This research is concerned with the problem of constructing a program for a computer
which will enable it to play Cowry board game. Cowry game, also known as Chowka Bhara,
is an ancient board game originated in India. It is a race game of chance and strategy played
by two to four players in which playing pieces are moved around a 5×5 square board.
The game objective is to be the first player to move all the pieces along a specified track
and into a finishing location. Piece movement is determined by throwing special dice,
cowry shells, which are a special variety of seashells.
This game involves reasoning under uncertainty and stochasticity with multiple
players, and the decisions have to be made based on incomplete knowledge. Hence, it may
be regarded as a suitable domain for exploring various approaches in real-time strategic
decision-making. This research investigates the potential for an artificially intelligent Cowry
game player, capable of playing on a high-performing level against human opponents.
We begin the thesis with an overview of intelligent game playing from the perspective
of artificial intelligence (AI) research and introduce a few important game theory terms
required for a better understanding of this work. We provide a brief description of Cowry
game and discuss our motivations for choosing this game for research, as well as some of its
potential applications in real-life. We then give a summary of the literature review and the
related supporting ideas, which leads to the formulation of the problem statement and
the research objectives. The research accomplishments in this thesis are arranged in four
contributory chapters as follows,