Tatami Maker: A combinatorially rich mechanical game board

TL;DR

This paper introduces a mechanical game board inspired by tatami mat arrangements, transforming mathematical puzzles into interactive sculptures and presenting new combinatorial games based on recent mathematical discoveries.

Contribution

It presents a novel modular, mechanical game board that enforces tatami restrictions and enables interactive exploration of combinatorial puzzles and games.

Findings

Designed a 3D-printed tatami-inspired game board

Implemented five new combinatorial games on the board

Connected mathematical discoveries to tangible interactive puzzles

Abstract

Japanese tatami mats are often arranged so that no four mats meet. This local restriction imposes a rich combinatorial structure when applied to monomino-domino coverings of rectilinear grids. We describe a modular, mechanical game board, prototyped with a desktop 3D printer, that enforces this restriction, and transforms tatami pen-and- paper puzzles into interactive sculptures. We review some recent mathematical discoveries on tatami coverings and present five new combinatorial games implemented on the game board.