# Creating Matches¶

You can create your own match between two players using the Match class. This is often useful when designing new strategies in order to study how they perform against specific opponents.

For example, to create a 5 turn match between Cooperator and Alternator:

>>> import axelrod as axl
>>> players = (axl.Cooperator(), axl.Alternator())
>>> match = axl.Match(players, 5)
>>> match.play()
[('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C')]


By default, a match will not be noisy, but you can introduce noise if you wish. Noise is the probability with which any action dictated by a strategy will be swapped:

>>> match = axl.Match(players=players, turns=5, noise=0.2)
>>> match.play()
[('D', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('D', 'D')]


The result of the match is held as an attribute within the Match class. Each time play() is called, it will overwrite the content of that attribute:

>>> match.result
[('D', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('D', 'D')]
>>> match.play()
[('C', 'C'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'C')]
>>> match.result
[('C', 'C'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'C')]


The result of the match can also be viewed as sparklines where cooperation is shown as a solid block and defection as a space. Sparklines are a very concise way to view the result and can be useful for spotting patterns:

>>> import axelrod as axl
>>> players = (axl.Cooperator(), axl.Alternator())
>>> match = axl.Match(players, 25)
>>> match.play()
[('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C')]
>>> print(match.sparklines())
█████████████████████████
█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █


The █ character for cooperation and a space for defection are default values but you can use any characters you like:

>>> import axelrod as axl
>>> players = (axl.Cooperator(), axl.Alternator())
>>> match = axl.Match(players, 25)
>>> match.play()
[('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C')]
>>> print(match.sparklines(c_symbol='|', d_symbol='-'))
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|


A Match class can also score the individual turns of a match. Just call match.scores() after play:

>>> import axelrod as axl
>>> players = (axl.Cooperator(), axl.Alternator())
>>> match = axl.Match(players, 25)
>>> match.play()
[('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C'), ('C', 'D'), ('C', 'C')]
>>> match.scores()
[(3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3), (0, 5), (3, 3)]


There are various further methods:

>>> match.final_score()
(39, 99)
>>> match.final_score_per_turn()
(1.56, 3.96)
>>> match.winner()
Alternator
>>> match.cooperation()  # The count of cooperations
(25, 13)
>>> match.normalised_cooperation()  # The count of cooperations per turn
(1.0, 0.52)