DiMo Puzzle #2

Since depth was the main culprit (or at least I think so) in why Puzzle #1 didn't work, I decided to start on another that would allow some experimentation with depth to gain a better understanding of its implications:

components: grid, stand, pegs








grid/stand assembly w/ pegs














view of partially completed assembly. the perspective distortion is evident here and makes me wonder if it would be possible to easily fabricate the puzzle to compensate for this.






So the grid/stands are going to be painted white, and the pegs will have one end (the round only) painted white and the other painted black. This way one can change the orientation of the pegs to correspond to the fore/aft value in the code. I'll be picking up more material tomorrow to finish it with, so hopefully be the end of the day Friday it'll be either done or close to.

Working on the grid assembly reminded me of two childhood games: Connect Four and Lite-Brites. Both could be used as a model for playing with codes, although the Lite Brite might seem to be too closely related to the Mooninite scare for Amir's taste

I also figured out a way to make the sliding tile pieces as discussed in class, just need to get some MDF board to make those out of. The mathematics of the fifteen puzzle (a variation of the standard sliding puzzle) are pretty interesting, and worth reading about here.