Tavla AI

How to play

• Choose AI vs AI to watch two computer players, or Human vs AI to play. In Human vs AI you are White (moving 1 → 24, home board top right); the computer is Black.
• When it is your turn to roll, click the board. Then click one of your checkers to move it by the highlighted (left) die. Points from which a legal move exists are marked with a yellow ring.
• Click the dice to swap their order when both dice could be played from the same point.
• Standard rules: hit a single opposing checker (blot) to send it to the bar; checkers on the bar must re-enter first; bear off once all your checkers are in your home board. You must use both dice if possible (all four on doubles); if only one die can be used, the larger one must be played.
• The side panel shows the dice still to play, the pip count (total distance still to travel) and the checkers borne off.

How the three AI styles work

The AI does not use minimax. For every legal move it calculates a heuristic score and chooses the highest-scoring move. The selected style changes only these heuristic weights, so you can observe how the same legal-move generator produces different behavior when the evaluation function changes.

Aggressive

Strongly prefers hitting exposed opponent checkers and accepts more blot risk. It uses a larger random tie-breaker, so its play is less predictable.

Balanced

Closely matches the original AI. It balances hitting, making points, protecting blots and bearing off without strongly favoring attack or safety.

Defensive

Strongly rewards making safe points and protecting exposed checkers. It heavily penalizes leaving blots and is less interested in hitting unless the tactical gain is clear.

Important

Changing the selector does not alter a game already in progress. Press Restart with style to start a new game with the new parameter set. In AI vs AI mode both sides use the selected profile. Mode menu stops the current game and shows the mode choice again.