A parallel algorithm for solving the 'Hip' games

A parallel algorithm for solving the 'Hip' games based on an artificial neural network model is presented in this paper. The game of 'Hip' is named because of the hipster's reputed disdain for 'squares'. The rule of the game is to place the counters on a checkerboard so that four of them do not mark the corners of a square. The square may be of any size and be tipped at any angle. Normally this game is played by two players, where the game on a six-by-six checkerboard is the maximum size for the solution. The solution means that every player can place all the counters on the checkerboard without violations. In other words, the goal of our algorithm is to find the pattern of a draw game between players where they should not mark the corners of a square. In order to enlarge the size of the checkerboard where a solution exists, we modified the game as n/2 players play on an n-by-n checkerboard where n is an even number. The proposed parallel algorithm requires m × n² processing elements for the m-player-n-by-n-checkerboard game to find the solution of the 'Hip' games. The algorithm is verified by solving six games where the size of the checkerboard is varied from 4 to 12.