Fruit Salad Mastermind: A Game of Intelligence for Kids

What’s on offer?

Who are smarter, people or machines? What is intelligence anyway? Learn about these issues while playing a code-breaking game, 'Fruit Salad Mastermind', in an interactive discussion with University of Surrey researchers!

In Mastermind, the challenge is to crack a hidden code, by making guesses and getting feedback. It is challenging to think of good guesses, and to make sense of the feedback that you receive. How people and computers identify good guesses, and make sense of the feedback, is a key issue for human and artificial intelligence.

Fresh from the Berlin Science Festival, Surrey researchers will guide the audience through the hands-on experience of playing Fruit Salad Mastermind together online, trying to achieve the highest levels possible. They will bring their own experiences of the game and to offer meaning and explain the theoretical side of human and machine intelligence.

They will also discuss how Fruit Salad Mastermind can be used in schools as a fun experience to help children and young people learn about the mathematics of uncertainty including probability, entropy and information, and key principles in informatics. The event will be fully online, so people from anywhere in the world can participate.

What’s it about?

This is an engaging online event where University of Surrey researchers will combine playing a code-breaking game, Fruit Salad Mastermind, with discussion that will aid peoples' understanding of human and artificial intelligence. The event will include an introduction, time playing Mastermind, and a discussion of the issues. Attendees can expect to learn key issues in human and machine intelligence that will be motivated by this fun experiential game.

Who’s leading the event?

Dr Jonathan Nelson, University of Surrey

Lara Betram, University of Surrey

Open to

This event is open to children (from about 8 years of age), who can participate together with their parents, and for adults of all ages.

Of particular interest to

It may have special interest for people who are interested in human or machine intelligence. It will also be interesting for primary and secondary school teachers who are looking for fun ways to engage and teach children key concepts in the mathematics of uncertainty and informatics.