Researchers Solve Checkers, Once And For All (broadcast Friday, July 20th, 2007)

Checkers game, Visalia, California, 1941. Photo by Robert Hemmig. Library of Congress image.

If you're not camping out to grab the new Harry Potter book, how about a nice game of checkers? Researchers report in the journal Science this week that after sorting through 500 billion billion possible moves, they've been able to create a computer program that will never lose a game of checkers -- though if both players play perfectly, the game will end in a draw. What does it mean to have solved the game of checkers -- and does that achievement have any bearing on other games, like chess or poker? We'll talk with one of the scientists on the checker-playing team.