Can Alexander Turn Me Into A Designer?

One Way Or Another by Alexander Magyarics

At the Assisi IPP I spent quite a long time on one particular puzzle and got absolutely nowhere despite it looking like an apparently straightforward idea. Now obviously, if it was good enough to be allowed into the design competition then it had to be significantly better than straightforward. At the time, I had absolutely no idea who deigned it or even who made it but the original version was crafted from beautiful wooden pieces which is like silver to a magpie for me. Lots of people seemed to be solving it and enjoying their Aha! moments but not me. 

I was delighted to discover that this fabulous challenge had been designed by my friend and puzzle savant, Alexander Magyarics. Of course, at the puzzle party itself, I could not resist and bought a copy direct from Alexander. It's not wood but it has been beautifully 3D printed with a very nice set of textured pieces which makes sliding them around in the tray with a fingertip much easier than had it been smooth. Later, when the competition results were announced Alexander was hugely delighted to see his puzzle get awarded a prize in the Jury Honourable Mention section. To achieve a prize from the incredible puzzlers on that jury is an amazing feat as they are very discerning.

I have been playing with my copy on and off ever since I got home. The aim is to take the single L Triomino and 3 Tetrominoes and place them in the tray with the single disk in one corner. Yep! That's easy peasy - there's lots of space. But then, having placed the pieces, the aim is to be able to slide them around in the tray until you have moved the disk into the diagonally opposite corner. There are 4 empty spaces in the tray so this should be relatively easy? Right? Erm...no! As you can see from the photo above none of the pieces are able to move apart from the disk so that's not going to work. Try again!

What this means is that we have two puzzles in one - first design your puzzle and then work out the sequence to move the pieces until the required diagonal placement has been achieved. The thing about this challenge is that having no linear pieces seems to make them block each other very quickly. I have found lots of configurations where a few moves are possible. I have found quite a few placements where  there seems to be plenty of initial movement possible but it quickly gets blocked up after that. I have even found quite a number of antislide positions where nothing can move at all! What I haven't managed to find is any kind of placement where I can move anything more than 5 or 6 moves. I have never been very good at sliding piece puzzles but have usually eventually solved them (even if it took many more moves than it should have) but I have absolutely no design talent in me at all. Unfortunately for me, the design component is an absolutely key feature to this challenge! I have been at it for many hours and of course cannot keep track of what I have tried so have probably done the same thing hundreds of times. Ken apparently solved it relatively quickly but then he is a MUCH better puzzler than me and is quite good at design.

At one point, I did think to myself: "self, maybe you should try using Burrtools!"

Now, I am quite good at using BT to solve puzzles after so many years of practice but I have realised that I have absolutely no idea how to enter this into the program. Obviously it is easy to put the pieces in but I don't know how to get it to transform from one shape to another. It may be that BT is not the right tool to use but it was sobering to realise that Alexander had probably done all this in his head! There is very little in my head and I am quite envious of people who store stuff in theirs. Mrs S may say that having puzzles in your head is a waste of space but at least it is something in there. My head is full of nothing but leaves and whimsy and a very odd whispering noise which won't go away.

This puzzle is very portable so I will be carrying it with me for a good while and hopefully someone at work will be able to solve it even if I never manage it.

To answer the question of the title of the post... NO, Alexander cannot turn me into a designer! Not yet anyway.😱

If you would like a copy then you should be able to contact Alexander or buy it from Greg. Brian Menold made the original design competition version and has some left for sale on his site.

UPDATE 30 minutes later:

I have had a final Aha! moment and solved the puzzle - wow! That is really good. Why did that take me so long? I have to heartily agree with the Jury - it is definitely an honourable mention winner. Thank you Alexander!