Hi all,

I have created another animation of a puzzle in my collection. This animation
features the Gobi puzzle designed by Alfons Eyckmans. It is a level 31.9.5.5
puzzle, meaning that releasing the first piece requires 31 moves, followed by
another nine to free the second piece, etc. The puzzle is called Gobi for
reasons that should become clear towards the end of the video, when the puzzle
is nearly fully disassembled.

I think it's a beautiful puzzle. Hopefully you'll agree. The animation can be
found here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGdvU1hjEUA

Cheers,
Erwin

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I suppose the puzzle is as difficult to /assemble/ as to /disassemble/ ;-)

As always, a beautiful animation though I still am at a loss about Gobi.

-- 
Thomas

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Le 16/01/2015 21:12, Eriban a écrit :
> Hi all,
> 
> I have created another animation of a puzzle in my collection. This animation
> features the Gobi puzzle designed by Alfons Eyckmans. It is a level 31.9.5.5
> puzzle, meaning that releasing the first piece requires 31 moves, followed by
> another nine to free the second piece, etc. The puzzle is called Gobi for
> reasons that should become clear towards the end of the video, when the puzzle
> is nearly fully disassembled.
> 
> I think it's a beautiful puzzle. Hopefully you'll agree.

Yes, very nice puzzle, with a nice symbolism inside (I recognize a
human, is it a cow or a dromedary next to it ?)

For a less brutal angular acceleration, some rotations might enjoy some
sloping curves (with superposition of the end of one rotation with the
start of the next one).

The space is ok for the dissassembly, but I would have expected a
fast-reassembly at the end (very fast, while credits are
displayed/scrolled). And may be a counter or sort of it (1, 2, ... 31,
31.1, 31.2, ... 31.9.5.5 ) in a corner

31 first moves... and I found my puzzles difficult... oh relativity!

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On 16/01/2015 20:12, Eriban wrote:
> I think it's a beautiful puzzle. Hopefully you'll agree. The animation can be
> found here:

Thanks for that. It dredged up memories of the couple I had at school. I 
had a cube and a sphere and there was a barrel shape as well. They 
weren't quite as difficult as that one. :-)

-- 

Regards
     Stephen

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Thanks all for your comments.

Thomas de Groot <tho### [at] degrootorg> wrote:
> I suppose the puzzle is as difficult to /assemble/ as to /disassemble/ ;-)

In fact, assembly is typically more difficult, as you have to work out where
each puzzle piece is supposed to go. Some puzzles are particularly challenging,
as they may have dozens or hundreds of possible ways that the pieces fit, but
only one configuration can actually be assembled. In fact, some puzzles are
really too difficult to assemble without help of a computer. Those puzzles are
typically shipped assembled. That still makes them challenging enough.
Disassembly still might take several hours or days, as the solution typically is
not a one way street but a maze instead.

> As always, a beautiful animation though I still am at a loss about Gobi.

The two hidden pieces are designed to resemble a dromedary and its rider, so the
puzzle is named after the Gobi desert.

Le_Forgeron <jgr### [at] freefr> wrote:
> Yes, very nice puzzle, with a nice symbolism inside (I recognize a
> human, is it a cow or a dromedary next to it ?)

It's a dromedary indeed.

> For a less brutal angular acceleration, some rotations might enjoy some
> sloping curves (with superposition of the end of one rotation with the
> start of the next one).

Thanks, that's a good suggestion. I will leave this animation unchanged, but
will consider it for the next animations I am planning to make.

> The space is ok for the dissassembly, but I would have expected a
> fast-reassembly at the end (very fast, while credits are
> displayed/scrolled). And may be a counter or sort of it (1, 2, ... 31,
> 31.1, 31.2, ... 31.9.5.5 ) in a corner

The fast reassembly during credits is another good suggestion. I will give that
a try for the animation I am currently working on.

I have also considered the use of counters for tracking the moves. For the Gobi
puzzle I didn't try it, as I figured that the time required by the rotations of
the entire puzzle would break the rythm of the counter increments too much.
Also, for the puzzle whose solution I am currently animating I can't do it, as
the solution I found is slightly longer than the optimal solution. If I show the
counters, people will find out. ;-)

> 31 first moves... and I found my puzzles difficult... oh relativity!

Shortly I will receive a puzzle that requires 166 moves to release the first
piece. I am not actually sure if that will still be fun to solve. That might end


Stephen <mca### [at] aolcom> wrote:
> Thanks for that. It dredged up memories of the couple I had at school. I
> had a cube and a sphere and there was a barrel shape as well. They
> weren't quite as difficult as that one. :-)

Ah yes, those are quite well known. My puzzle collection also started with
those, but has expanded beyond that in size and complexity.

Cheers,
Erwin

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Hi(gh)!

On 17.01.2015 21:32, Eriban wrote:

> The two hidden pieces are designed to resemble a dromedary and its rider, so the
> puzzle is named after the Gobi desert.

In Gobi desert, you'll rather have Bactrian (two-humped) camels than 
dromedaries - a dromedary would not stand the winter cold of the Gobi!

See you in Khyberspace!

Yadgar

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<yaz### [at] gmxde> wrote:
> In Gobi desert, you'll rather have Bactrian (two-humped) camels than
> dromedaries - a dromedary would not stand the winter cold of the Gobi!

Hi Yadgar,

Thanks for spotting my error and correcting it. The puzzle piece actually
represents a camel (with two humps) and not a dromedary, so all is right. In my
animation, and also in the wooden version of the puzzle I got, the two humps are
not clearly separated, but in the wooden version of the puzzle made by the
actual designer of the puzzle, it's clear that there are two humps, see for
example the photo on the following page
http://puzzles.schwandtner.info/group_zoo.html

Cheers,
Erwin

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