#sprouts2024 — Public Fediverse posts

My summaries of the talks for #Sprouts2024 are up: https://combinatorialgametheory.blogspot.com/2024/04/sprouts-2024-talks.html

Thanks to the presenters who made this year so successful! #UndergraduateResearch #CombinatorialGames

#Sprouts2024 has more talks lined up than we've ever had before (11)!
Undergrads: 7 (high is 8, in 2017)
High schoolers: 2 (new high)
Keynote: 1
Me: 1.

Talks listed here: http://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2024/

I should probably record my talk (CGT Crash Course) and move it online in future years to make more room for contributed talks!

Unfortunately, we still have zero submissions for our Computer Gorgons Tournament. Make a player: http://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2024/sprouts2024ComputerTournament.php

#CombinatorialGames #UndergraduateResearch

In less than a week, we've accepted five more talks for Sprouts, which is happening online on April 20. That puts us up to seven #UndergraduateResearch talks, including two from India! Although we specifically look for undergraduates to present, you don't have to be an undergrad to attend. The conference is very casual and includes both a human and computer tournament. If you're interested in attending, please see the homepage, http://kyleburke.info/sprouts/sprouts2024/index.php, for more information. #Sprouts2024 #CombinatorialGames

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

I talked about the Game of Gorgons at #FloridaSouthern yesterday. The talk went very well, but the best part was clearly the game of me vs the audience. I recently added blocks to the middle of the starting game board, which makes the game far more fun. You can try it out here: http://kyleburke.info/DB/combGames/gorgons.html (The AI is still terrible, but it can be fun if you find either a human to play with or just jack up the number of opponent Gorgons.)

#Gorgons will be "the game" played at #Sprouts2024, so practice up and prepare your own AI player!

Talk Slides: http://kyleburke.info/presentations/2023-09-14-Gorgons-Talk.pdf

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