Problems with margins in tikz matrix

Question

I am making a squared board game, which requires text in cells to be rotated (so all players can read them). The problem I have is that when I rotate the cell, some extra spaces appear, which I have not been able to eliminate. As suggested in other answers in this site, I have used

anchor=base,minimum width=1.75cm,minimum height=1.75cm,text height=2ex,text depth=0.25ex

and

column sep=0cm, row sep=0cm, outer sep=0pt,inner sep=0

where it belongs. But I still get the error. My code is:

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,matrix}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\usepackage{colortbl}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[element/.style={anchor=base,minimum width=1.75cm,minimum height=1.75cm,draw=black,line width=1pt,text height=2ex,text depth=0.25ex}]
\matrix (m) [matrix of nodes,nodes={element},column sep=0cm, row sep=0cm, outer sep=0pt,inner sep=0]{
|[draw,rotate=-90]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|3 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|31 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|23 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=-90]|2 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|9 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|12 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|19 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|22 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=-90]|3 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|8 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|13 & |[draw,fill=yellow!20,rotate=180]|18 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|23 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=-90]|4 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|7 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|14 & & & & & |[draw,rotate=-90]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21\\
|[draw,rotate=-90]|5 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|6 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|15 & & & & & |[draw,rotate=-90]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=-90]|4 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|7 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|14 & & & & & |[draw,rotate=-90]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21\\
|[draw,rotate=-90]|5 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|6 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|15 & & & & & |[draw,rotate=-90]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=-90]|3 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|8 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|13 & |[draw,fill=yellow!20,rotate=180]|18 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|23 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=-90]|4 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|7 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|14 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|17 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|24 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21\\
|[draw,rotate=-90]|5 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|6 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|15 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|16 & |[draw,fill=yellow!20,rotate=180]|25 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=-90]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
};

\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

My output:

How can I get rid of all blank spaces, so rotation does not mess up my board?

Answer 1

a solution for basic problem is given in Sigur comment. However your code can be simplified and make it more concise by:

• defining styles separately for each column. by this all local commands for rotation and many for colors become superfluous
• it is better to define nodes style in one place, as options of matrix
• since content of nodes are numbers the prescribing of text depth superfuous
• to be nodes square is sufficient to determine minimal size of nodes

resulting mwe is then:

\documentclass{standalone}
%\usepackage[table]{xcolor}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{matrix}
\usepackage{amsthm}

\begin{document}
    \begin{tikzpicture}
\matrix (m) [matrix of nodes,
             nodes={draw, line width=1pt,
                    minimum size=4ex, outer sep=0pt,
                    anchor=center},
             column sep=-1pt, row sep=-1pt,
             column 1/.style = {nodes={rotate=-90}},
             column 2/.style = {nodes={rotate=180}},
             column 3/.style = {nodes={rotate=-90}},
             column 4/.style = {nodes={rotate=180}},
             column 5/.style = {nodes={rotate=180}},
             column 6/.style = {nodes={rotate=-90}},
             column 7/.style = {nodes={fill=blue!20,rotate=180}},
             column 8/.style = {nodes={rotate=-90}},
             column 9/.style = {nodes={fill=blue!20,rotate=180}},
            column 10/.style = {nodes={fill=red!20,rotate=-90}},
            ]{
1 & |[fill=blue!20]|10 & 11 & |[fill=blue!20]|20   & |[fill=red!20]|21 & 3 & 10 & 31 & 23 & 21 \\
%
2 & |[fill=red!20]|9    & 12  & |[fill=red!20]|19    & |[fill=red!20]|22 & 1 & 10 & 11 & 20 & 21 \\
%
3 & |[fill=blue!20]|8   & 13  & |[fill=yellow!20]|18 & |[fill=red!20]|23 & 1 & 10 & 11 & 20 & 21 \\
%
4 & |[fill=red!20]|7    & 14  & & & & & 11 & 20 & 21 \\
%
5 & |[fill=red!20]|6    & 15  & & & & & 11 & 20 & 21 \\
%
4 & |[fill=red!20]|7    & 14  & & & & & 11 & 20 & 21 \\
%
5 & |[fill=red!20]|6    & 15  & & & & & 11 & 20 & 21 \\
%
3 & |[fill=blue!20]|8   & 13  & |[fill=yellow!20]|18 & |[fill=red!20]|23  & 1 & 10 & 11 & 20 & 21 \\
%
4 & |[fill=red!20]|7    & 14  & |[fill=red!20]|17    & |[fill=blue!20]|24 & 1 & 10 & 11 & 20 & 21 \\
%
5 & |[fill=red!20]|6 & 15 & |[fill=blue!20]|16 & |[fill=yellow!20]|25 & 1 & 10 & 11 & 20 & 21 \\
};
    \end{tikzpicture}

result is:

Answer 2

Disclaimer: Full credit to Sigur, who solved the problem. All I did is to make some minor additional adjustments. The main issue is solved by setting anchor=center, as pointed out by Sigur, as otherwise the centers of rotation are not the same. The minor changes are marked in the code.

\documentclass{standalone}
\usepackage{tikz}
\usetikzlibrary{calc,matrix,shapes,positioning}
\usepackage{amsthm}
\usepackage{colortbl}
\begin{document}

\begin{tikzpicture}[element/.style={regular polygon,
regular polygon sides=4, %<- make sure that the nodes end up being quadratic
anchor=center,%<- Sigur
minimum width=1.75cm,
draw=black,line width=1pt,text height=2ex,text depth=0.25ex
}]
\matrix (m) [matrix of nodes,nodes={element},column sep=0cm, row sep=0cm, 
outer sep=0pt,inner sep=0,row sep=-1pt,column sep=-1pt]{%<- to have the same line width everywhere
|[draw,rotate=270]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=270]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 & |[draw,rotate=270]|3 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=270]|31 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|23 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=270]|2 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|9 & |[draw,rotate=270]|12 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|19 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|22 & |[draw,rotate=270]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=270]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=270]|3 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|8 & |[draw,rotate=270]|13 & |[draw,fill=yellow!20,rotate=180]|18 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|23 & |[draw,rotate=270]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=270]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=270]|4 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|7 & |[draw,rotate=270]|14 & & & & & |[draw,rotate=270]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21\\
|[draw,rotate=270]|5 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|6 & |[draw,rotate=270]|15 & & & & & |[draw,rotate=270]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=270]|4 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|7 & |[draw,rotate=270]|14 & & & & & |[draw,rotate=270]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21\\
|[draw,rotate=270]|5 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|6 & |[draw,rotate=270]|15 & & & & & |[draw,rotate=270]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=270]|3 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|8 & |[draw,rotate=270]|13 & |[draw,fill=yellow!20,rotate=180]|18 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|23 & |[draw,rotate=270]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=270]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
|[draw,rotate=270]|4 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|7 & |[draw,rotate=270]|14 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|17 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|24 & |[draw,rotate=270]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=270]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21\\
|[draw,rotate=270]|5 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|6 & |[draw,rotate=270]|15 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|16 & |[draw,fill=yellow!20,rotate=180]|25 & |[draw,rotate=270]|1 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|10 & |[draw,rotate=270]|11 & |[draw,fill=blue!20,rotate=180]|20 & |[draw,fill=red!20,rotate=180]|21 \\
};
\end{tikzpicture}

\end{document}

Happy gaming!