I've taught this course for 12 years (different game each year), and never has my program won. And not for lack of trying... I've come in 2nd several times. Invariably I have some genius student, or someone with a lot more time on their hands than me. Last year I came in an embarrassing 5th place. You can see all the details of previous year's tournaments (and the various games I invented for them) here:

http://athena.ecs.csus.edu/~gordonvs/180/Tournaments/tres.html

In most cases, you can even download the winning program.