2006-05-20

Poggle, the solutions

One interesting point is that there is only ONE solution for each of the 3-by-3 Poggle variants. For the 4-by-4 Poggle versions, quite a few more.
The 4-by-4 Poggle game's linear algebra solutions required that two or more buttons be completely specified before the entire solution could be show. I did re-discover a solution for this version that I had first found back when I was first putting this program together. (A "d'oh!" type solution you will see when it is described.)

For the 3-by-3 Poggle puzzles;
2 Colours
101
010
101

3 Colours
010
111
010

4 Colours
323
232
323

5 Colours
141
434
141


For the 4-by-4 Poggle version, consider the following. There are location on any Poggle board that toggle EXACTLY 4 buttons. Given that the 4-by-4 Poggle board has 16 button, only 4 buttons should be pressed to cover the entire Poggle board. And here they are.
00X0
X000
000X
0X00
and its mirror image
0X00
000X
X000
00X0
. See what was meant by this solution being a 'kick yourself' moment for not seeing it immediately?

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