# Modern Techniques for Ancient Games

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.10066 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.10066/

## Key facts

- Cited by 9 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 30 Dec 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 9 of 9)

- [General Board Game Concepts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.01078/) (2021)
- [General Game Heuristic Prediction Based on Ludeme Descriptions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2105.12846/) (2021)
- [Measuring Board Game Distance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2301.03913/) (2023)
- [Spatial State-Action Features for General Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.06401/) (2022)
- [Automatic Generation of Board Game Manuals](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.09507/) (2021)
- [General Board Geometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.11329/) (2021)
- [Evolutionary Tabletop Game Design: A Case Study in the Risk Game](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.20008/) (2023)
- [CogniPlay: a work-in-progress Human-like model for General Game Playing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.05868/) (2025)
- [A Technique to Create Weaker Abstract Board Game Agents via Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.00711/) (2022)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Games potentially provide a wealth of knowledge about our shared cultural past and the development of human civilisation, but our understanding of early games is incomplete and often based on unreliable reconstructions. This paper describes the Digital Ludeme Project, a five-year research project currently underway that aims to address such issues using modern computational techniques.