SimpleTak Environment Documentation

Overview

SimpleTak is a streamlined version of the Tak board game where players place stones ('O' and 'X') on a square grid. The objective is to connect two opposite edges of the board by forming a continuous path of their stones. The environment supports arbitrary board sizes, making it suitable for training agents on various board configurations.

Action Space

• Format: Actions are strings representing the player's chosen cell. The format is:

  [cell_number]
  

• Examples:
  • Place a stone in cell 12: [12]
  • Place a stone in cell 0: [0]
• Notes: The players may include additional text before or after their move. Only the properly formatted cell number in square brackets will be parsed.

Observation Space

Reset Observations

On reset, each player receives a prompt describing the rules and the current board. For example:

You are Player 0 in SimpleTak. Your stones appear as 'O' and your opponent's stones appear as 'X'.
On your turn, choose an empty cell (by its number) and place your stone there.
For example, '[12]' places your stone in cell 12.
Your objective is to form a continuous path connecting opposite edges (top-to-bottom or left-to-right).

Current Board:

  +----+----+----+----+
  |  0 |  1 |  2 |  3 |
  +----+----+----+----+
  |  4 |  5 |  6 |  7 |
  +----+----+----+----+
  |  8 |  9 | 10 | 11 |
  +----+----+----+----+
  | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
  +----+----+----+----+

Available Moves: [0], [1], [2], ..., [15]

Step Observations

After each move, players receive the updated board state and available moves.

Gameplay

• Players: 2 (Player 0 and Player 1)
• Initial Setup: An empty NxN grid
• Player Symbols:
  • Player 0: 'O'
  • Player 1: 'X'
• Objective: Form a continuous path connecting two opposite edges.

Key Rules

1. Valid Moves:

   • Players can only place stones in empty cells.
   • Moves are submitted as [cell_number].

2. Winning Conditions:

   • A player wins by connecting opposite edges of the board with a continuous line of their stones.

3. Draws:

   • If all cells are filled with no winner, the game ends in a draw.

4. Invalid Moves:

   • If a player selects an occupied cell, the move is invalid.

Rewards

Contact

For questions or issues with this environment, please reach out to guertlerlo@cfar.a-star.edu.sg.