About the games
The Ladder
Grove Wars is a game about AI: how much it reads and writes, how helpers are built, and how agents follow orders. The Ladder brings it to every age. Start on the rung that fits and climb. Each rung plays the same two games with more of the real ideas switched on, until the top rung is Grove Wars itself.
Seed
ages 0–2
- Back and forth: a look, a sound, an answer.
- First words, first counting, first sorting.
- Things still exist when they're hidden.
Move up to Seedling when they're walking, putting two or three words together and turning pages.
Seedling
ages 2–5
- Describing words and categories.
- Counting on, and planning steps in order.
- Naming feelings, guessing, then checking.
Move up to Sprout around 5, when they can take turns and count to 10. The Arcade starts there.
Sprout
ages 5–8
- AI helpers each do a different job.
- Tokens are what a helper uses up when it works: count them out.
- Taking turns and sharing.
Move up to Sapling when you can count out 10 tokens by yourself and read the Spark cards.
Sapling
ages 8–12
- Building helpers costs tokens, and helpers earn tokens back.
- Two helpers that work together earn more than two alone.
- A helper can be wrong: check its work.
Move up to Branch when you can win a Sapling game and explain why you bought what you bought.
Branch
ages 12–17
- The longer a conversation runs, the more every step costs: the AI re-reads all of it.
- Saved work (a cache) is cheaper to read again; a summary is cheaper but forgets details.
- Agents do exactly what their written orders say, so write good orders.
- A budget makes you choose.
Move up to Grove when you can write three orders for your agents and say what each one will do.
Grove
ages 18+
- Count your real tokens and agents with the two counter cards.
- Rank on the Grove Wars boards.
- Write real doctrines for AI agents and fight on the Xerty ladder.
The top of the ladder: this is Grove Wars itself.
How we test
Before printing, computer players play every rule on every rung. We change the rules until every game ends, fits its age, and no seat has more than a small edge.
| Game | Rung | Players | Median rounds | Wins by seat, % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Token Trail | Sprout | 2 · 3 · 4 | 16 · 9 · 8 | 48/51 · 33/34/32 · 24/26/24/24 |
| Token Trail | Sapling | 2 · 3 · 4 | 24 · 21 · 20 | 49/49 · 32/34/32 · 23/23/25/27 |
| Token Trail | Branch | 2 · 3 · 4 | 22 · 20 · 18 | 47/51 · 33/34/31 · 24/24/26/24 |
- The Arcade: every game played thousands of times by computer in Kids rules and in Grove 18+ rules. Rules changed until seats were even within a few points and the harder computer beat the easier one; each game's numbers are on its page.
- Xerty Board, computer against computer: Sprout 181 to 219 in 400 games; Sapling 102 to 93 with 5 draws in 200; Branch with orders 1,061 to 924 with 15 draws in 2,000, each pairing of orders played from both sides.
- The hard computer player beat the easy one in 193 of 200 Sapling games.
- What changed because of the runs: Sprout Token Trail first gave the first player 60% of 2-player wins, so later seats now start with a token more and the round always finishes. Branch first ended early in 98% of games, so the meter now rises only when you move.