Course Schedule and Catalog

Long Title: POKEMON: GAME STRATEGIES WITH IMPERFECT INFORMATION (LOVETT)

Department: College Courses

Grade Mode: Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory

Language of Instruction: Taught in English

Course Type: Seminar

Credit Hours: 1

Description: Students will explore the game theory and strategy behind the competitive Pokémon scene, gaining insight on how to make decisions in scenarios with limited information. At the core of this class is the question “how do I decide what move to make?”, which involves analyzing what information is known and unknown, imagining possible obstacles and outcomes, and prioritizing appropriate goals. Students will develop skills and strategy tools to answer this question through the lens of Pokémon. The Pokémon games are turn-based strategy games where players create a team from a wide selection of characters and battle opponents with similarly constructed teams. Although typically this opponent is a simple AI, in a competitive context, human players battle each other. This increases the complexity of the game significantly. This course will focus on the “core series” of Pokémon video games for Nintendo handheld consoles, specifically the 8th and most recent installment of the series, Sword & Shield. The course will cover introductory mechanics and principles so that students with no prior experience won’t be lost, and at the end of the semester we will have an in-class tournament to apply skills gained.