Hey all,

I've seen alot of picts of different puzzles... I have several hundred on my HD... I'm wondering...

Is there any way to tell the difference between a Spindle and a Groove version just by looking at the outside?

What about the Blindman's Domino?

_pink

There was an old post by Ton Dennenbroek that explained how to recognize a groove version from a spindle version of Domino. The idea was that the direction dots of certain cubies was different (left to right or right to left or the like), if my memory serves me right.

A Blindman's Domino is where the dots are slightly extruded above the surface of the cubies so that you coud feel the dots with your fingers.

Aleksey.

http://chrono.org/puzzles/3dominos.jpg

Grooved on the left, split spindle in the middle.

The two, three, and seven dotted squares are the giveaways since the rest don't have a biased orientation.

On the groove Domino the white three dot cubie has the dots arranged in a row from the puzzle face corner to the middle. On the black cubie the dots are perpendicular to this.

On the spindle version the black three dot cubie has the dots arranged in a row from the puzzle face corner to the middle. On the white cubie the dots are perpendicular to this.

A similar type "mirror image" appearance is present for the squares mentioned at the top.

Hmmm, I see where you're going Jin... after looking at the Domino I have (groove) I think that I've put it together wrong. See, when I got this thing it was VERY hard to turn so I took it apart, cleaned it and put tit back together... it wasn't solved when I got it so I put it together as follows:

White Cube Side:

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9

Black Cube Side:

3 2 1
6 5 4
9 8 7

or a mirror to the opposite side.... is this wrong or do I have a strangely numbered Domino? The way I have it put together now the dots for the black and white "threes" are parallel, both pointing from outter corner to the center... the "sevens" are both missing the dot in the center of the side nearest the "four"...

now I'm confused,

_pink

Are there Groove and Spindle versions of the Blindman's Domino as well?

_pink

Hi Jin,



Have you a photo of the other sides of those dominos? It would go a long way towards showing that the opposite color 3 2 and 7 are different.

Thanks,

David J

Hi Everyone,

Which is the better mechanism, the groove or the split spindle? I've heard that one is very hard to turn and the other isn't.

TIA,

David J

Spindle...

_pink

My mistake. The 3 dot square is NOT different. It is the same on every side and both versions. The ONLY dots worth using to differentiate between the two types are the 2 and 7 dots.

Here is a direct comparison:

http://chrono.org/puzzlepics/2dominos.jpg

If the puzzle is scambled, like most ebay auctions. How can you tell which is which?

Thank you for the pictures.

Again, you have to focus on the 2 and 7 dot squares. You will notice that their orientations to the center pieces are distinct from one another.

On the white grooved domino the 2 dot appears to "lean right" while on the spindle it "leans left" for the white square. On the black squares this is the opposite. As long as you can orient the picture so that the 2 dot square is on the bottom you should easily be able to determine what type of Domino it is. The 7 dot square can be used in a similar manner since its dot configuration is also asymmetrical.

If the seller is selling a scrambled domino and you can't see any of the 2 or 7 dots black or white, then you have no good way to distinguish the two.

I don't know if it makes any difference or not, but the dots on the spindle puzzle are neat and round, while the grooved one's dots look relatively sloppy. It's hard to tell a difference unless you're looking at them close up.

I think Ton was the first to mention this little difference between the two mechanisms to me some Time back. A search of the posts can probably confirm this.