A short list of games robots still can’t win

Karate competitions: Not on the list.
Karate competitions: Not on the list.
Image: Reuters/Ruben Sprich
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Yesterday, AlphaGo, an artificially intelligent algorithm developed by Google subsidy DeepMind, beat arguably the best player in the world at the ancient game of Go. It’s a game that AI researchers have been trying to crack for years, with one prominent researcher saying in December the game wouldn’t be solved for another decade. AlphaGo promptly beat the reigning European champion in January.

The algorithm is now facing off in a best-of-five game against Korean Go master Lee Se-dol. AlphaGo is 1-0, and Garry Kasparov, the chess grand master who lost a series of chess matches to a computer in 1997, thinks the writing is already on the wall:

It’s worth remembering that although this is an amazing feat of computer science, we’ve not yet engineered our own demise at the hands of robots. They still can’t walk down stairs or even assemble Ikea furniture that well. And even as robots become more like us, there are so many other games that we can beat robots at quite handily. Here’s a short list Quartz compiled to help you, and Lee, keep your spirits up as Google potentially closes in on a win over humanity:

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Jenga

Red rover

Twister

Settlers of Catan

Spin the bottle

Pokémon

Dungeons & Dragons

The 100 meter dash

Pictionary

Life

Monopoly

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All other variations of Monopoly

Cards Against Humanity

Soccer

The Bachelor

Truth or dare

Hopscotch

Russian roulette

Global thermonuclear war

Competitive cup stacking