Amazons, Breakthrough, Chinese Dark Chess, Honeymoon Bridge, Chinese Checkers, Clobber, Connect6, Dots and Boxes, EinStein Würfelt Nicht, International Draughts, Go (9×9), Gomoku (Outer-Open), Havannah (8×8), Hex (13×13), Hex (19×19), Mahjong, Mini Shogi, Nonogram, Othello (8×8), Othello (10×10), Outer-Open Gomoku, and Surakarta.
Interest has been expressed in starting a new competition in Sylver Coinage. Interest has also been expressed in having competitions in the following games which have been played in previous Olympiads: Arimaa, Ataxx, Chinese Chess, Lines of Action, and Santorini.
Important Dates
- August 18: last day to register for the Olympiad
- August 22: registration fees must be paid
- August 23-30: competition
Awards
Each event will award a gold medal, and silver and bronze medals depending on the number of entries. Medal winners will receive a certificate and the right to hold the title <Gold/Silver/Bronze> Medal winner at the 2021 ICGA Computer Olympiad.
Registration
40 Euro for each program entry. A person is allowed to have an entry in multiple competitions. At least one member from each team must be a member of the ICGA.
You can register here.
Interfacing to Ludii
Information on how to connect your AI program to Ludii can be found at the Luddi site (under “Creating a Ludii agent“).
Rules
The rules for an online Olympiad are a work in progress. Please look at them carefully, as there are changes over previous years: Computer Olympiad 2020 Rules.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Cameron Browne and the Ludii team for adding the network interface to their system. Their support for the ICGA Computer Olympiad is greatly appreciated!
For More Information
- Hiroyuki Iida (iida@jaist.ac.jp)
- Jonathan Schaeffer (jonathan@ualberta.ca)