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Here
I have selected some
of the better Mindgames floating in the wide ocean of the Internet. Though
I
had also programmed many of them ( Bulo, Hex, 15_puzzle, the Tower of
Hanoi and 2 Peg Solitaire puzzles ) in DOS in 1997 and given them away
free under the head "Mathematical Recreations" they
are presented here most elegantly. Many of them are gems in
"Edutainment" and are promoted for general
non-profit use.
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These are
taken from www.mazeworks.com
and the Copyright belongs to David Herzog
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Title
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Remarks
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Tac Tix
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Created
by the brilliant Piet Hein, a student of the Neils Bohr
Institute of of theoretical
Physics at Copenhagen , TacTix is a
variation of Nim, one of the oldest of mathematical games. It
is a two-player game, where the players take turns removing counters
from a 4 x 4 board. The goal is to force the other player (the
computer) to remove the last counter. Another name for the game is
BULO.
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HEX
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Another elegant game of strategy invented
also by Piet Hein at the Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen around
1942 whilst contemplating the famous unproved ( now proved in 2004
)four color theorem in topology. It is played on a diamond shaped
board where pegs are located. The objective is to to connect the 2
opposite sides of the diamond with an unbroken chain.
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Triplets
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A simple three-in-a-row game first proposed by
mathematician Stanislaw Ulam. The matrix sizes vary from 3 x 3 to 12
x 12 .
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Fiver
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The
game is played on a n x n board and the goal is to convert all of the White pieces on the board to Black pieces. Clicking on a piece with the mouse will change it from White to Black, and vice-versa. It will also change the pieces above, below, and to the left and right of the selected piece.
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15_puzzle
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Sam
Loyd was the creator of the puzzle in 1870 .The goal of the 15-puzzle was to move the blocks
into correct numerical order, with the vacant square in the
lower-right corner. He offered
$1000 for a correct solution of "his" 15 puzzle . Though
many claimed they solved it they could never prove it. Loyd's offer
is safe because in mathematical terms it possesses a different
parity. Here it is caused by initially placing the blocks in correct
numerical order, interchanging the 14th block with the 15th and then
jumbling it up.It was also known as
the Boss Puzzle.
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Tower of Hanoi
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Also
referred to as the Tower of Brahma. Legend has it that in a temple
at Benares God put 64 Gold discs on on one of the three diamond
needles at the time of Creation. According to the immutable laws of
Brahma the priests are required to transfer the discs on at a time
to another needle such that no disc is placed over a larger one.
When the transfer is complete the world will vanish. Well, even if
all the moves are correct and it takes one second per move , it will
take 500 million years at least so just tackle the simple version of
this puzzle.
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Hare and Hounds
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A
very neat puzzle where three hounds try to capture a single hare.
You have the choice to represent the Ware or the Hounds.
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Peg Solitaire
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A
peg jumping problem with several configurations to choose from
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Fore
& Aft
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Another
Peg-jumping Puzzle invented by Sam Loyd and praised by Martin
Gardner. Though the Algorithm here solves the puzzle in 50 to 52
moves, H E Dudeney, the uzzle wizard had an elegant & shortest
solution in 46 moves- 23 of which are mirrors of the other.
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