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AIQuiet 10d · day 12

Reddit user trains Google's fruit-fly brain map to play Balatro

A hobbyist says a simulated connectome of a fly's nervous system now wins one in five Balatro runs, the latest stunt built on Google's neural map.

newest coverage 9d agosummary written 9d ago6 pieces5 likes & upvotes NewswiresHacker NewsMastodon

What to know

  • Google's full connectome map of an adult male fruit fly's brain, released in early September 2026, has become a platform for hobbyist experiments unrelated to biology.
  • A Reddit user, ActualAerie1011, says they used a custom seed-finding algorithm and reinforcement learning to get the simulated brain to play Balatro, reaching a 20% win rate at the easiest difficulty.
  • The claim is unverified: no code repository or technical writeup has been shared, and some commenters have expressed skepticism.
  • It follows earlier reported stunts using the same model, including solving a Rubik's Cube, playing video games, parallel parking a car, and day trading.

Google Developer of the fruit-fly connectome mapActualAerie1011 Reddit user who trained the model

Reddit user trains Google's fruit-fly brain map to play Balatro
Android Authority

How it unfolded 3 developments, newest first · click a bar or a number to jump articlesposts

Peak 3 pieces in 3h at Sep 15, 5 PM; 6 pieces over 12 days (4 articles · 2 posts) Sep 15, 5 PM — 3 pieces · 2 articles · 1 post — Newswires 2, Hacker News 1Sep 15, 8 PM — quietSep 15, 11 PM — quietSep 16, 2 AM — quietSep 16, 5 AM — quietSep 16, 8 AM — quietSep 16, 11 AM — 1 piece · 1 post — Mastodon 1Sep 16, 2 PM — quietSep 16, 5 PM — quietSep 16, 8 PM — quietSep 16, 11 PM — quietSep 17, 2 AM — quietSep 17, 5 AM — quietSep 17, 8 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Sep 17, 11 AM — quietSep 17, 2 PM — quietSep 17, 5 PM — quietSep 17, 8 PM — quietSep 17, 11 PM — quietSep 18, 2 AM — 1 piece · 1 article — Newswires 1Sep 18, 5 AM — quietSep 18, 8 AM — quietSep 18, 11 AM — quietSep 18, 2 PM — quietSep 18, 5 PM — quietSep 18, 8 PM — quietSep 18, 11 PM — quietSep 19, 2 AM — quietSep 19, 5 AM — quietSep 19, 8 AM — quietSep 19, 11 AM — quietSep 19, 2 PM — quietSep 19, 5 PM — quietSep 19, 8 PM — quietSep 19, 11 PM — quietSep 20, 2 AM — quietSep 20, 5 AM — quietSep 20, 8 AM — quietSep 20, 11 AM — quietSep 20, 2 PM — quietSep 20, 5 PM — quietSep 20, 8 PM — quietSep 20, 11 PM — quietSep 21, 2 AM — quietSep 21, 5 AM — quietSep 21, 8 AM — quietSep 21, 11 AM — quietSep 21, 2 PM — quietSep 21, 5 PM — quietSep 21, 8 PM — quietSep 21, 11 PM — quietSep 22, 2 AM — quietSep 22, 5 AM — quietSep 22, 8 AM — quietSep 22, 11 AM — quietSep 22, 2 PM — quietSep 22, 5 PM — quietSep 22, 8 PM — quietSep 22, 11 PM — quietSep 23, 2 AM — quietSep 23, 5 AM — quietSep 23, 8 AM — quietSep 23, 11 AM — quietSep 23, 2 PM — quietSep 23, 5 PM — quietSep 23, 8 PM — quietSep 23, 11 PM — quietSep 24, 2 AM — quietSep 24, 5 AM — quietSep 24, 8 AM — quietSep 24, 11 AM — quietSep 24, 2 PM — quietSep 24, 5 PM — quietSep 24, 8 PM — quietSep 24, 11 PM — quietSep 25, 2 AM — quietSep 25, 5 AM — quietSep 25, 8 AM — quietSep 25, 11 AM — quietSep 25, 2 PM — quietSep 25, 5 PM — quietSep 25, 8 PM — quietSep 25, 11 PM — quietYesterday, 2 AM — quietYesterday, 5 AM — quietYesterday, 8 AM — quietYesterday, 11 AM — quietYesterday, 2 PM — quietYesterday, 5 PM — quietYesterday, 8 PM — quietYesterday, 11 PM — quietToday, 2 AM — quietToday, 5 AM — quietToday, 8 AM — quietToday, 11 AM — quietToday, 2 PM — quiet 123
Sep 16Sep 17Sep 18Sep 19Sep 20Sep 21Sep 22Sep 23Sep 24Sep 25yesterdaynow · 4:55 PM ET
  1. 3

    Coverage spreads as some Reddit users question the claim

    Android Authority and other outlets picked up the Balatro claim and video of the model winning a match, while noting that some Reddit commenters doubted it because no code repository or technical proof had been shared.

    “Bold of a fruit fly to be better at Balatro than most of us.”
    — Akshay Gangwar
  2. 2

    Reddit user trains the model to play Balatro

    User ActualAerie1011 says they built a custom seed-finding algorithm and used reinforcement learning to train the fruit-fly brain model on Balatro, reporting roughly a 20% win rate on the game's lowest difficulty with training ongoing.

    “The fruit fly will return, strong and smarter,…”
    — ActualAerie1011
    1. 1 outlet Balatro fan claims they trained Google fruit fly brain simulation to beat the game — reinforcement learning currently has the model at 20% success rate

      first by Tom's Hardware, 10d ago

  3. 1 day quiet
  4. 1

    NYT catalogs offbeat uses of the fruit-fly brain model

    The New York Times reported that people have trained simulated versions of the fly's nervous system to solve a Rubik's Cube, play video games, and even parallel park a car, days after Google's release.

    “Is There Anything a Fruit Fly Brain Can’t Do? Models of the insect’s nervous system have been trained to solve a Rubik’s Cube, play video games and even parallel park a car.”
    — aregenberg@mastodon.online, Mastodon user sharing NYT article · source
    1. 2 outlets Google’s Simulated Fruit Fly Brain Did Not Write This Article

      first by NYT Tech, 11d ago · also NYT Science

    2. 1 outlet Someone trained Google’s fruit fly brain simulation to play Balatro, and it’s working

      first by Android Authority, 9d ago

    • aregenberg@mastodon.online

      Is There Anything a Fruit Fly Brain Can’t Do? Models of the insect’s nervous system have been trained to solve a Rubik’s Cube, play video games and even parallel park a car. https://www. nytimes.com/2026/09/15/technol ogy/fruit-fly-brain-map-google.html?smid=bs-share

      aregenberg@mastodon.onlineMastodon11d agoview on Mastodon ↗
  5. background

    Google releases full connectome map of fruit fly brain — Google published a complete map of the brain and central nervous system of an adult male fruit fly, giving researchers and hobbyists a basis for building simulated neural models of its behavior.