The 17th Portuguese Tournament of Mathematical Games
On March 14, 2024, Pi Day (!), around 1800 students (aged 7 to 17) from all over Portugal joined in University of Aveiro to play six abstract games. The event was organized locally by Fábrica Centro Ciência Viva de Aveiro, the Math Department of the University of Aveiro, and Projeto Matemática Ensino. More information here.
The event occurred at Pavilhão Professor Doutor Aristides Hall:
The tournament preparation
The tournament during the morning
The Portuguese Tournament of Mathematical Games started months before in several hundreds of schools, scattered thru all Portugal, with local tournaments to find what students were the best players.
The games were the following:
- Cats & Dogs - A 1970s game from Simon Norton
- Slimetrail - the Bill Taylor's 7x7 square variant for faster plays during the tournament.
- Product - Nick Bentley's game with some adaptations
- Domineering, aka, Stop-Gate, invented by John Conway in the 1970s
- Atari-Go - A variant of Go where the player that makes the first capture, wins.
- Nex - A variant of Hex using neutral pieces in the mix
The games were divided by students' age:
- First cycle (7-10 years) students played Cats & Dogs, Slimetrail or Domineering
- Second Cycle (10-12 years) students played Slimetrail, Domineering or Product
- Third Cycle (12-15 years) students played Domineering, Product or Atari Go
- Secondary (15-17 years) students played Product, Atari Go, Nex
This meant 12 independent tournaments (a tournament per age per game). More information can be found at ludicum.org (in Portuguese).
Some pictures:
Product
Domineering
Slimetrail
Cats & Dogs
Atari-Go
Nex
each tournament has
twelve students and four rounds
each game is identified by the t-shirt color of its players
this year we had a Cape Verde team, represented by Escola Técnica João Varela (best regards to professor Laurinda Fortes)
During the tournament (sorry for the audio)
The best student of each tournament was selected to the afternoon's final. This last tournament decided the winners.
The winners
| 1º Ciclo | Gatos e Cães | 1 | Kalus Izidoro, EB Arrabalde |
| 2 | Lucas Caldeira, Escola EB|PE do Porto da Cruz - Madeira | ||
| 3 | Joaquim Pereira, Escola Básica Chafariz d'El Rei | ||
| 1º Ciclo | Rastros | 1 | Francisco Albuquerque, Colégio de Santa Maria |
| 2 | José Rosa, Externato de São João - Madeira | ||
| 3 | Francisco Seixas, Colégio João Paulo II - Vila Real | ||
| 1º Ciclo | Dominório | 1 | Xavier Pinto, Colégio de Santa Maria |
| 2 | Margarida Ramos, EB1 de Real | ||
| 3 | Dinis Silva, Escola Básica Chafariz d'El Rei | ||
| 2º Ciclo | Rastros | 1 | Diogo Teixeira, Escola EBS Dr. Ângelo Augusto da Silva - Madeira |
| 2 | Manuel Freire, Escola Básica André de Resende | ||
| 3 | Jaime Anes, Colégio de S. João de Brito | ||
| 2º Ciclo | Dominório | 1 | Inês Sousa, Colégio de Santa Doroteia |
| 2 | Salvador Cruz, EB 2,3 Drª Maria Alice Gouveia | ||
| 3 | Afonso Martins, Escola EB 2,3 Padre Alberto Neto | ||
| 2º Ciclo | Produto | 1 | Xavier Anes, Colégio de S. João de Brito |
| 2 | Francisco Pereira, Escola Básica André de Resende | ||
| 3 | João Gonçalves, Colégio de Santa Doroteia | ||
| 3º Ciclo | Dominório | 1 | David Dias, Escola Básica Marquês de Marialva |
| 2 | Gustavo Ornelas, Escola EBS Bispo D. Manuel Ferreira Cabral - Madeira | ||
| 3 | Martim Salvado, Escola Secundária Dom Manuel Martins | ||
| 3º Ciclo | Produto | 1 | Petra Batista, Escola EB2|3 do Caniço - Madeira |
| 2 | Marta Jorge, Colégio de S. João de Brito | ||
| 3 | Miguel Silva, EB2,3/S Salvaterra de Magos | ||
| 3º Ciclo | Atari-Go | 1 | Miguel Afonso Aleixo, Escola EB|PE Bartolomeu Perestrelo - Madeira |
| 2 | Martim Fagundes, Escola Secundária Vitorino Nemésio | ||
| 3 | Tiago Cardoso, Externato São José | ||
| Secundário | Produto | 1 | Inês Braga, Escola Básica 2,3/S de Arcos de Valdevez |
| 2 | Pedro Maria, Escola Secundária José Estêvão | ||
| 3 | Inês Jorge, Colégio de S. João de Brito | ||
| Secundário | Atari-Go | 1 | Matilde Moreira, Escola Secundária José Estêvão |
| 2 | Tomás Diaz, Colégio de S. João de Brito | ||
| 3 | Rodrigo Figueiredo, Escola Secundária de Tondela | ||
| Secundário | Nex | 1 | Alice Geada, Colégio de S. João de Brito |
| 2 | Samuel Araújo, Escola Básica 2,3/S de Arcos de Valdevez | ||
| 3 | Martim Andrade, Escola ES Francisco Franco - Madeira |
Inventa o Teu Jogo (board game design contest)
The winners of the best board game design were Carolina Tanqueiro, Joana Brunheta e Francisco Rocha, Escola Profissional de Tomar, with the game "Xadrez da Alice do país das Maravilhas" (Chess of Alice in Wonderland).
Acknowledgments
We wish to thank all the organizations that made this possible and also the wonderful people that work really hard to make this possible. Also to: Alda Carvalho, Jorge Nuno Silva, Luís Malheiro, Carmen Marques, Isabel Correia, Miguel Cardoso, Sandra Ramos, and all the great professors and assistants that volunteer to help us with this wonderful event. A special thanks to Carlota Brazileiro for her tireless work helping low-vision and blind students playing these great games!
