I was playing Literati with Kortnee this evening. In the middle of the game, I had a Very Bad Idea^TM. I thought, how hard would it be to create a program to automatically calculate the best possible move for me? The program itself wouldn't be too bad, but I’m not sure I could make the whole thing fast enough to be usable. But I like a challenge.

So now, I’m in the process of installing Visual Studio 2005 on Wraith so I can start the project. And I’ve got a short list of preliminary design requirements and ideas.

Preliminary Design Requirements
• Must track current state of board
• Must keep track of current letters in hand
• Must use dictionary.com spell checker or equivalent
• Must give the results as best scores possible
• Must be able to do so within 3 minutes
• Must be able to quickly enter your moves and opponents moves

Ideas & Things That Would Be Nice^TM
• A branching algorithm may be able to speed up the searches
• Combination plays should have higher priority for searching
• If possible, it should be pretty too
• Would an interface that resembles the game be the easiest and quickest way to enter your opponents moves?

Some Things I’ll Need to Research
• Scrabble theory
• Spell checker theory
• Searching algorithms