Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Summer 2023 Puzzle Adventures

Last summer I had fun doing twisty puzzles with the Czech kiddos at my house. Some of the puzzles even got to leave with them and travel around the world. The yellow Bump Cube and the Carbon Fiber 3x3x3 went with Annie. The Redi Cube and a Six Spot Cube went with Alex. A 2x2 Cube and the Rediminx went with David. Annie and Alex each mastered the ones they took along with them. David is great at the 2x2 using the 3-step method Solution Guide we made together. And we played a little with the Rediminx and I'm confident that he will be able to figure it out. 

Well... the Carbon Fiber 3x3x3 got trashed. Some of the stickers got pealed off and pealed back. I am going to take it home with me and resticker it with normal stickers. Maybe make a sticker mod of some sort. Maybe give the kiddos some sticker mod options and see what they want. Or see if they can come up with one of their own. One corner of the 2x2x2 I sent home last summer also got trashed. Two of the three pieces were missing. We went through two toy drawers and found one of the missing pieces but not the other one. David did not keep working on the 2x2 after he went home last summer so is relearning how to solve it this summer. He did not figure out the Rediminx either although he could get it partly solved. 

A short time ago Breann bought a 4x4 cube with Carbon Fiber stickers and a set of puzzles consisting of a 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, and Pyraminx. Alex wanted to learn the 4x4 so I prepared some lessons. The method I taught him to solve the corners is the same one used to solve the 2x2, so he is also learning to solve a 2x2. And of course he will be able to solve a 3x3 after he masters the 4x4. 

I hope that after David can solve the 2x2 that he will learn how to solve the 2x2 blindfolded. We shall see.

What about Annie? I brought the Penrose cube. She solved it color-wise but needed a double swap to get the sticker stripes correct. I did it for her and showed her. 

The last time we solved the Rediminx we got creative with it.



Sunday, October 23, 2022

Random Puzzle Info

 I can't find any notes on flipping a center piece. Usually when solving a puzzle that might need a center flipped I find a way to avoid the situation, but what if I don't? Will I remember? I mean it doesn't really happen often enough to keep it fresh. So here it is: (LRU LiRiU2) x 2

When solving corners first and I have to 3-cycle edges at the end I always have to stop and think and sometimes experiment. To 3-cycle middle layer edges including UB to UF, with the correct one at FD: Mv U2 M^ U2.

Let's document here the basic steps of solving a 3x3 cube Corners First.

1. Corners using 2x2 Cube technique.

2. Yellow and White edges.

3. Middle Layer Edges.

Tuesday, October 11, 2022

Speaking of Frisbee Golf...

In our heyday of Family Frisbee Golf in our front yard we kept track of many of the games in this little Memo pad. 
March through June of 1990. Rory was 13. Every hole was par 2. We totaled our scores for each hole. We counted the best 10 games. So the 15 at the bottom means that we were a total of 15 over par for the best 10 games, or an average of 1.5 over par per game.
With 10-year old Raymond included during the same time frame we were an average of 6.1 over per game for the best 10 games.
Team Speed. Huh??? I remember Team Speed, but the pages I have here... ??? One obvious thing on this page is that we understandably did much better in 2000 than in 1990. When I remember Team Speed I remember Rory and I throwing and Raymond blocking. And what is this Team Speed Relay thing? Two throwers and one blocker at each hole switching at each hole. I vaguely remember that.
In 2000 I'd say I was going slower with times of 9 and 7. It looks like Robert was the star on that day. 6 ones. Nice.
1990 all 4 of us. Check out that final total of the best 10. 34 under par! Wow!

Totals for the different teams we played with all on one page.
All 4 1991
Rory and Daddy 1991




More 1991 Scores





1992 Scores

1993 Scores
This is the end of the Memo pad. It has been almost 30 years since we kept track of scores. In 1993 Rory turned 17, Raymond turned 13, Robert turned 11, and I turned 41. 


Thursday, October 6, 2022

Old Treasures and Blasts From The Past

 

I posted this Skewb Collection a couple days ago on Craigslist.
Dino Skewb, Ultimate Skewb, Curvy Rhombohedron, Squished Skewb.


Apple//e Software

Calendar Maker was a program I wrote to print out calendars on a dot matrix printer for Dad. He was really into birhtday calendars.

I had a program published on Softdisk! Loose Change. They totally reworked the graphics and I didn't even feel like it was mine any more, but the idea was mine for sure. When I taught algebra at FLCS we had some word problems that gave a given amount of money made from an known number of coins. The object was to use two equations with two unknowns to figure out how many of each coin there is. I had left a problem on the board one day and after school Rory, when he was 12 give or take, quickly figured it out in his head, no algebra required. I started giving him problems like this for fun and programmed a computer game for him based on these problems. 

IO Silver was a game we liked published by Beagle Bros. Software in 1984. All I remember is using 4 keys on the keyboard to make the little guy run around the screen collecting things.

The Rory and Raymond disks were... hmmm... I seem to recall making a game disk for each boy. When you booted it up it ran a math practice thing or something that they had to pass in order to get to the fun games. I think that is how it worked.

Loderunner. Ahhh. Loderunner. How many hours I spent playing the 150 levels and making levels of my own. A quick online search uncovered an online version so I can play the Apple //e version on my Chromebook! Lode Runner Web Game

Dino Eggs. One of the games that came on Softdisk. I think we played it quite a bit but I have no recollection of the details. Good news. Some guy made a video on YouTube. Dino Eggs And in the description there is a comment by the original creator and a link to his story about making the game.

Super Boulder Dash. Did it come from Softdisk too? Don't recall. It was fun and engaging enough to have and keep but I do not remember it either. Again, it can be found on YouTube.

Championship Lode Runner. This added another 50 levels to the original 150. I was so pleased that I could pass them all I documented it on the label. 

AppleWorks 4. Oh oh oh. AppleWorks on the //e. Fond memories. 

Math Blaster. This was the best version of Math Blaster in my opinion. The Mac version did not appeal to me at all. I loved the Apple //e Math Blaster game. Rory was the Math Blaster Champion.


The Beagle Bros. !!! I had quite a collection of their software for the Apple //e.

I learned about Fractals on an Apple //e. Oh yeah. Green monitor. Relatively slow processor. I would start one before I went home for the day and hope it would be finished by the morning. But I was fascinated by the math behind the graphics.

If I remember correctly Myst was for the //e, DuelTris was for the Apple 2gs, and obviously the book was written for Mac users. I think I completed Myst. DuelTris was a fun 2-player form of Tetris. And the book was very influential in teaching me how to take advantage of the Mac word processor instead of trying to type on the computer as if it was simply a typewriter.

In 2003 the boys and I made up a new Frisbee Golf game on our home course of 15 "holes". We called them holes even though they were really trees, rocks, a ditch, and a swingset. Over the years we played a lot of Frisbee Golf. And for the most part we used normal Frisbees, not the new fangled disc golf discs. Sometimes we played each person against the others. Usually we played teams. Sometimes one team against another, but usually the team was all of us. We were seeing how low a score we could get. At one point in our history of Frisbee Golf games we played Speed Frisbee. I'd time the game on my wristwatch and we would play as a team, usually Rory and I throwing and Raymond blocking to keep the Frisbees as close to the holes as possible. We would combine the times and scores to get the final score. I kept track in a little notebook. But in 2003 we made up a new game. How many throws does it take to get all ones? Our bests:
Ro & I: 66 on September 6, 2003
Rory, Robert & I: 54 on October 21, 2003
Raymond & I: 62 on October 8, 2004
Rory & Raymond: 38 on August 4, 2007

As far as I know we haven't tried since.

Tuesday, September 13, 2022

Big Cube Designs

 Roark and I had fun with patterns during a recent visit. He also shared with me how one magician who does Rubik's Cube magic does one of his tricks by setting the cube up so 3 sides are scrambled while the other 3 look solved. Gave me an idea...


The above pictures are one and the same cube seen from two angles. Half the cube looks solved with a nice design on it; the other half is scrambled. I got to thinking though. What if instead of using orange, green, and white for the design, I used red, blue, and yellow? Then I should be able to solve the other half of the cube. I didn't want to start over with the 8x8x8, so I got out the 6x6x6. See below.


Now I'm thinking about doing a matching pattern on the Orange, Green, White side.




Monday, August 29, 2022

A Puzzling August

I had a lot of fun puzzling with the kiddos (and Rory!) in the summer of 2022. We mainly did 3x3x3 cubing in Washington, then had fun with the bright yellow Bump Cube, the Redi Cube, and 2x2x2 puzzles here. After everyone was home again I decided it was time to brush up on solving various puzzles.

Clover Cube Plus
Skewb Xtreme
Double Circle Cube
Square-1
Tangram Cube
Axis Cube
Windmill Cube
Fisher Time Wheel
Clover Pyraminx (it is really a 3x3x3)
3x3x2 and 2x2x3
2x3x4 & 3x3x1

I'm having trouble with the 2x3x4. I've looked at past solution strategies and well, nothing feels right. Oh, I've been able to solve it several times over the last few days but I don't really have a strategy I am settled in on. I have not been using reduction. Solving the inner 2x2x3 is always part of it.

On the way to solving the 2x2x3 if you need to solve centers after the whites and yellows are solved, there is a 4 move sequence that 3-cycles them. With a 2x3 in front and a 3x4 on top M down U2 M up U2 3-cycles the M layer center-edge pairs from UF to UB to DB. So say you have red up and an orange center at UB and a red center at DB. M down U2 M up U2 solves the centers.

To swap the blue orange and blue red edges use a setup sequence so they are opposite one another on a 3x4 side then use (R2 U2) x 3 to swap them along with two phantom edges. 

To cycle URF to DRB to DLF do (U L2 U' R2) x 2 (R2 F2) (U L2 U' R2) x 2 (F2 R2). 

To cycle ULF to DLB to DRF do (U' R2 U L2) x 2 (L2 F2) (U' R2 U L2) x 2 (F2 L2).

To double swap ULF with URB and DLF with DRB do R2 F2 R2. 

To double swap ULF with DLB and DLF with ULB do L2 then swap the white and yellow edges back using a double swap with phantom edges.

(F2 D2 F2 D2) = (URF 3-cycle) + (ULF 3-cycle)

I have scrambled and solved this puzzle multiple times now without much trouble at all. No major issues.