Sticks and Board designs

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Pio2001
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Sticks and Board designs

Post by Pio2001 » March 3rd, 2013, 9:05 pm

Today, thanks to the LiveCubes, I decided to try some "Sticks and Board" burrs, to see which ones would be worth making in wood.
I was espacially interested in Richard Evans' Rings = Sticks D, because of the nice number of moves (35) for 3 boards only.
But playing with functional models made of Livecube, I changed my mind and decided that it was not the most interesting.

Here is a summary of my findings :

2 sticks / 2 boards
Richard Evans' Rings = Sticks A.
Image
Moves : 6.3.3
I found this one too easy.

2 sticks / 3 boards
Frank Worrel's Rings and Things 2 stick 5.
Image
Moves : 9.8.3.3
I have known this one for a long time. I didn't try it again today, but I used to like it a lot. It's not difficult, but the solution is very nice. It can also be assembled from scratch, which is a bit more difficult.

Richard Evans' Rings = Sticks + 1A.
Image
Moves : 9.12.2.2
I found this one excellent. There is a nice dead end at the beginning, and the solution is very elegant. It can be solved from the assembled or disassembled state.

Richard Evans' Rings = Sticks + 1B.
Image
Moves : 10.9.3.3
There is a mistake with this one. The design presented on Ishino's page has 7 solutions starting from 2 moves, and none has 10 moves.


3 sticks / 2 boards
Richard Evans' Rings = Sticks - 1B.
Image
Moves : 20.2.5.2
Not too bad.


3 sticks / 3 boards
Richard Evans' Rings = Sticks D.
Image
Moves : 35.6.4.4
I didn't like this one very much. The solution is kind of boring. I prefer the Rings = Sticks - 1B, which features a similar solution without the boring parts.

Frank Worrel's Rings and Things - 3 stick 6.
Image
Moves : 27.7.3.3.3
I forgot to try this one !


3 sticks / 4 boards
Alfons Eyckmans' Three in a Row (one colour).
Image
Moves : 17.4.3.3.3.3
Not bad, but with 4 boards, it is possible to do better.
It has the advantage of having a unique solution without any colour.

Alfons Eyckmans' Three in a Row (two colours).
Image
Moves : 38.7.7.4.3.4 without rotation
29.8.6.3.3 with rotations
A bit better. The solution uses the repetition of a simple sequence in order to reach 38 moves.

Richard Evans' Rings = Sticks + 1C.
Image
Moves : 44.3.2.2.3.3
I didn't have the time to test this one. It seems quite close to the Rings = Sticks + 1D.

Richard Evans' Rings = Sticks + 1D.
Image
Moves : 42.6.4.2.4
I found this one excellent. Difficult and interesting at the same time.
If I have the chance, I'll make one for myself.


Beyond
Alfons Eyckmans'Zig Zag 2
Image
Moves : 102.12.9.7.4.3.3
I couldn't have solved this one if my life depended on it. I consider it as "inhuman". I couldn't even find the 5 first moves. Too much freedom from the beginning.

Stéphane Chomine's Harmonica
Image
Moves : 96.9.9.2.7.5.2.2
Exactly the same experience as Zig-Zag 2 : way above my solving abilities.


Thanks to Frank, Alfons, Richard, Stéphane, and all other who share their designs on the web, and to Ishino for archiving them !

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