If you want to find the computer genius of tomorrow, it is worth paying attention to those children who play Minecraft today. That is precisely why Google, in creating their own mod for Minecraft, includes the quantum behavior of the game.

Quantum physics is in many ways a mysterious and elusive field, but has also become more important and relevant in the IT world in terms of quantum computers. Although the technology is promising, Google is not yet sure exactly how it can be used, and in that regard the company now wants to raise more future quantum computer professionals.

In a Google Quantum A.I. Lab Team blog post, Google presented qCraft, where children and adults can learn about the blocks that have the quantum properties, such as quantum entanglement, and superposition. Naturally, this is far from the real scientific terms or simulations, but it is a fun way to introduce people to the wonderful world of quantum mechanics without the use of thick textbooks and hardly clear examples.

“We built the Quantum A.I. Lab to explore the potential of quantum computing, and figure out what questions we should be asking. One question is clear: Where will future quantum computer scientists come from?” Google said. “Millions of kids are spending a whole lot of hours in Minecraft, not just digging caves and fighting monsters, but building assembly lines, space shuttles, and programmable computers, all in the name of experimentation and discovery.”

The world of Minecraft is composed entirely of large pixel blocks. Players can build anything. Many gamers compare Minecraft with Lego. The game has been downloaded over ten million times. Qcraft adds some new blocks to Minecraft that allows players to experiment with quantum mechanics.

“qCraft isn’t a perfect scientific simulation, but it’s a fun way for players to experience a few parts of quantum mechanics outside of thought experiments or dense textbook examples. We don’t even know the full potential of what you can make with qCraft, but we’re excited to see what Minecraft’s players can discover,” Google said.

Quantum computing may help solve some of the most challenging computer science problems, particularly in machine learning. Google’s Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab aims is to study how quantum computing might advance machine learning. Google has developed some quantum machine learning algorithms including a way to handle highly polluted training data, where a high percentage of the examples are mislabeled, as they often are in the real world.

qCraft experimentation is to bring move these ideas from theory to practice, building real solutions on quantum hardware. Google hopes it helps researchers construct more efficient and more accurate models for everything from speech recognition, to web search, to protein folding.

With the use of materials in the game, players can create observer-dependent blocks that change depending on how you view them. For example, a block can be configured to be stone if seen from the east or the west, but looks like timber when viewed from the north or south. You can also build quantum computers (which require blocks of ice for cooling) that can store and transport entire buildings. If you build your house on a quantum computer, you can send an entangled quantum computer anywhere on the map.

Although the actual mod was created by indie game developer Daniel Rattcliffe, it was supported by MinecraftEDU, TeacherGaming, E-Line Media, The Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, the California Institute of Technology and Quantum Google AI Lab.

If you are interested, you can download the mod on the qCraft or official Minecraft forum. You can also download qCraft as part of the Tekkit, Hexxit, or Feed The Beast Unleashed modpacks.