Games published by Sheppard Company, Inc.
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Maven
Maven is an excellent Scrabble program for the PC by Brian Sheppard.
Maven is not only one of the first Scrabble games to provide a good enough challenge for expert players, it is one of the first computer games to reach championship caliber in any parlor/board game. In fact, the game is so good that Hasbro's 1999 PC Scrabble game is based on a more powerful version of the AI that powered Maven - and the game was designed by none other than Sheppard himself. The extraordinary AI of Maven was coded using a 'simulation-based' approach. Before the final phase of the game, the computer player in Maven chooses his moves using simulation to try to determine which move would lead him to score the maximum number of points. To select a move, Maven generates a set of candidate moves, simulates these moves for a given number of trials, and finally chooses the move whose expected value is the highest. In another programming feat, Maven does not randomly assign seven of the remaining unknown tiles to the opponent. Instead, it tries to match the distribution actually seen in games, biasing its choice to give the human player a 'nice' hand. It even infers your possible future moves based on your previous moves. The result is an incredibly strong Scrabble opponent that even expert players will find hard to beat (Maven has actually beaten several Grandmasters, the top ranked players in the world). With a very powerful AI and plenty of options you can use to customize your game (adding word lists, board layouts, etc. ), Maven is a top-notch program that will keep Scrabble fans entertained for hours on end.
