A 4x4 board game is played by two players. The game is deterministic, turn taking, zero sumgame and can be named as align3. The board positions can be specified by the row numbers R1, R2, R3,and R4; and column numbers C1, C2, C3, C4.
The row R1 is nearest to the base line as mentioned in the figure ,the two players are you (human, say H) and the intelligent agent (machine, say M ). In this game,player H gets 8 blue colored coins and player M gets 8 green colored coins. A player places a coin in anyone column at a vacant row position while it is necessary to ensure that rows near the baseline should not be left vacant before a coin is placed .
The two players take turn one by one and strategically place their coins to win. The player who achieves the alignment of the three coins wins while the alignment can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.
A single alignment of three coins in anydirection by a player terminates the game. In this game, the coins never move once placed. If no playercan achieve an alignment of three coins and all 8 coins of both players are consumed, then the game is a draw.