2026

When: Saturday, April 11, 2026

Where: Virtual

Sprouts is a conference oriented towards undergraduate research in the analysis of games. The primary focus is Combinatorial Games, but Sprouts has a broad interest in all related fields. Although we focus on presentations by undergraduates, attendance is open to everyone! Sprouts is also a combinatorial game that is especially popular in the Netherlands. (The logo is a Sprouts position created from 15 points.)

What is Combinatorial Game Theory (CGT)?

Combinatorial Game Theory is the mathematical study of turn-base games ("rulesets") where:

• There are two players alternating turns.
• There is no randomness in the game. (E.g. no dice rolling.)
• There is no hidden information. (E.g. no cards only visible to one player.)
• And under normal play rules, a player loses when they cannot make a move. (There are alternatives to this rule.)

Many nice properties emerge from this, especially when we add games together. This conference is all about playing games, analyzing games, and even creating new games.

For a good introduction to Combinatorial Game Theory, we recommend these books:

• Winning Ways for your Mathematical Plays, the classic book that is an amazing ride through all parts of CGT.
• Lessons in Play, an excellent text for upper level undergrads and grad students in math.
• Combinatorial Game Theory, a great text for advanced mathematicians.
• Prove Your Move. (Full disclosure: this is our book.) We designed this text to be appropriate for undergrads who may or may not be math majors.

Why Should I Attend Sprouts?

This conference includes talks oriented towards undergrads, friendly discussions, and both a human and computer game tournament. Prior knowledge of Combinatorial Game Theory is not necessary. (The first talk will cover much of the basics.) Although we expect the topics to be mostly applicable for Math and Computing students, anyone and everyone who enjoys abstract games is welcome!

There is no registration fee for Sprouts.

Registration

There is no cost to register for this conference. Email Kyle () to officially register. (It's still free!) Please include "Sprouts 2026 Registration" in the subject line of your email and let me know what your name and institution/organization are.

Call for Talks

We are now accepting talk proposals. Preference will be given to talks by high-school students, undergraduates, and recent graduates (especially for work done while an undergraduate). All talks should be accessible to an undergraduate-level audience. Talk slots are usually 15 minutes long, and speakers should plan to talk for up to about 10 minutes, then answer questions for the remainder of the time. (We are likely to cut you off after 11 minutes.)

• Primary Topics: (likely to be accepted immediately)
  • Combinatorial Games. ("I came up with this new ruleset and here are some values I found" is a completely acceptable topic.)
  • Algorithmic CGT (i.e. computational properties of combinatorial games).
  • Artificial Intelligence applied to combinatorial games.
  • Topics in non-probabilistic, non-video games that don't relate directly to math or computer science. (E.g. history of games, game design, ludo-archaeology, and/or arts and literature closely tied to games.)
• Secondary Topics: (likely to be accepted by undergraduates a few weeks from the conference date)
  • Any of the above topics but with non-combinatorial abstract games.
  • Mathematical games and puzzles
• Tertiary Topics:
  • Turn-based video games created by the speaker.
  • Other topics related to games and puzzles.

To propose a talk, email your talk title and abstract to Kyle (). Please include whether you're an undergrad/grad student/professor/something else.

All times are listed in Eastern Time (ET). All events will take place on Zoom. The Zoom link will be made available to those who register.

Planned Events: (Talks get scheduled as they are accepted)

• 9:00 - 9:30: "Meet & Greet"
• Contributed Talks (Early for time-zone considerations; we may be able to open up further slots if necessary.)
• 10:30: Morning Conference Photo (Screenshot)
• 10:45 - 11:45: CGT Crash Course (first half: impartial, second half: partizan)
• 11:45 - 12:30: Lunch Break
• 12:30 - 1:30: Keynote: Speaker TBD
• Contributed Talks (Plan for 10-minute talk. See the call for talks above.)
• 3:00: Afternoon Conference Photo (Screenshot)
• Tournaments:
  • 3:00 - 3:45: Human Player Tournament
  • 3:45 - 4:00: Computer Player Tournament
  • 4:00 - 4:15: John Henry Match (Computer vs Human)
• 4:15 - 4:45: "End with Friends"

Talk Abstracts

• You can play Battle Sheep against human opponents sitting next to you or some simple AI players.
• You can participate in our computer player tournament by writing and submitting a player.
• We'll run a human tournament that uses this manual-entry swiss tournament.

Conference Photos

Conference photos will be added here afterwards.

Travel Information

Sprouts 2026 will be held primarily virtually. Kyle runs things on his end in room WCS 135 on at Florida Southern College. If you want to attend in person:

• There is parking available off of Callahan Ct. (Don't park in the faculty spots.)
• The building will be locked, so please coordinate with Kyle well ahead of time in your registration email. If you knock on the window of the room, I should notice and come around to let you in.
• Bring a Zoom-capable computer and headphones if you want to play in the tournament!
• The Fresh Twist pretzel place in the building is closed on weekends, so you'll probably want to make a separate lunch plan.

That window is where you should knock to get my attention.

Virtual Travel

• Attendees will want to be experienced with Zoom, as that is how talks will be delivered.
• All times will be listed in EST.

Organizers

• Craig Tennenhouse
• Kyle Burke ()

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the Florida Southern College Computer Science department and University of New England School of Mathematics and Data Science for supporting Sprouts 2026.

Other CGT

Previous Sprouts Conferences

Other Combinatorial Games Conferences