kicking the tires on jev with 2048

I finally got a chance to kick the tires on jev (jev-1.13.0). I thought it'd do really well playing 2048.

the strategy I used was: hand it the current board state and give it the option of up, down, left, right. I tried that 4 ways (the jev rows in the table).. each row links to the request I sent.

with just the board it does about as well as making random moves. it does best when code works out what each move would do to the board and jev picks from those.. then it's about as good as a fixed rule (e.g. always left if that moves anything, else down, else right, else up).

I didn't have long to spend on it, so I'm likely missing something.

scores

every game was played to the end.

first choice did nothing: how often jev's top pick was a move that doesn't change the board (e.g. left, when every tile is already against the left wall and nothing can merge). when that happened I played its next pick.

n/a: random and the fixed rules only pick moves that do something, and in the last jev row those were the only ones on offer.

the requests

one per jev row, all for the same board.

request 1

jev, given the board.

{
  "state": {
    "board": {
      "row1": ". . . .",
      "row2": ". . . .",
      "row3": "2 . . .",
      "row4": "4 . 2 2"
    }
  },
  "model": "jev-latest",
  "questions": {
    "move": {
      "type": "choice",
      "instructions": "Which move should the 2048 player make on `board`?",
      "criteria": {
        "up": null,
        "down": null,
        "left": null,
        "right": null
      }
    }
  }
}

request 2

jev, given the board, the rules and a description of each move.

{
  "state": {
    "board": {
      "top_row":    ["empty", "empty", "empty", "empty"],
      "second_row": ["empty", "empty", "empty", "empty"],
      "third_row":  ["2", "empty", "empty", "empty"],
      "bottom_row": ["4", "empty", "2", "2"]
    }
  },
  "model": "jev-latest",
  "questions": {
    "move": {
      "type": "choice",
      "instructions": {
        "question": "Which move should the 2048 player make next on `board`?",
        "layout": "`board` lists its rows from top to bottom. Each row lists its four cells from left to right.",
        "rules": "A move slides every tile as far as it can go in one direction. Two tiles with the same number that collide merge into one tile with their sum. A move that changes nothing on the board is not allowed.",
        "goal": "Pick the move that leaves the player best placed to keep merging and reach larger tiles."
      },
      "criteria": {
        "up": "Every tile slides toward `board.top_row`",
        "down": "Every tile slides toward `board.bottom_row`",
        "left": "Every tile slides toward the first cell of its row",
        "right": "Every tile slides toward the last cell of its row"
      }
    }
  }
}

request 3

jev, given the board and a tip.

{
  "state": {
    "board": {
      "row1": ". . . .",
      "row2": ". . . .",
      "row3": "2 . . .",
      "row4": "4 . 2 2"
    }
  },
  "model": "jev-latest",
  "questions": {
    "move": {
      "type": "choice",
      "instructions": {
        "question": "Which move is best for the 2048 player on `board`?",
        "strategy": "Keep the largest tile in the bottom-left corner. Keep the bottom row full and ordered, largest on the left. Prefer moves that merge tiles. Avoid a move that lets a small tile slip under the largest."
      },
      "criteria": {
        "up": "Slide every tile up",
        "down": "Slide every tile down",
        "left": "Slide every tile left",
        "right": "Slide every tile right"
      }
    }
  }
}

request 4

jev, given the board each move would lead to, the points it scores, and the same tip. down is missing because it would do nothing here.

{
  "state": {
    "boards": {
      "up": {
        "board": {
          "row1": "2 . 2 2",
          "row2": "4 . . .",
          "row3": ". . . .",
          "row4": ". . . ."
        },
        "gained": 0
      },
      "left": {
        "board": {
          "row1": ". . . .",
          "row2": ". . . .",
          "row3": "2 . . .",
          "row4": "4 4 . ."
        },
        "gained": 4
      },
      "right": {
        "board": {
          "row1": ". . . .",
          "row2": ". . . .",
          "row3": ". . . 2",
          "row4": ". . 4 4"
        },
        "gained": 4
      }
    }
  },
  "model": "jev-latest",
  "questions": {
    "move": {
      "type": "choice",
      "instructions": {
        "question": "Each entry of `boards` is the 2048 board one move would leave. Which board is best for the player?",
        "strategy": "Keep the largest tile in the bottom-left corner. Keep the bottom row full and ordered, largest on the left. Prefer moves that merge tiles. Avoid a move that lets a small tile slip under the largest."
      },
      "criteria": {
        "up": null,
        "left": null,
        "right": null
      }
    }
  }
}