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arXiv · 2011.00968

Gourds: a sliding-block puzzle with turning

Joep Hamersma·Marc van Kreveld·Yushi Uno·Tom C. van der Zanden
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Abstract

We propose a new kind of sliding-block puzzle, called Gourds, where the objective is to rearrange 1 x 2 pieces on a hexagonal grid board of 2n + 1 cells with n pieces, using sliding, turning and pivoting moves. This puzzle has a single empty cell on a board and forms a natural extension of the 15-puzzle to include rotational moves. We analyze the puzzle and completely characterize the cases when the puzzle can always be solved. We also study the complexity of determining whether a given set of colored pieces can be placed on a colored hexagonal grid board with matching colors. We show this problem is NP-complete for arbitrarily many colors, but solvable in randomized polynomial time if the number of colors is a fixed constant.

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Joep Hamersma, Marc van Kreveld, Yushi Uno, Tom C. van der Zanden. 2020-11-02. Gourds: a sliding-block puzzle with turning. https://arxiv.org/abs/2011.00968

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