Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
h a l f b a k e r y
A dish best served not.

idea: add, search, annotate, link, view, overview, recent, by name, best, random

meta: news, help, about, links, report a problem

account: browse anonymously, or get an account and write.

user:
pass:
register,


                 

Please log in.
Before you can vote, you need to register. Please log in or create an account.

Fish Tank Puzzle

Prove to your friends your goldfish is a genius
  (+5)
(+5)
  [vote for,
against]

The back wall of this fishtank is a touch-sensitive monitor. On the monitor is a scrambled picture. Perhaps a favorite photo, or a famous castle, or your football team's logo.

The scrambling is in squares, like those square-shifting puzzles. As with these puzzles, there is one open square (no picture portion). Each time a fish contacts one of the squares adjacent to the open square, the contacted picture square is moved into the open spot, clearing the current spot. When a square is moved to its proper place for the unscrambled picture, it is locked in place and no more fishy-touching will move it.

How long will it take your genius fish to complete the puzzle?

Hours - nay, weeks - of fish tank fun.

globaltourniquet, Nov 20 2007

[link]






       Pieces not in the right place could get caged in by locked pieces. There could be an exception to correct that. It would require more time on average for the fish to complete the puzzle.
Corners could be locked in more permanently.
jscottpete, Nov 21 2007
  

       my fish got cancer. thanks a lot.
k_sra, Nov 21 2007
  

       Wrong again, twit.
4whom, Nov 21 2007
  

       bunalicious
Voice, Nov 21 2007
  

       [jscott] good point. Let's see... we could take care of that by allowing any locked-in piece to switch on contact with the proper piece for the square. How's that sound?
globaltourniquet, Nov 21 2007
  

       You mean a switch that doesn't follow the rules? How about pieces only locking in that wouldn't lock in pieces in the wrong place?
jscottpete, Nov 23 2007
  

       That's the solution, [boysparks]. You do not lock if you would be locking out the solution. That is simple.
globaltourniquet, Nov 25 2007
  

       If you could somehow show the fish a different photo that couldn't be seen by the casual observer, the fish could be encouraged to hit appropriate squares. For example, Male Siam fighting fish would try to bite a competitive male.
Ling, Nov 25 2007
  
      
[annotate]
  


 

back: main index

business  computer  culture  fashion  food  halfbakery  home  other  product  public  science  sport  vehicle