On the Lego-Teichmuller game

For a smooth oriented surface S, denote by M(S) the set of all ways to represent S as a result of gluing together standard spheres with holes (``the Lego game''). In this paper we give a full set of simple moves and relations which turn M(S) into a connected and simply-connected 2-complex. Results of this kind were first obtained by Moore and Seiberg, but their paper contains serious gaps. Our proof is based on a different approach and is much more rigorous.