Camps in Zakopane are inseparably linked to the Kangaroo Mathematics Competition. A group of French mathematicians, led by André Deledicq, began organizing a mathematics competition in France based on the format of the Australian National Mathematics Competition, which was created by the well-known mathematics popularizer Peter O'Halloran. At that time, Polish mathematician Andrzej Kłopotowski was in France and was impressed by the competition organized by the French team. He started looking for people in Poland who could help bring this idea to the country. He found them in Mirosław Uscki and Paweł Jarek, who, together with a growing group of collaborators, initiated the tradition of organizing Kangaroo in Poland. Paweł Jarek, who was fluent in French, facilitated lively and fruitful cooperation with Deledicq’s team. Meanwhile, Mirosław Uscki coordinated and organized a network of regional Kangaroo organizers, who also took part in setting up summer camps in Zakopane.

The Zakopane camps started being organized alongside the competition. Their primary initiator was Paweł Jarek, a great lover of the Polish mountains. He also established cooperation with Polish schools in Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. Over time, students from these schools began attending the camp in Zakopane. In addition to Zakopane, the camp participants also visited nearby Kraków. In some editions, they stayed there for several days. However, due to logistical reasons, only one city could be chosen as the camp’s main base, and Zakopane was selected. To this day, camp participants go on full-day trips to Kraków.

The first camp took place in 1992 and was organized only for winners from Poland. At the time, it was a great motivation for Kangaroo participants. Trips to the mountains and abroad (as Polish winners were invited to France from the very beginning) were not as common as they are today. In later years, thanks to collaboration within the Kangourou Sans Frontières association, competition winners from France, Lithuania, Moldova, Germany, Romania, Hungary, and Polish diaspora schools began attending the camps. Over time, the list of cooperating countries expanded significantly.

For a long time, the camps were organized in two sessions: one Russian-speaking and one English-speaking, each hosting about 100 participants, mostly from Poland. The camps had (and still have) both an academic and touristic character. The main tourist attraction, of course, was hiking in the mountains, organized by Paweł Jarek, the first head of the camp. Participants also visited Zakopane and the previously mentioned Kraków.

During the camp, there were also mathematical workshops and competitions. From the very beginning, a continuous competition (also called never-ending) was organized. Its participants solved a mathematical problem each day. Over the years, competition tasks varied, and the format of the camp's mathematical contests changed. In the first years, Andrzej Nowicki was responsible for coordinating mathematical activities at the camps. He organized competitions, proposed contest problems, conducted workshops, and invited lecturers (including international ones) to run sessions. Due to the wide age range of participants, workshops were divided into age groups and, when language barriers arose, also into nationality ones.

Since the first camp, the world has changed significantly, and the camp in Zakopane has evolved as well. The early camps, much like the first editions of the Kangaroo competition, were organized as grassroots initiatives by mathematics enthusiasts and promoters. Over time, both initiatives have become highly professionalized and now operate within formal structures. However, their main goal remains unchanged — to popularize mathematical ideas and foster collaboration among mathematics lovers from different countries.