# TextArena

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.11442 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.11442/

## Key facts

- Cited by 27 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 13 of its 17 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 15 Apr 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 13 of 13)

- [Evaluating Large Language Models Trained on Code](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.03374/) (2021)
- [Measuring Massive Multitask Language Understanding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.03300/) (2020)
- [DeepSeek-R1: Incentivizing Reasoning Capability in LLMs via Reinforcement Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.12948/) (2025)
- [Humanity's Last Exam](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.14249/) (2025)
- [Dynabench: Rethinking Benchmarking in NLP](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.14337/) (2021)
- [GTBench: Uncovering the Strategic Reasoning Limitations of LLMs via Game-Theoretic Evaluations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12348/) (2024)
- [GameBench: Evaluating Strategic Reasoning Abilities of LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.06613/) (2024)
- [LMRL Gym: Benchmarks for Multi-Turn Reinforcement Learning with Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.18232/) (2023)
- [Game-theoretic LLM: Agent Workflow for Negotiation Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2411.05990/) (2024)
- [Clembench: Using Game Play to Evaluate Chat-Optimized Language Models as Conversational Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.13455/) (2023)
- [Evaluating Language Model Agency through Negotiations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.04536/) (2024)
- [GameArena: Evaluating LLM Reasoning through Live Computer Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.06394/) (2024)
- [SPIN-Bench: How Well Do LLMs Plan Strategically and Reason Socially?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.12349/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 27 of 27)

- [A Survey of Reinforcement Learning for Large Reasoning Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.08827/) (2025)
- [Code World Models for General Game Playing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.04542/) (2025)
- [From Code Foundation Models to Agents and Applications: A Comprehensive Survey and Practical Guide to Code Intelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.18538/) (2025)
- [Cogito, Ergo Ludo: An Agent that Learns to Play by Reasoning and Planning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.25052/) (2025)
- [SPADE: Self-Play in Adaptive Synthetic Executable Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.19197/) (2026)
- [Agentic Environment Engineering for Large Language Models: A Survey of Environment Modeling, Synthesis, Evaluation, and Application](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.12191/) (2026)
- [KORGym: A Dynamic Game Platform for LLM Reasoning Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.14552/) (2025)
- [TextAtari: 100K Frames Game Playing with Language Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.04098/) (2025)
- [DemoEvolve: Overcoming Sparse Feedback in Agentic Harness Evolution with Demonstrations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.24539/) (2026)
- [CATArena: Evaluating Evolutionary Capabilities of Code Agents via Iterative Tournaments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.26852/) (2025)
- [MEMO: Memory-Augmented Model Context Optimization for Robust Multi-Turn Multi-Agent LLM Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.09022/) (2026)
- [MINDGAMES: A Live Arena for Evaluating Social and Strategic Reasoning in Multi-Agent LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.29512/) (2026)
- [Scaling Large Reasoning Models beyond Human Supervision: A Path toward Superintelligence](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.31075/) (2026)
- [Correct Answers from Sound Reasoning: Verifiable Process Supervision for Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.12519/) (2026)
- [When Context Returns: Toward Robust Internalization in On-Policy Distillation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.11627/) (2026)
- [AI for Games in the Foundation Model Era](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.16679/) (2026)
- [Hidden in Plain Text: Measuring LLM Deception Quality Against Human Baselines Using Social Deduction Games](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.13709/) (2026)
- [LatentGym: A Testbed For Cross-Task Experiential Learning With Controllable Latent Structure](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.15306/) (2026)
- [Social Gym and SPaRTan: Benchmarking and Improving LLM Social Reasoning via Multi-Agent Game Tournaments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.09128/) (2026)
- [Unveiling the Learning Mind of Language Models: A Cognitive Framework and Empirical Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.13464/) (2025)
- [Harbor Adapters and Harbor-Index: Infrastructure and a Curated Meta-Dataset for Large-Scale Agentic Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.04298/) (2026)
- [Stratagem: Learning Transferable Reasoning via Trajectory-Modulated Game Self-Play](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.17696/) (2026)
- [Multi-Turn Multi-Agent Dialogue for Collaborative Reconstruction Improves VLM Performance on Spatial Reasoning, But Only Barely](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.31387/) (2026)
- [Self-Play Search Distillation for Large Language Model Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.30936/) (2026)
- [Finding the Move Is Not Winning the Game: XiangqiBench for Closed-Loop Evaluation of LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.02425/) (2026)
- [SpeedrunBench: Challenging LLM Agents with Video Game Speedrunning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.08076/) (2026)
- [Can AI Agents Learn Their Way to the Top? Evaluating Heuristic Learning in a Long-Running Game Agent Competition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.12341/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

TextArena is an open-source collection of competitive text-based games for training and evaluation of agentic behavior in Large Language Models (LLMs). It spans 57+ unique environments (including single-player, two-player, and multi-player setups) and allows for easy evaluation of model capabilities via an online-play system (against humans and other submitted models) with real-time TrueSkill scores. Traditional benchmarks rarely assess dynamic social skills such as negotiation, theory of mind, and deception, creating a gap that TextArena addresses. Designed with research, community and extensibility in mind, TextArena emphasizes ease of adding new games, adapting the framework, testing models, playing against the models, and training models. Detailed documentation of environments, games, leaderboard, and examples are available on https://github.com/LeonGuertler/TextArena and https://www.textarena.ai/.