We examine various techniques for finding strategies in various games such as rock paper scissors, tic-tac-toe and go by turning a game’s qualitative aspects into quantitative aspects to talk about them mathematically. Game theory and the concept of a Nash equilibrium and subgame perfect equilibrium are introduced, as well as methods for computing each. We then discuss associative decision making, which encompasses concepts such as Markov decision processes, the Bellman equations, rollouts and the Monte Carlo tree search. Finally, we introduct neural networks and provide the theory on how they can assist decision making both in general and in games. A simulation of the techniques neural networks used is provided. Particular attention is given to the program AlphaGo, which was used to defeat former go world champion Lee Sedol four games to one in 2016.
","abstract_html":"<p>We examine various techniques for finding strategies in various games such as rock paper scissors, tic-tac-toe and go by turning a game’s qualitative aspects into quantitative aspects to talk about them mathematically. Game theory and the concept of a Nash equilibrium and subgame perfect equilibrium are introduced, as well as methods for computing each. We then discuss associative decision making, which encompasses concepts such as Markov decision processes, the Bellman equations, rollouts and the Monte Carlo tree search. Finally, we introduct neural networks and provide the theory on how they can assist decision making both in general and in games. A simulation of the techniques neural networks used is provided. Particular attention is given to the program AlphaGo, which was used to defeat former go world champion Lee Sedol four games to one in 2016.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Godon, Mathew T."],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Science (MS) in Computer Science","degree_level":"Thesis: EWU Only","degree_discipline":"Computer Science and Electrical Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2023,"date_issued":"2023-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2023-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:13:16Z","subjects":["Artificial Intelligence and Robotics","Theory and Algorithms"],"languages":[],"rights":["Access perpetually restricted to EWU users with an active EWU NetID"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/843","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Godon, Mathew T."]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Computer Science and Electrical Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis: EWU Only"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Science (MS) in Computer Science"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Artificial Intelligence and Robotics","Theory and Algorithms"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Access perpetually restricted to EWU users with an active EWU NetID"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/843"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["We examine various techniques for finding strategies in various games such as rock paper scissors, tic-tac-toe and go by turning a game’s qualitative aspects into quantitative aspects to talk about them mathematically. Game theory and the concept of a Nash equilibrium and subgame perfect equilibrium are introduced, as well as methods for computing each. We then discuss associative decision making, which encompasses concepts such as Markov decision processes, the Bellman equations, rollouts and the Monte Carlo tree search. Finally, we introduct neural networks and provide the theory on how they can assist decision making both in general and in games. A simulation of the techniques neural networks used is provided. Particular attention is given to the program AlphaGo, which was used to defeat former go world champion Lee Sedol four games to one in 2016.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["From Tic-tac-toe to AlphaGo: a survey of algorithms used in various games"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:creator":["Godon, Mathew T."],"dc:description.abstract":["We examine various techniques for finding strategies in various games such as rock paper scissors, tic-tac-toe and go by turning a game’s qualitative aspects into quantitative aspects to talk about them mathematically. Game theory and the concept of a Nash equilibrium and subgame perfect equilibrium are introduced, as well as methods for computing each. We then discuss associative decision making, which encompasses concepts such as Markov decision processes, the Bellman equations, rollouts and the Monte Carlo tree search. Finally, we introduct neural networks and provide the theory on how they can assist decision making both in general and in games. A simulation of the techniques neural networks used is provided. Particular attention is given to the program AlphaGo, which was used to defeat former go world champion Lee Sedol four games to one in 2016.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://dc.ewu.edu/theses/843"],"dc:rights":["Access perpetually restricted to EWU users with an active EWU NetID"],"dc:subject":["Artificial Intelligence and Robotics","Theory and Algorithms"],"dc:title":["From Tic-tac-toe to AlphaGo: a survey of algorithms used in various games"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Computer Science and Electrical Engineering"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis: EWU Only"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Science (MS) in Computer Science"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:13:16Z"}