Entelect Challenge 2023: Finals at Comic-Con Africa
The Entelect Challenge is an annual coding competition where students, professional developers, and enthusiasts are challenged to develop an intelligent bot to play a game.
Each year, the Entelect Challenge's theme is based around a popular game. The 2023 game was titled Cy-Fi and was based on nostalgic 8-bit games, beloved by most in childhood.
Cy-Fi was an 8-bit, side-scrolling, speed runner that's reminiscent of Super Mario Bros. The objective for contestants, was to be the fastest player to collect enough items to advance to the next level.
In order to win, players needed to use their coding skills to create a bot that could outmaneuver other players and collect items as quickly as possible. They had access to the game's mechanics, including the ability to jump, run, climb, dig, and interact with other players. They could also code their bots in a language of their choosing.
Now in its 11th year, the Challenge proved more popular and competitive than ever.
Two qualifying tournaments were held during the year, each with four finalists who would go on to compete in the finals.
The finals took place at Comic Con Africa on 23 September 2023.
With much fanfare from the Entelect Challenge team and spectators, the eight finalists competed on the Main Stage in front of a live audience, for their share of over R200,000.
Purpose Katakwa took home first place, winning R70,000! He programmed his bot (mari.ai) in Dotnet. Kobus van Schoor nabbed second place, and Anesu Jairosi came third.
Learn more about the Entelect Challenge here.
