I have got an astrolabacus for my birthday but can't solve it! I have looked at both Jaaps and Pantazis's solutions but am finding them really quite difficult to follow. Does anyone know of any easier to follow solutions?

Many Thanks

Joe Wallace

Hello!

I originally had much trouble deciphering Jaap's solution, but after a while I understood it very well.


When he says the Red-Blue tunnel, it means the position where the two tunnels that are touching each other are Red and Blue.

After looking through it a bunch, it made sense, but then again, it took me about 2 weeks to understand it.

Honestly, It's this and my Nintendo Barrel that give me the most trouble on solving. It's not an easy puzzle, so don't get discouraged.

You may try this too!

http://www.powerstrike.net/puzzles/solu ... abacus.htm





Pantazis

um.... Pantazis?



But yeah joe, its not an easy puzzle, thats why its my avatar . Its such an amazing puzzle! Its movement is crazy! It moves so smooth! Also, when it gets mixed up its mixed!

Ooooops!





My solution is more like tips/moves that are enough to solve the puzzle. It is a slow way, but definitely easy to remember. There isn't really much stuff to study... apart from three super short moves!

It's something like giving you a pen to write an essay. After getting the pen, you must think about what you must write!





Pantazis

By the way Joe,the Astrolabacus also has a parity problem you will know about it when you come across it,Harry.

And what's this? Does it only occur with Pantazis's solution? I didn't come across any parity with Jaap's solution.

A parity problem can indeed occur, like having everything in the correct position except two marbles. Then we have two cases:

(1) Sometimes, one of the three moves I suggest is enough to solve the puzzle. Remember, the moves should be used in a smart way. For each of those moves, Two pairs swap each time, so always make sure one pair that swaps has marbles of the same color and does not create new scrambled parts LOL
(2) Sometimes none of the three moves can be applied, UNLESS you exchange one of those two marbles with another marble, this time of the same color. Something equivalent to shifting a marble. And then, apply of of the three moves.
(3) You may need to introduce a third marble to rotate three different colors. Then by also using a combination of (1) and (2), you are done.


I admit that in cases (2) and (3) the choice of which marbles to exchange is not trivial. But who wants a trivial puzzle?
I mean, come on, play around, test and see what those moves can do, feel the power!!!




Pantazis

The parity doesn't occur in Jaap's solution because he makes a point to remember that each marble has a pair marble. So no matter what they are always next to each other. So even if the puzzle is scrambled, there's only 3 green marbles opposite of yellows, and such. Since you are solving it in pairs, you won't get a blue-yellow pair and a blue-green pair mixed for example.

Very true, Jaap has an excellent complete solution.

I only propose three easy key moves and I leave it to the solver to decide the strategy!
Now, a good strategy could avoid the parity problem, but if I had described that in detail, then I would have not achieved my goal (i.e. the astrolabacus is a very confusing puzzle, and the main goal of my tips is to help to bypass that confusion only).





Pantazis

Hi All,sometimes avoiding parity problems with puzzles stops you from gaining a deeper understanding of the said puzzles.My normal problem with the Astrolabacus is needing to switch two sets of three balls oppposite each other.The first couple of times I solved the Astrolabacus I did not come across the parity problem,but when I did it helped me understand the puzzle better.The same can said for Cube 21/Square 1,Rubik's Shell,Rubik's Barrel,4x4 and 5x5 cubes.I am looking forward to the 6x6 and 7x7 cubes for exactly the same reason,Harry.