mckn1ghtJun 2026Recommends
Someone made a video based on the paper, if you want to see the cards being used and a little more explanation: ▶ this video
in “MTG Bench: Testing how well LLMs can play magic” · View on HN
I Built a COMPUTER in Magic: The Gathering
I Built a COMPUTER in Magic: The Gathering on HackerTube: recommended by 3 Hacker News commenters across 3 separate months, 2019–2026.
Because Science
Open on YouTubedemo · evergreen
Kyle Hill of Because Science explains and demonstrates, using real cards, how Magic: The Gathering can be used to build a Turing machine, a computer inside the card game.
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN links it as the accessible, hands-on demo behind the claim that Magic is Turing complete.
- people recommended it
- 3
- separate months
- 3
- strong recommendations
- 0
- discussed on HN
- 2019–2026
“Because Science did a thorough breakdown and demonstration, using actual cards”
What HN commenters said
4 Hacker News comments link this video. Each one links back to its thread.
bentonaDec 2023Recommends
Here's a demo: ▶ this video Didn't realize this before watching, but it's interesting that there's an incredibly complicated board state but the game state / actions are deterministic, e.g. the players don't have any choices about what to do once the machine is set up.
in “Magic: The Gathering Is Turing Complete (2019)” · View on HN
lukiferApr 2020Recommends
For anyone curious about the details of building a Turing machine in MtG, Because Science did a thorough breakdown and demonstration, using actual cards: ▶ this video
in “Accidentally Turing-Complete” · View on HN
cyberfartNov 2019Cites it
Related to your comment, here's the paper [0] and Because Science recently made a video about how such a game would look like [1]. [0] [link] [1] ▶ this video
in “My Kid Lost a Game of 'Magic' to Its Creator But Scored a Piece of Its Art” · View on HN
Topics & tags
Computability & complexity theoryChess, board games & puzzlesturing machinemagic the gatheringcomputationcard gamesemergent complexity