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<!DOCTYPE html> <html lang="en"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"> <title>Core War - Discover the Ultimate Programming Game</title> <meta name="title" content="Core War - Discover the Ultimate Programming Game"> <meta name="description" content="Discover the world of Core War, the strategic programming game where programs battle to eliminate each other in the memory of the MARS virtual computer."> <meta name="pubdate" content="2024-11-24"> <meta name="author" content="John Metcalf"> <link href="https://corewar.co.uk" rel="canonical"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="core.css?20240623" type="text/css"> <link rel="stylesheet" href="print.css" type="text/css" media="print"> <link rel="icon" href="favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon"> <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> <meta name="twitter:card" content="summary"> <meta name="twitter:site" content="@xcorewar"> <meta name="twitter:title" content="Core War - Discover the Ultimate Programming Game"> <meta name="twitter:description" content="Discover the world of Core War, the strategic programming game where programs battle to eliminate each other in the memory of the MARS virtual computer."> <meta name="twitter:image" content="https://corewar.co.uk/images/xcorewar.jpg"> <meta property="og:image" content="https://corewar.co.uk/images/xcorewar.jpg"> <meta property="og:title" content="Core War - Discover the Ultimate Programming Game"> <meta property="og:type" content="website"> <meta property="og:url" content="https://corewar.co.uk"> <meta name="p:domain_verify" content="9f441a2622e7428b4acc1a6168648828"> <meta name="ahrefs-site-verification" content="a4d8688e4e0924561d67d705449431e1985ccd6586c02c50b7ea9457543d04c8"> <meta name="google-site-verification" content="6c70QE7RLMz3SIJFNkHTneWw9JQAsroHuaEmDejy0nE"> </head> <body> <div id="header"> <h1>Core War - the Ultimate Programming Game</h1> </div> <div id="content"> <div class="homemaincol"> <h2>What is Core War?</h2> <p><dfn>Core War</dfn> is a strategic programming game played between two or more programs written in Redcode, a low-level language similar to assembly. Players write programs to eliminate all opponents in the memory of the <abbr title="Memory Array Redcode Simulator">MARS</abbr> virtual computer. Core War also serves as a unique platform to experiment with genetic programming.</p> <h2>Core War News - 2024</h2> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2024-11-10" class="cal"> <span class="date">10</span> <span class="month">Nov</span> </time> <p><a href="tournamentweekend2024.htm">The Core War Tournament Weekend</a> is over. Congratulations to Christian Schmidt and Simon Wainwright who take first and second in the 94 tournament with <em>kudzu</em> and <em>holoshot</em>.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2024-11-09" class="cal"> <span class="date">09</span> <span class="month">Nov</span> </time> <p>Congratulations to inversed, <em>Take the X Train</em> and <em>Supranatural Flame</em> claimed first and second place in the 88 tournament at the <a href="tournamentweekend2024.htm">The Core War Tournament Weekend</a>.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2024-09-27" class="cal"> <span class="date">27</span> <span class="month">Sep</span> </time> <p><a href="tournamentweekend2024a.htm">The Core War Tournament Weekend</a> will be held on 9–10 November at the Retro Computer Festival in Cambridge, <abbr title="United Kingdom">UK</abbr>, to celebrate 40 years of Core War.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2024-06-19" class="cal"> <span class="date">19</span> <span class="month">Jun</span> </time> <p><a href="article.htm">STEAL THIS ARTICLE</a>! Can you help promote Core War on your blog / website? If you'd like to help, please feel free to <a href="article.htm">steal this article</a> (screenshots, HTML, & Markdown provided). Thanks.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2024-03-09" class="cal"> <span class="date">09</span> <span class="month">Mar</span> </time> <p>We are saddened to report A. K. Dewdney passed away following a brief illness. Kee inspired countless readers through his <cite>Computer Recreations</cite> columns in <cite>Scientific American</cite>.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2024-03-09" class="cal"> <span class="date">09</span> <span class="month">Mar</span> </time> <p><em>Lamp of Murmur</em> by Guillermo Calvo Arenaza claims first place in the Seventh CoreWarUCM Tournament, live at the Universidad Complutense Madrid.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2024-01-05" class="cal"> <span class="date">05</span> <span class="month">Jan</span> </time> <p><a href="https://assembly.louve.systems">Assembly</a> is a new web-based programming game inspired by Core War and released as open source by Louve Hurlante. The code is available on <a href="https://github.com/Rackover/assembly">GitHub</a>.</p> </div> <h2>Core War News - 2023</h2> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2023-12-15" class="cal"> <span class="date">15</span> <span class="month">Dec</span> </time> <p>Google Groups are ending access to Usenet. Sign up to a free Usenet server (e.g. <a href="https://www.eternal-september.org">Eternal September</a> or <a href="https://www.solani.org/">Solani</a>) to use a newsreader (<a href="https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/pan">Pan</a> or <a href="https://www.thunderbird.net">Thunderbird</a>) to access <i>rec.games.corewar</i>.</p> </div>  <div class="post"> <time datetime="2023-10-24" class="cal"> <span class="date">24</span> <span class="month">Oct</span> </time> <p><a href="azathoth.htm">Azathoth</a> is the new king of the <a href="https://asdflkj.net/COREWAR/94/hill32_rec.html">94nop-Koenigstuhl</a>, pairing a Sunset-style paper with a self-bombing stone.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2023-09-12" class="cal"> <span class="date">12</span> <span class="month">Sep</span> </time> <p>A titan falls - Monster_Human_Grunt is a stone/imp which entered the 94nop hill in January 2006, surviving 2289 challenges before being pushed off today, making it the third oldest warrior of all time.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2023-06-28" class="cal"> <span class="date">28</span> <span class="month">Jun</span> </time> <p><a href="tolypeutes.htm">Tolypeutes</a> is the new king of the <a href="https://asdflkj.net/COREWAR/94/hill32_rec.html">94nop-Koenigstuhl</a>, combining an Armadillo-style stone with an Impfinity-launch and a new qscanner. Congrats to Roy van Rijn.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2023-03-25" class="cal"> <span class="date">25</span> <span class="month">Mar</span> </time> <p>There's a new best counter graph for the top-50 of the Koenigstuhl <a href="graphs/k88.png" type="image/png">88</a>, <a href="graphs/k94nop.png" type="image/png">94nop</a>, <a href="graphs/kpspace.png" type="image/png">pspace</a>, <a href="graphs/k94x.png" type="image/png">94x</a> and <a href="graphs/kicws.png" type="image/png">ICWS</a> hills. Each warrior is connected to the opponent which beats it with the highest score.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2023-01-26" class="cal"> <span class="date">26</span> <span class="month">Jan</span> </time> <p>Terry Newton has released his latest evolver, <a href="https://newton.freehostia.com/cw/yabevolver.html">YabEvolver</a>, which uses a 2-dimensional soup. Warriors battle a neighbour with the loser being replaced by an evolved copy of the winner.</p> </div> <h2>Core War News - 2022</h2> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2022-11-09" class="cal"> <span class="date">09</span> <span class="month">Nov</span> </time> <p><a href="https://asdflkj.net/COREWAR/koenigstuhl.html">Koenigstuhl</a> is now home to seven Battle Royale (sequential push off) hills. Hullab3loo and Lithobolia C yvfp are the first to claim first place on the 94nop and 88 Battle Royale hills.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2022-07-04" class="cal"> <span class="date">04</span> <span class="month">Jul</span> </time> <p><a href="pmars.htm">pMARS 0.9.4</a> is now available, with support for read/write limits, updated docs and bug fixes from Joonas Pihlaja, Terry Newton and Björn Günzel.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2022-02-13" class="cal"> <span class="date">13</span> <span class="month">Feb</span> </time> <p>The <a href="cgm1.htm">Corewar Global Masters</a> finals are over. Congratulations to Roy van Rijn and Inversed who take first and second place in the grand final - the tiny survival elimination round.</p> </div> <div class="post"> <time datetime="2022-01-01" class="cal"> <span class="date">01</span> <span class="month">Jan</span> </time> <p>The <a href="http://www.corewar.info/tournament/CGM1/">Corewar Global Masters Tournament</a> has been announced by Christian Schmidt, with three rounds and a grand final to be streamed live on Twitch. Deadline 6pm CET on 7th Feb 2022.</p> </div>  <h2>Access the Old Site</h2> <p>The <a href="indexx.htm">old site</a> remains available while we move everything to the new layout…</p> </div> <div class="homesidebar"> <h2>Getting Started in Core War</h2> <ul> <li><a href="guides.htm">Core War Tutorials</a> to learn the basics</li> <li><a href="mars.htm">Redcode Simulators</a> to get up and running</li> <li><a href="strategy.htm">Techniques and Strategy Guide</a></li> <li><a href="evolving.htm">Genetic Programming / Evolving</a></li> <li><a href="faq/corewar-faq.htm">Core War FAQ</a> and <a href="faq/glossary.htm">Core War glossary</a></li> <li><a href="history.htm">Core War history and timeline</a></li> <li><a href="games.htm">Related programming games</a></li> </ul> <h2><a href="tournaments.htm">Core War Tournaments</a></h2> <ul> <li><a href="tournamentweekend2024.htm">The Core War Tournament Weekend</a> was held at the Retro Computer Festival.</li> <li>The <a href="hills.htm">King of the Hill</a> servers hold a number of ongoing tournaments.</li> <li>Roy van Rijn claimed first place in the <a href="cgm1.htm">Corewar Global Masters</a>.</li> <li>Inversed secured first place in the <a href="easter2016.htm">Easter Core War Tournament</a>.</li> <li>Christian Schmidt and John Metcalf shared first in the <a href="http://inversed.ru/Tiny_Stone_Challenge.htm">Tiny Stone Challenge</a>.</li> <li>Steve Gunnell claimed first place in the <a href="valentine2015.htm">Valentine Core War Tournament</a>.</li> </ul> <h2><a href="community.htm">Core War Community</a></h2> <ul> <li><a href="rgc.htm">rec.games.corewar</a> on Usenet</li> <li><a href="https://web.libera.chat/?channels=#corewars">#COREWARS</a> <abbr title="Internet Relay Chat">IRC</abbr> channel on Libera</li> <li><a href="https://twitter.com/xcorewar">@xcorewar</a> on &Xopf; / Twitter</li> <li><a href="https://discord.gg/YxrbaQDT9z">#corewar</a> on Discord <span class="highlight">NEW</span></li> </ul> <h2><a href="strategy.htm">Core War Strategy Guide</a></h2> <ul> <li><a href="paper.htm">Paper</a> - replicators</li> <li><a href="scan.htm">Scissors</a> - scanners</li> <li><a href="stone.htm">Stone</a> - bombers</li> <li><a href="vampire.htm">Vampire</a> - pit-trappers</li> <li><a href="imp.htm">Imps</a> - rings and spirals</li> <li><a href="switcher.htm">P-switcher</a> - p-warriors</li> </ul> <div id="impring">  <img src="impring/top.png" width=337 height=35 alt="The Core War Imp Ring" loading="lazy"><br><a href="https://vyznev.net/corewar/impring/?op=prev&id=metcalf" target="_top"><img src="impring/prev.png" width=90 height=22 alt="PREV " loading="lazy"></a><a href="https://vyznev.net/corewar/impring/" target="_top"><img src="impring/list.png" width=80 height=22 alt="LIST " loading="lazy"></a><a href="https://vyznev.net/corewar/impring/?op=rand&id=metcalf" target="_top"><img src="impring/rand.png" width=80 height=22 alt="RAND " loading="lazy"></a><a href="https://vyznev.net/corewar/impring/?op=next&id=metcalf" target="_top"><img src="impring/next.png" width=87 height=22 alt="NEXT" loading="lazy"></a>  </div> </div> </div> </body></html>