Author: Ray
Humans enjoy playing games, and since AI has taken on a human persona, an interesting activity could be having AI play popular human games. Upcoming channel Turing Games explores this interaction of AIs by conducting a Mafia game among various Gen AI models, including ChatGPT-5.1 (Mafia), Llama 4 (Mafia), Gemini 2.5 Pro (Mafia), Grok, 4.1 (Sheriff, Town), Claude Sonnet 4.5 (Doctor, Town), DeepSeek 3.2 (Town), ChatGPT-4o (Town), Claude Opus, 4.5 (Town), Gemini 2.5 Flash (Town), Kimi K2 (Town). This game—Mafia—actively uses the AI’s reasoning, teamwork, and decision-making skills to ensure its party wins; it not only entertains but also reveals…
Look closely… Beneath the bright mustache and beaming smile of Mr. Monopoly lies a greedy truth that has profoundly scarred America. Once a game that reminded Americans of the Robber Barons’ dominance, it is now the eight-and-up dinner board game. Long ago, big figures such as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and J.P. Morgan ruled America under the oil, steel, railroad, and even finance industries. These seemingly pleasant fellows who surged during the Industrial Era in America each owned monopolies that employed ruthless tactics, such as bribery and worker exploitation, to amass immense wealth, creating vast inequality and…
Camp Agawam I attended Camp Agawam in the summer of 2024. The camp is split into to distinct parties: the Ags and the Wams. With a unique lore, each competition is something that unites us boys through excited cheering and spirit. Other than that, there are also many opportunities at camp to strengthen the bond within Agawam as a whole. Throughout the my camp experience, there was not one day that I was not reminded of the brothers that helped me become part of the community. Whether it be a cabin event, a party event, or just a casual card…
Center for Talented Youth (CTY)I attended CTY in the summer of 2025.The Dickinson College campus is lined with welcoming faculty. Quickly browsing the posters, I recognize my class—Great Cases—and there is where I find Mr. Tubbs my new class teacher. Accompanying him, Eniola—the TA (Teaching Assistant) stands proudly with a artistially designed poster. I have just arrived, so when I saw my dorm mate also had no idea of the class curriculum, I felt assured that we would learn together.Two weeks into camp, I would get to know so many other people across the different subjects. Although the schedule is…
This book, American Constitutional Law, was important in my summer camp experience at CTY. This book has 800 pages, and my course covered landmark cases and used this book as a source for dissents, background, and the opinion of the court. This book is essential to understanding the American legal history, and aided in my understanding of the turning points in the Supreme Court context. During CTY, we used cases from this book to form moot courts. I am most proud of my performance as a representative from the West Coast Hotel in the West Coast Hotel v. Parrish case. Before…
Pre-designed Lego sets are very popular among children of all ages and even adults. People are often frustrated that Lego bricks are easy to mix up among different sets. However, I see this as beginning of going beyond the script and being more creative with the pieces. I find that deep within the prepackaged Lego sets lies a reliable way to expand the imagination beyond the shackled reality of unrealized potential. Some adults might have realized that children have a knack for creativity. Some argue that this might not benefit children in certain subjects that require practicality, but in art…
Be sure to check out part 1!The Fundamentals of my ProgramEvery game has tons of rules, and Blackjack was no different. Blackjack includes many seemingly basic rules such as making the dealer always hit before reaching 17, but beneath the physics based card dealing, different casinos had different rules, such as when the dealer hits on 17—sometimes soft (H17), or otherwise standing (S17)—and these variations would require me to design different menus that are responsible of toggling rules. Other rules include how many decks the casino plays with, Blackjack payout, insurance payout, and the expected cut card placement along with…
Most people often associate blackjack—a popular form of casino gambling—with being degenerate and greedy. In many cases this might be true, but if we look at the game’s fundamentals, we can see that blackjack is similar to any other strategic game. Blackjack is unique because instead of competing with other players, you are competing against the dealer, whose simple algorithm to create a formidable opponent. Given that blackjack rules are usually the same across most Casinos, we can see that the game is mainly about maximizing your odds. This is just touching on the superficial coating of the game—in reality—…
The match had dragged on for an hour and a half already. The game was a first-to-two set format, each set composed of four games. On paper, this short-set game would appear rather undemanding—but it felt like the sun itself was waiting for the game to conclude before setting. 3:16 PM: All the other games were far over, and this one was the one that was going to determine the 1st and 2nd placements. Not only that, this was one chance at redemption—my opponent had already beaten me once before this match, while also taking the first set. My calves…
Personally, I like creating cartoons, drawing different imaginative animals, futuristic buildings, and unworldly creatures. I dislike it when people take unoriginal ideas—instead, I prefer to imagine and manage my own world of different characters. I rarely color my drawings—I tend to focus on the detailed bits. I enjoy designing different foods and buildings—taken from deep within my visions of this unique world—because this always makes the canvas more meaningful to me. I imagine that somewhere in this universe, my sketches are as important to other people as me, and just the detail and odd shapes can distract from how life can be lifeless at…