First
Universal Board Game program released
Zillions Development
ships a revolutionary Windows program that can be taught to play nearly
any board game in the world!
Imagine a software
opponent ready to play you any game you teach it ...and beat you. Zillions
Development Corporation, a company founded by professional chess programmers,
has created just such an opponent, Zillions
of Games. "We wanted to  make
a new kind of AI that understands game-play, not just chess, or any other
single game," explains Zillions' inventor, Jeff Mallett. "We wanted to
make it infinitely expandable, so that users could share their games and
download new ones from the net."
Since it comes
pre-loaded with rules for 292 game variants and puzzles, Zillions can teach
you how to play games as well. Classics like Chess, Checkers, Reversi,
Nine Men's Morris, and Go-Moku are included, as are more off-beat selections
like Dodg'em, Neutron, Hip, and dozens of Chess variants. "From the simplicity
of Tic-Tac-Toe to the complexities and subtleties of Shogi and XiangQi,
we're providing a broad range to satisfy any strategy gamer -- all in one
application with one cool user-interface," reports President Mark Lefler,
whose previous Chess engine has toppled some of the world's best  grandmasters
in tournament play. "This makes it a great gift." More games for Zillions
are downloadable from the Zillions of Games website.
Zillions of
Games also allows players to match wits with each other real-time over
the Internet. "People can connect and then chat about which of the hundreds
of board games they want to play," explains Jeff, the author of a client
for a well-known Internet gaming service. Other features of Zillions include
board editing, VCR-style navigation, game saving/loading/printing, skill/time
adjustment, sounds/music/animation, legal move display, hints/solutions,
history/strategy/piece help, moves list, "Smart Moves", and "Face Feedback".
Reported by
Holt Meyers, PC Gameworld, 18th December 1998
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