The character of the AIs

The 8 opponents of solo mode, from easiest to hardest. This order is not set by hand: it follows players’ win rate against each one, and updates itself every day. The two beginner levels stay first. Each portrait is drawn from the AI’s own program.

  1. Novice Sower

    The kindly beginner

    How it plays

    It calculates nothing. Among its moves, it rules out those that would leave you with no move or no seeds, then picks one at random. Its tutorial comments on the game and shows you the possible captures.

    How to beat it Use it to learn to spot captures: before each move, look for an opposing pit with 1 or 2 seeds that your last seed can reach.

    Players’ wins
    54.3 %

  2. Seed Keeper

    The glutton

    How it plays

    It only looks at the move it is about to play. If it can capture, it picks the biggest capture, without wondering what you will take back afterwards. Otherwise, it plays the move that leaves the fewest seeds in your pits holding 2 or 3. Like the first level, it never leaves you without a move or without seeds.

    How to beat it Set bait: offer a small capture that opens a bigger one for you right after. It always takes the biggest capture available.

    Players’ wins
    33.5 %

  3. Probabilistic Strategist

    The unpredictable one

    How it plays

    It doesn’t score positions: it plays thousands of imaginary games to the end and keeps the move that did best. It likes building big pits to go round the board, is wary of yours, and records positions it has already seen in your browser to use them again. When behind on score, it becomes more aggressive.

    How to beat it Take the lead early: it is when it is behind that it tries its riskiest moves, and leaves the most captures.

    Players’ wins
    26.2 %

  4. Furrow Wanderer

    The phase calculator

    How it plays

    A real search engine: it sorts its moves, calculates 7 to 9 half-moves ahead depending on the seeds left, and extends capture exchanges so as not to stop halfway. Its priorities change during the game: mobility and board control at the start, capturing and safety at the end, where a captured seed counts two and a half times more. Before playing, it checks once more that its move does not offer you a big capture.

    How to beat it Think further ahead than it does: a plan that only pays off beyond four or five moves, like filling a pit for a big capture, is beyond what it calculates.

    Players’ wins
    24.8 %

  5. Immutable Sage SIR

    The finisher

    How it plays

    It thinks like its twin ZAK — the “steps” — but weighs more criteria: it is wary of its own pits holding 2 or 3 seeds and likes the ones it has emptied. Below 15 seeds, its temperament changes: its captures count double and the slightest weakness costs it dearly. Below 10 seeds, it gathers its seeds in its last pits. It will never starve you.

    How to beat it Make the difference before 15 seeds are left on the board: in the endgame, it lets almost nothing through.

    Players’ wins
    12.3 %

  6. Immutable Sage ZAK

    The step watcher

    How it plays

    It calculates further and further ahead, one level at a time. To judge a position, it counts its “steps”: each empty pit on its side is worth 5 points, each of your pits holding 2 or 3 seeds 3 points. If its empty pits win, it adds 10,000 points to the position, otherwise it subtracts them: this verdict outweighs everything else, and captures, mobility or exposed pits only break ties.

    How to beat it It likes emptying its pits, sometimes too much: when its side thins out, it has fewer moves available. That is the moment to press it.

    Players’ wins
    8.8 %

  7. Ancestral Spirit

    The smotherer

    How it plays

    It calculates further and further ahead, one level at a time. It judges a position by captures, its mobility, its seeds and exposed pits — but as soon as you have only two possible moves or fewer, it gives itself a huge bonus, worth up to seven captured seeds. It never leaves you without a move, but it loves leaving you just one.

    How to beat it Always keep several playable moves: spread your seeds over several pits. The fewer choices you have, the more dangerous it is.

    Players’ wins
    4 %

  8. V2 Oware Master

    The master

    How it plays

    An engine built like chess engines, completely rewritten in 2026 to win — hence the “V2”. It reasons with the exact rules of the game, sees much further than all the others, knows that the game is over at 25 seeds and always picks the quickest win. It opens with a book of 918 positions prepared in advance, and knows the exact value of every endgame with ten seeds or fewer. When the game is level, it refuses the draw, and it varies its openings between equally good moves: a game won against it cannot be replayed move for move.

    How to beat it Don’t count on a miscalculation or a badly played endgame: you have to gain the upper hand in the middlegame, keeping your seeds spread out and never offering it a capture. Analyse your games to see where they turned.

    Players’ wins
    0 %

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