Chessboard puzzle game
Video Demo:
Background information
This script implements a puzzle game described
here.
I heard about it thanks to 3blue1brown and Stand-up Maths who played
it and explained it here.
Overview of the puzzle:
- Two players are faced with a challenge by a judge.
- The judge will show player 1 (P1) a square chessboard covered in coins.
Each coin will be put heads or tails by the judge at their will.
- The judge will show player 1 a tile of the chessboard where a key will
be hidden. Player 1 must then flip one and only one coin and then leave
the room without communicating with Player 2.
- Player 2 is then shown the chessboard (as modified by the single flip made
by Player 1) and must guess the correct tile where the key is hidden.
- Player 1 and 2 can agree upon a strategy before starting, but the judge
will know what they said and can act accordingly when choosing the coin
disposition on the chessboard.
- No tricks: the players can not communicate after Player 1 is told where the
key is; each coin may be only H or T, its orientation is meaningless, and
it cannot be put in other states (e.g. on its side).
Description
The script generates three pdf files: Problem, Key and Solution.
Key.pdf
shows the initial 8x8 grid, filled with random heads (H) or tails
(T), with an orange coin where the invisible key is hidden.
This is how the grid looks like when the judge shows it to Player 1
asking them to flip one and only one coin.
Problem.pdf
shows the same grid with just one coin flipped by Player 1.
This is how the grid looks like when the judge shows it to Player 2 after
Player 1 has flipped one coin.
Solution.pdf
shows the same grid, with an orange coin and a purple coin.
The orange one is where the key is hidden, the purple-background coin
is the one to flip to communicate where the key is.
How to play
- Show player 1 the
Key.pdf
: a grid with one key hidden.
- Ask player 1 to flip one and only one coin. They should choose the
purple-background coin in
Solution.pdf
, thus producing the same grid
shown in Problem.pdf
.
- Show Player 2
Problem.pdf
and ask them to identify where the key is.
They should point to the orange coin in Key.pdf
and Solution.pdf
.