The 16th Portuguese Tournament of Mathematical Games
On March 24, 2023, 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 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:
- Traffic Lights - the 3x4 variant from Alan Parr's original game
- 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.
The games were divided by students' age:
- First cycle (7-10 years) students played Traffic Lights, Cats & Dogs or Slimetrail
- Second Cycle (10-12 years) students played Cats & Dogs, Slimetrail or Product
- Third Cycle (12-15 years) students played Domineering, Product or Slimetrail
- Secondary (15-17 years) students played Product, Domineering or Atari Go
This meant 12 independent tournaments (a tournament per age per game). More information can be found at ludicum.org (in Portuguese).
Some pictures:
During the tournament
The best student of each tournament was selected to the afternoon's final. This last tournament decided the winners.
The winners
| 1º Ciclo | Semáforo | 1 | Manuel Almeida, Instituto Duarte de Lemos |
| 2 | Daniela Soares, Escola Básica e Secundária de Velas | ||
| 3 | Guilherme Silva, EB1 da Ponte | ||
| 1º Ciclo | Gatos e Cães | 1 | João Spínola, EB1/PE e Creche Eng. Luís Santos Costa |
| 2 | Afonso Gonçalves, 2º Jardim - Escola João de Deus | ||
| 3 | Mariana Freitas, Escola Básica de Turquel | ||
| 1º Ciclo | Rastros | 1 | Diogo Ribeiro, 2º Jardim - Escola João de Deus |
| 2 | Tiago Pereira, Escola Básica e Secundária de Velas | ||
| 3 | Carolina Barreiros, Externato Sant’Ana | ||
| 2º Ciclo | Gatos e Cães | 1 | Guilherme Pereira, Colégio de São João de Brito |
| 2 | Pedro da Graça, Colégio Nossa Senhora de Lourdes | ||
| 3 | Carla Sousa, EBS Padre Manuel Álvares | ||
| 2º Ciclo | Rastros | 1 | Jaime Anes, Colégio de São João de Brito |
| 2 | Maria Amorim, Jardim-Escola São João de Deus de Ponta Delgada | ||
| 3 | Salvador Rodrigues, Escola Básica e Secundária de Murça | ||
| 2º Ciclo | Produto | 1 | Tomás Ressureição, Colégio Santa Doroteia |
| 2 | Nuno Carvalho, EBS Padre Manuel Álvares | ||
| 3 | Carlos Reis, Escola Básica e Secundária de Melgaço | ||
| 3º Ciclo | Rastros | 1 | Manuel Cunha, Colégio Santa Doroteia |
| 2 | Jaime Freire, Escola Básica André de Resende | ||
| 3 | Guilherme Ribeiro, Escola EB23 António Correia Oliveira - Esposende | ||
| 3º Ciclo | Produto | 1 | João Reis, Colégio de São João de Brito |
| 2 | Sofia Pais, Escola Básica André de Resende | ||
| 3 | Salvador Azevedo, Colégio do Castanheiro | ||
| 3º Ciclo | Dominório | 1 | Miguel Geada, Colégio de São João de Brito |
| 2 | Joana Neves, Escola Básica Padre Himalaya Arcos de Valdevez | ||
| 3 | Lara Souza, EBS/PE da Calheta | ||
| Secundário | Produto | 1 | Duarte Caldeira, Escola Secundária Sebastião da Gama |
| 2 | Alvarino Lin, Escola da Apel | ||
| 3 | Guilherme Monteiro, Escola Secundária Luís de Freitas Branco | ||
| Secundário | Dominório | 1 | Tiago Salvedo, Escola Secundária da Moita |
| 2 | João Feitas, EBS de Santa Cruz | ||
| 3 | Tomás Quaresma, Escola Secundária Avelar Brotero | ||
| Secundário | Atari-Go | 1 | Pedro Rocha, Escola Secundária de Castro Daire |
| 2 | André Sá, Escola Secundária de Camões | ||
| 3 | Pedro Pereira, Escola Secundária da Amadora |
Inventa o Teu Jogo (board game design contest)
The winners of the best board game design
were Ana Rita Costa, Ana Sofia Cardoso, Maria Inês Azevedo from Escola
Secundária D. Sancho I,
Vila Nova de Famalicão, with the game "Menos
é Mais" (Less is More).
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, Ana Fraga, 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!
