For three years now, the number “Pi” has been trying its hand at the game Pokémon Sapphire. How is it currently doing in terms of progress?
What kind of experiment is this? Since the end of 2021, a mathematical experiment can be followed on the YouTube channel “WinningSequence”. Each digit from 0 to 9 has been assigned a button.
Now the digit sequence of the number “Pi”, which is considered infinite, is being played there. The thought: Somewhere in this jumble of numbers, a sequence could hide that enables the number “Pi” to complete “Pokémon Sapphire.” A “Winning Sequence,” so to speak. In theory, at least.
As of last year, more than 16,000 hours had already been invested in the experiment. How does it look today, 10 months later?
Pi loves the first city, flees from battles, chills in the menu
This is how good Pi is in Pokémon: As it stands now, the number hasn’t really progressed much since then. Because Pi is still wandering through the first city of the game, Littleroot Town. Yes, now and then the trainer manages to get outside the city gates and battles a few monsters, flees from some battles, wins others – but Pi hasn’t really made much progress yet.
Repeatedly, short trips towards the rest of the game are interrupted by a pretty much immediate return. Pi goes into buildings, clicks back into the menu over and over again, and also checks the Pokédex, which is largely filled with empty entries.
As you can see, Pi clearly doesn’t seem ready to embark on the journey toward becoming a Pokémon Champion and prefers to train a little more on home turf.
However, this has actually become unnecessary by now. Because if Pi ever truly leaves this first city to rise to become a Pokémon Master, hardly anyone will be able to keep up with the number. At least against the first trainers, wild Pokémon, and gyms, Pi should completely wipe the floor.
By the way, a AI that tried its hand at Pokémon Red experienced something similar.
This is the Pi team: After countless hours, Pi has assembled the following Pokémon team:
- A level 8 Poochyena
- A level 2 Zigzagoon
- A level 9 Linoone
- … and a level 88 Sceptile
Yes, over the course of its training, Pi has not only managed to evolve its starter Pokémon Treecko into Grovyle and then into Sceptile, but has also leveled it up to level 88. Clearly, it has encountered plenty of beginner Pokémon at the gates of the city that Pi could use to train its Sceptile.
With this Pokémon, Pi shouldn’t really fail at anything until it eventually reaches the Pokémon League. Assuming that over many hours, more Pokémon will also accumulate that Pi trains. It would be unfortunate if some unfortunate sequence of numbers led to Pi releasing its Sceptile.
But: As it stands now, it certainly appears that Pi is still feeling very comfortable in Littleroot Town even after nearly three years. We are curious to see if the number will eventually make progress. By the way, this experiment is not the first unusual approach to playing Pokémon. A real classic of the “genre” is Twitch plays Pokémon – more on that here.
