#Sprouts2025 is coming along nicely! We have almost filled all the talk slots and I'm still getting additional talk applications. Here's the schedule: https://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2025/

So far we only have one computer player submitted (not counting the built-in MCTS player) but at least one more could come in. The submitted one was written quickly, but uses some good tricks. You can write, test, and submit your own player here: https://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2025/sprouts2025ComputerTournament.php

Although our presentations are for undergrads, everyone is welcome to attend. Many people will come for only the Toppling Dominoes tournament (https://kyleburke.info/DB/combGames/topplingDominoes.html) at the end of the day.

#CombinatorialGames #TopplingDominoes #SproutsConference

Sprouts 2025 will be on April 12, 2025. Sprouts is a #CombinatorialGames conference with a focus on undergraduates.
We traditionally have a focus on math and computer science, but are very willing to broaden our scope. The homepage with the Call for Talks is: https://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2025/

We will have talks for and by undergraduates and human and AI tournaments. Our game this year is: Toppling Dominoes, which you can play here: https://kyleburke.info/DB/combGames/topplingDominoes.html

The AI tournament is held in JavaScript. Instructions for submitting a player are here: https://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2025/sprouts2025ComputerTournament.php. I have had recent success with students training their players in Python, then using #TensorFlowJS to port it over to JS.

Registration is free! Please see the homepage for instructions to register.

#Sprouts2025 #SproutsConference #AbstractGames #BoardGames #UndergraduateResearch

We have a date for #Sprouts2024! Saturday, April 20. Registration is free. http://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2024/ As with recent years, the conference will be held online.

If you have an undergrad who wants to present a short talk on games, please check out our Call for Talks: http://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2024/#callForTalks Topics are not strictly limited to #CombinatorialGames and can include other games and puzzles. We are not limited to a Math and CS focus and would love to see some humanities talks. #UndergraduateResearch

We will have #GorgonsGame tournaments (http://kyleburke.info/DB/combGames/gorgons.html) for both human and AI players (http://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2024/sprouts2024ComputerTournament.php).

#SproutsConference

The #Sprouts2024 webpage is up: http://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2024/ Our keynote speaker will be Michael Fisher from West Chester University of PA.

You can play around with writing a Gorgons player for our computer player tournament: http://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2024/sprouts2024ComputerTournament.php

We haven't yet picked a Saturday in April for the conference, but we're working on it. If you know any undergrads who will be working on anything related to combinatorial or mathematical games, please have them consider giving a talk! If you have a student who might be looking for an AI project, suggest to them to take part in the Gorgons player competition!

#SproutsConference #AI #UndergraduateResearch #CombinatorialGames

We have a game for next year's Sprouts! Gorgons, which is quite similar to Amazons. Each turn you choose one of your (non-stone) Gorgons to move, pick a direction a Chess Queen can move and then move it in that direction (or keep it still). Before your Gorgon moves, it uses its gaze to turn a space to stone. If there is another Gorgon in the direction it's chosen, it turns that one to stone. Otherwise it turns the last clear space in that direction to a stone block. (You can't choose a direction where there isn't any free space.) It's a normal play game, so you lose when you can't make a move.

Gorgons is playable here: http://kyleburke.info/DB/combGames/gorgons.html The basic AI is terrible (they needlessly turn their own pieces to stone a lot). I've been enjoying playing as just one gorgon against a team of many.

We don't have a date yet for #Sprouts2024 (it'll probably be a Saturday in April). There will be a human tournament and an AI tournament. I'll work on getting the webpages up with instructions to submit your own AI player.

#Sprouts2024 #SproutsConference #CombinatorialGames #Gorgons #UndergraduateResearch