Middlebury College
Department of Computer Science Seminar
Pondering Probabilistic Play Possibilities for Pig
Todd Neller
Assistant Professor of Computer Science
Gettysburg College
The game of Pig is a simple jeopardy dice game in which two players race to score 100 points. Each turn, one repeatedly rolls a single die until one either rolls a 1 (a.k.a. "pig") and scores nothing, or holds (stops rolling) and scores the sum of the rolls. For such a simple dice game, one might expect simple optimal play as with blackjack, where one can memorize a table of when to hit, stand, etc. As we shall see, this simple dice game yields a complex and intriguing optimal policy.
We begin by describing the game of Pig and a play policy for maximizing one's expected score. We then explain why this policy is not optimal, describe how the optimal policy can be computed, and explore the value-iteration technique that was applied to this game and related games, such as Pass the Pigs.
Friday, November 11, 2005
12:20 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.
McCardell Bicentennial Hall 538
Lunch will be provided at 12:05 p.m.
All are welcome to attend!
This event is supported by the Computer Science Enrichment Fund