The creation of this page was inspired by the The Mathematical Movie Database and by Alex Kasman’s MathFiction website. In the last few decades, video games became the most important entertainment media. So it’s proper to think about creating a database of video games that are mathematical in nature or make some type of reference to mathematics or are connected to mathematics in some way. I’ll probably include some web-based gamified interactive math simulations.
The math movies and fiction mentioned in the databases above, recreational math books ( by Martin Gardner or Boris A. Kordemsky), Pi day celebrations and distributive math projects (see BOINC projects) had some success in bringing math culture outside of normal math school classes or math related professions. Video games , due to their interactive nature, have an even greater potential of creating a fun math culture that goes beyond edutainment. Johan Huizinga made the case that we are Homo Ludens ( Man the Player), so I think that video games have the potential to be the greatest educational tools. But even if a video game is not meant to educate, a math reference can stir some interest in mathematics. This is why a video game doesn’t have to be an edutainment game to be on this list.
Delearnia: Fractions of Hope – a story driven adventure and puzzle platformer that integrates fractions into the game mechanics. The game was made by an indie Finnish developer. There is a version for Android.
Engare – a puzzle game and drawing tool made by the indie Iranian developer Mahdi Bahrami. The puzzles are inspired by Islamic art. I discovered this game due to a blog post from Open Culture.
Tandis – the second geometric puzzle game made by the Iranian developer Mahdi Bahrami.
SURREALISTa Game – Tribute to Giorgio de Chirico – a walking simulator where you can explore paintings by Giorgio de Chirico. De Chirico incorporated mathematics in his paintings. The game even showcases “The Mathematicians” painting. You can read “METAPHYSICAL MATHEMATICS” by Jole de Sanna to see how de Chirico incorporated mathematics into his paintings.