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, an Indian-American computer engineer trained in artificial intelligence. Syed was inspired by Garry Kasparov's defeat at the hands of the chess computer Deep Blue to design a new game which 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. ("Arimaa" is "Aamir" spelled backwards plus an initial "a".)

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.