Arimaa

Arimaa /əˈriːmə/ ^ⓘ (ə-REE-mə) is a two-player strategy board game that was designed to be playable with a standard chess set and difficult for computers while still being easy to learn and fun to play for humans. It was invented between 1997 and 2002 by Omar Syed. Arimaa is a complex abstract strategy game and after decades of play, a body of theory has developed among high level players, along with a few books on the game. Arimaa has also developed a community on the internet, where tournaments are played.

An Indian-American computer engineer trained in artificial intelligence, Omar Syed was inspired by Garry Kasparov's defeat at the hands of the chess computer Deep Blue to design a new game. His goal was to make a game that could be played with a standard chess set, would be difficult for computers to play well, but would have rules simple enough for his then four-year-old son Aamir to understand. The name "Arimaa" is "Aamir" spelled backwards plus an initial "a". In 2002, Omar Syed published the rules of Arimaa and had them patented in 2003 (the patent expired in 2023), and the name Arimaa became a registered trademark. Arimaa sets were developed and sold by Z-man Games beginning in 2009.

Syed also established the Arimaa Challenge to promote the game. A prize of USD 10,000 would be available each year until 2020 to reward the first program, running on a standard consumer computer, capable of defeating a high-level human player in a match of six games or more. Beginning in 2004, the Arimaa community held three annual tournaments: a World Championship (humans only), a Computer Championship (computers only), and the Arimaa Challenge (human vs. computer). After eleven years of human dominance, the 2015 challenge was won decisively by the computer (Sharp by David Wu).

Arimaa has won several awards including GAMES Magazine 2011 Best Abstract Strategy Game, Creative Child Magazine 2010 Strategy Game of the Year, and the 2010 Parents' Choice Approved Award. It has also been the subject of several research papers.