Arimaa is a two-player abstract strategy board game designed to be playable with a standard chess set while staying difficult for computers and easy for people to learn. It was invented between 1997 and 2002 by Omar Syed, an Indian-American computer engineer trained in artificial intelligence, who was inspired by Garry Kasparov's defeat by the chess computer Deep Blue. The name is Aamir, the name of his young son, spelled backwards with an initial a. Syed published the rules in 2002 and patented them in 2003, and the patent expired in 2023. He also set up the Arimaa Challenge, with a yearly prize of USD 10,000 until 2020 for a program that could beat a strong human, which a computer called Sharp, by David Wu, finally won in 2015. The game has won several awards, a body of theory and a few books, and an internet community with tournaments.
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Playing Time Skill or Luck Game Category Game Category Game Mechanic Game Mechanic Game Mechanic Game Mechanic Game Mechanic Minimum Players Maximum Players Sport
Game Type (category) Game Type (category) Classification
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Sources
1. Arimaa (source article)
Lead sentence
is a two-player strategy board game
Lead, second paragraph
In 2002, Omar Syed published the rules of Arimaa
Infobox: random_chance
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View the Source2. Arimaa (BoardGameGeek)
- Playing Time: 60
- Designer: Aamir Syed
- Designer: Omar Syed
- Publisher: (Self-Published)
- Publisher: Z-Man Games
- Game Category: Abstract Strategy
- Game Category: Animals
- Game Mechanic: Action Points
- Game Mechanic: Grid Movement
- Game Mechanic: Slide / Push
- Game Mechanic: Square Grid
- Game Mechanic: Zone of Control
- Minimum Players: 2
- Maximum Players: 2
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