The Lights Out Game on Directed Graphs

Abstract

We study a version of the lights out game played on directed graphs. For a digraph $D$, we begin with a labeling of $V(D)$ with elements of ${\mathbb{Z}}_k$ for $k\ge 2$. When a vertex $v$ is toggled, the labels of $v$ and any vertex that $v$ dominates are increased by 1 mod $k$. The game is won when each vertex has label 0. We say that $D$ is $k$-Always Winnable (also written $k$-AW) if the game can be won for every initial labeling with elements of ${\mathbb{Z}}_k$. We prove that all acyclic digraphs are $k$-AW for all $k$, and we reduce the problem of determining whether a graph is $k$-AW to the case of strongly connected digraphs. We then determine winnability for tournaments with a minimum feedback arc set that arc-induces a directed path or directed star digraph.