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Click here to download Killer Hearts V5.02 (released 2/3/2008; for now it is free). |
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I learned Hearts in my college fraternity house. I liked the game a lot and got pretty good at it, becoming the unofficial champion of the house. Years later, I joined a team of very smart software designers and programmers. To ease the stress of the job, we usually played Hearts at lunch. I thought I was a pretty good player, but playing Hearts every day with guys who were brilliant logicians and superb card-players was a real eye-opener. Hey, those guys could play! In our games, if one didn't at least count cards, it was Goodbye, Cholly!
After I left that job, I entered a Hearts vacuum — until I discovered Hearts-playing computer programs. In 1994-5 I studied the few Hearts-playing computer games that I could find. I concentrated on the best of them and, after a time, began corresponding with its author. He wrote me that he had never found anyone who could win more than 30 - 40% of games against his program over at least 100 games. That was all I needed to hear. I took up the gauntlet, and so well had my friends taught me that many times I beat his program 56 games out of 100. I dutifully reported my results in detail to him. I don’t think he quite knew what to make of me, but he did incorporate several of my suggestions into his game.
I played MS Hearts, Cardshark Hearts, MVP Hearts, Pedriana Hearts, and every other Hearts-playing program I could find, but I could not find a program that I couldn't beat more than half the time. Finally, in 2001 I decided to write my own. My goal for Killer Hearts (KH) was that it be able to play me to a stand-still. How well did I succeed? In my last 87 games against KH V4 (most played with duplicate deals), my win rate is 0.253. Killer Hearts has no respect.
Killer Hearts has a powerful inferencing engine, which helps each automatic player determine what cards the other three players have left. These automata play cooperatively when such play is called for, and they hound the leader unmercifully. Their play is score-dependent, they Shoot the Moon well, and defend against Shoots well. As with Killer Setback, KH is not a game for those who love cute characters, lots of card backs and backgrounds, witty sayings, and the like. However, if you are looking for a program to give you a very tough game of Hearts, Killer Hearts will give you a shock. You may learn why it has earned its name.
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Click here to download Killer Hearts V5.02 (released 2/3/2008; for now it is free). |
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"On Hearts" is a paper I wrote in 1995, long before I began writing Killer Hearts. An early version of this paper has long been available on Internet sites (I am not quite sure how it got there). I gave someone who was writing a Hearts-playing program permission to use it on the Help menu of his program, but I don't know if he ever did. Anyhow, this version is the latest.
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Click here to download the paper, "On Hearts." |
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