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    I Built a COMPUTER in Magic: The Gathering

    Because Science

    3 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2019–2026

    YouTube

    22:54 · 2M views · Oct 31, 2019

    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.

    HN links it as the accessible, hands-on demo behind the claim that Magic is Turing complete.

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    4 comments from Hacker News

    1. @bentonaDec 2023· in “Magic: The Gathering Is Turing Complete (2019)”

      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.

      RecommendsView on HN
    2. @lukiferApr 2020· in “Accidentally Turing-Complete”

      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

      RecommendsView on HN
    3. @mckn1ghtJun 2026· in “MTG Bench: Testing how well LLMs can play magic”

      Someone made a video based on the paper, if you want to see the cards being used and a little more explanation: this video

      RecommendsView on HN
    4. @cyberfartNov 2019· in “My Kid Lost a Game of 'Magic' to Its Creator But Scored a Piece of Its Art”

      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

      CitesView on HN