The 2024 Entelect Challenge culminated in the finals, held on the main stage at Comic Con Africa on Saturday, 28 September.

Now in its 13th year, the Entelect Challenge is South Africa’s premier coding competition, where students, professional developers, and enthusiasts are tasked with developing an intelligent bot to play a game, designed by the Entelect team.

This year’s game, Sproutopia, was based on the Discord favourite, Land.io. The objective was to outwit opponents and claim the most land before the round ended, all while dealing with pesky weeds.

“Each year, we aim to build the challenge around a popular game theme, says Bianca McFadyen, Marketing and Communications Manager at Entelect. “The idea behind the theme is not just to appeal to gaming fans, but also to create a game with rules simple enough that anyone with basic programming knowledge can take part.”

Participants had access to the game’s mechanics, including the ability to claim land, attack other players, and collect a variety of power-ups. They could also code their bots in a programming language of their choice.

Two qualifying tournaments were held throughout the year, each selecting four finalists to compete in the grand finals.

Entelect also hosted friendly matches between the tournaments, allowing competitors to practise and have some fun as they worked towards securing a coveted top eight spot.

“What many people don’t realise is that succeeding in the Entelect Challenge isn’t about having the smartest or fastest bot. It’s really about strategy. Your bot could be quite simple in design, but with the right strategy, it can be very effective. The collaboration within the community also makes it an incredible experience,” McFadyen explains.

The live finals at Comic Con Africa celebrate the finalists and showcase the challenge to the public.

This year, Willie Theron secured first place, winning R70,000 in prize money. Riaan Nel finished second, taking home R35,000, and Marvin Thobejane came third, winning R25,000.

The top eight finalists of the 2024 Entelect Challenge were:

1st place: Willie Theron
2nd place: Riaan Nel
3rd place: Marvin Thobejane
4th place: Jesse Bristow
5th place: Kobus Van Schoor
6th place: Scott Schultz
7th place: Jean-Paul De Conceicao
8th place: Aneso Jairosi

The 2025 Entelect Challenge is set to kick off in the first quarter of next year. Be sure to follow us on social media for updates — links can be found in the footer below!