Quantum Race; a Board Game for the Introduction to Quantum Mechanics

"Quantum Race" is a board game designed to be a support in illustrating and teaching complex Quantum Mechanical concepts such as wavefunctions, delocalization, collapse and quantum tunneling. The game can be played without any background knowledge or preliminary explanations on Quantum Mechanics. The concepts to be illustrated are self contained in the game rules, which are very simple and fast to be learned (the game has been tested also by eight years old children), but at the same time complex enough to ensure the use of tactics, in order to make the game interesting also for adults. Quantum Race is essentially a car race board game where each car consists of six numbered parts (describing the "wavefunction") that are spread (delocalized) along the speedway with deterministic rules, but which in case of observation "collapse" randomly (according to a dice roll) all together in one of the positions recomposing a "classical" car. The game has been successfully tested in high schools as preparation to seminars on Quantum Mechanics, and has been played in different Science Festivals. In particular it has been played at the "Festival della Scienza di Genova" (Genoa Science Festival) in a live version, on a giant board (7 m x 8 m) with players in the role of pawns. We present the game and the experiences on its use in different contests, and discuss the possible application of the key idea in other fields with different games. For more information: quantumrace.blogspot.com