Brain Puzzle Simulator

[watermelon]

As some of you know, I have the UWR for the brain puzzle. I tried to order one for a friend a few months ago, only to find that its production had been stopped.

Over the past few days, I made a brain puzzle simulator in Java. It has quite a few neat features, including different solving modes (the UWR page has solves of the in->out->in type), support for 1-10 pegs, autosolving, etc.

Since this is my first puzzle simulation, any feedback (questions, comments, bug reports, etc.) would be greatly appreciated !

As of now, I've only done a few speedsolves with 8 pegs (same number as the real brain puzzle), and my best in->out is sub-13. I encourage you to post your times as well!

 

[pjk]

Yeah Mitchell, I ended up giving mine to a friend and I was hoping to get a new one, but they were sold out. This was like a year ago.

 

[Stefan]

I just got 28.860 seconds for in->out. Admittedly by hitting 1234 eight times, then 5678, then repeat. I'm not ashamed of my 44.97% accuracy.

For those who haven't seen it yet, watch:
http://strangepuzzle.com/download.php?videoName=brain MitchellStern 28.31.wmv

 

[watermelon]

Just got 27.685 with your method Stefan. Though I don't admire its efficiency, it seems to be a rather good finger exercise .

Edit #1: I just tried doing some OH solves on the number pad, and I seem to be averaging around 17-19 for in->out.
Edit #2: Just got 25.698 with Stefan's method.
Edit #3: Just got 21.010 with Stefan's method.

 

[Swordsman Kirby]

41sec... maybe I'll stop cheating like Stefan and really figure out how to solve this thing.

 

[watermelon]

There are some simple symmetries in the solution that might be of some help...

For example, the first few pegs are 121312141213121 etc.

This symmetry continues up until you reach the current peg size, 8 by default, then repeats on a smaller order afterwards.

 

[sam]

This is my best for the Autorun.

 

[watermelon]

Congratulations on the autorun PB Sam . My computer doesn't even break 90 moves/sec consistently...

 

[masterofthebass]

Time: .913
Moves: 340 (100% accuracy)
Moves/sec: 372.399
Solved!

I win!

--EDIT--
I keep breaking this...

Ok... I'm done.
Time: .857s
396.733 m/s

 

[watermelon]

Time: 0.750
Moves: 340 (100.00% accuracy)
Moves/sec: 453.333
Solved!

Beat that!

Edit: I can also get 0.000, but nothing in between...

 

[Pedro]

Mitchell, can't get it to work

tried downloading several times, but it won't open or says the file was not found

the file is 0kb O.o

 

[watermelon]

Pedro, the link should be working now. For some reason I removed the "www." in the URL, and then it started to download properly. Strange...

 

[Pedro]

works now, thanks

I figured it out

solved in 1:15...let me try again...

EDIT: 1:02...96.59%

btw, I can't play with Jaap's one...I tried clicking, sliding, double-clicking, but nothing moves

 

[Pedro]

WHOA!!! I solved the Chinese Rings!!! \o/\o/

haha

once I was doing a cubing demonstration at my former school, to try to get money and to to Worlds

a teacher showed me the rings...and let me borrow it to try...

I didn't work a lot on it...until today

now I solved it...it's the "out->in" version...I was trying to take it out at the wrong end LOL

but I did

Thanks Mitchell, for the simulator

(still didn't figure out how to use Jaap's one...)

 

[watermelon]

Congratulations Pedro! I'm glad someone found a use for this .

 

[Pedro]

yeah, it's cool

do you know how to use Jaap's one? I can "see" which move to do next, but can't slide the red part, can't turn the dials...nothing...

 

[qqwref]

I did In -> Out for a few peg sizes, and here are my preliminary results I think my computer might be impeding my progress here a bit on the smaller ones. My technique is probably similar to watermelon's, left index pressing the 1, right index hopping on the numbers.
1: 0.000 lolol
2: 0.060 (33.333 m/s)
3: 0.260 (19.230 m/s), also got 0.130 by mashing
4: 0.540 (18.519 m/s), also got 0.470 by mashing
5: 1.502 (13.981 m/s)
6: 3.194 (13.150 m/s)
7: 6.580 (12.918 m/s)
8: 14.451 (11.764 m/s)
9: 36.372 (9.375 m/s)
10: 77.031 (8.854 m/s)
I'll try again if you beat me, my fingers are tired for now

This is a cool simulation. Do you think you could do the NxN clock sometime? I tried that a while ago but couldn't get it to work correctly...

 

[Swordsman Kirby]

qq:

3: 0.259, your turn.

 

[Harris Chan]

I got like...36ish for the in-> out xD
35.552 seconds, 81% accuracy..

 

[watermelon]

I did In -> Out for a few peg sizes, and here are my preliminary results I think my computer might be impeding my progress here a bit on the smaller ones. My technique is probably similar to watermelon's, left index pressing the 1, right index hopping on the numbers.
1: 0.000 lolol
2: 0.060 (33.333 m/s)
3: 0.260 (19.230 m/s), also got 0.130 by mashing
4: 0.540 (18.519 m/s), also got 0.470 by mashing
5: 1.502 (13.981 m/s)
6: 3.194 (13.150 m/s)
7: 6.580 (12.918 m/s)
8: 14.451 (11.764 m/s)
9: 36.372 (9.375 m/s)
10: 77.031 (8.854 m/s)
I'll try again if you beat me, my fingers are tired for now

This is a cool simulation. Do you think you could do the NxN clock sometime? I tried that a while ago but couldn't get it to work correctly...

Here are some results. I only did a few tries for the 1-6 peg solves, and 1 solve each for 7-10. I only included the moves/sec for times over a second.
1: 0.000
2: 0.016
3: 0.203
4: 0.563
5: 1.391 (15.097 m/s)
6: 3.125 (13.440 m/s)
7: 6.297 (13.498 m/s)
8: 12.313 (13.807 m/s), new PB!
9: 26.468 (12.883 m/s)
10: 58.781 (11.602 m/s)

I'm looking forward to your competition qqwref ! My technique is similar, except I use my left index and right index/middle on the number pad. I also tried a few solves on the number row, using my left index and my right index/middle/ring/pinky (for all numbers > 4). I think the latter might prove to be faster, but my accuracy with it is a lot lower at the moment.

As for the clock, I think I have some ideas, but I'd like to hear about your ideas for user interface. Also, I'd be lying if I said your IsoCubeSim wasn't a/the big inspiration of this project!