<![CDATA[I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle.]]>I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. You need to move the piano to the lower LEFT corner by sliding the pieces.

Curious if anyone has done any math things with such tile puzzles?

It's easy to move it to the lower right, and possible but kind of hard to get it to the left.

I guess what I want to know is "why is it so hard?"

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/topic/ed9b6b0f-4b51-426c-8664-ada46a513bfe/i-m-kind-of-obsessed-with-this-old-puzzle.RSS for NodeSat, 26 Sep 2026 02:52:23 GMTFri, 25 Sep 2026 00:18:30 GMT60<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 05:37:33 GMT]]>@futurebird @ChrisInToots I mean, clearly the fastest way to solve it is to *ask a professional mover*, right? 😁

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/deborahh/statuses/117330061146808704https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/users/deborahh/statuses/117330061146808704Fri, 25 Sep 2026 05:37:33 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 05:22:50 GMT]]>@TerryHancock @futurebird

This one's a version of the Pennant Puzzle, which was copyrighted in 1909. Probably made by the same company.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/carmenlisandrette/statuses/117330003269697731https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/carmenlisandrette/statuses/117330003269697731Fri, 25 Sep 2026 05:22:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 05:20:30 GMT]]>@futurebird This is Klotski. This specific arrangement is the "Pennant Puzzle". 2swap's video Adventures in State Space is pretty good, but I don't remember if it answers this question.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://furry.engineer/users/jackemled/statuses/117329994056085060https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://furry.engineer/users/jackemled/statuses/117329994056085060Fri, 25 Sep 2026 05:20:30 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 04:47:02 GMT]]>@benroyce @futurebird I was thinking that all you really needed to do was break the lamp and the clock. Moving companies do this all the time.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_the_cloud/statuses/117329862518119467https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/_the_cloud/statuses/117329862518119467Fri, 25 Sep 2026 04:47:02 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 04:37:59 GMT]]>@futurebird Perhaps similar to the Tower of Hanoi puzzle, in which the solution entails moves away from the desired endstate?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fediscience.org/users/Steve_Lindsay/statuses/117329826886759385https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://fediscience.org/users/Steve_Lindsay/statuses/117329826886759385Fri, 25 Sep 2026 04:37:59 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 04:11:11 GMT]]>@futurebird
I love it. I solved it after the BOSS of my BOSS, in an engeneering company said it was imposible, a long tiene algo.
I know it as the prisioner puzzle
Your photo is not the starting position

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.uy/users/mordecki/statuses/117329721530888187https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.uy/users/mordecki/statuses/117329721530888187Fri, 25 Sep 2026 04:11:11 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:53:18 GMT]]>@futurebird I don’t know how to solve it, but I do wonder immediately if we’re sure all the pieces are correctly oriented. Is there an initial layout diagram to confirm?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/117056210020287698/statuses/117329651178741425https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/ap/users/117056210020287698/statuses/117329651178741425Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:53:18 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:43:10 GMT]]>@timtfj @Bumblefish @FediThing @futurebird @TerryHancock

And the amount of that detail that's outside of awareness is—!

ISTR that researchers struggled for years to develop an automated welding machine & just couldn't get there. Until some bright soul figured out that a main cue that human welders use to track their work quality is the •sound• of the bead they're welding.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://wandering.shop/users/cavyherd/statuses/117329611387186947https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://wandering.shop/users/cavyherd/statuses/117329611387186947Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:43:10 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:26:20 GMT]]>@Bumblefish @FediThing @futurebird @TerryHancock Similarly with playing in tune on a violin: your fingers have to be a the right distance apart, which feels a certain way, and by practice you sort of calibrate the feeling. But once you've got it, trying to analyse instead of trusting the feeling will probably make you play the note out of tune.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/timtfj/statuses/117329545157427008https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/timtfj/statuses/117329545157427008Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:26:20 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:19:27 GMT]]>@Bumblefish @FediThing @futurebird @TerryHancock And also: there are physical things we know how to do, without knowing how we know. For example, if you practise singing in tune, you learn to tense precisely the right muscles in precisely the right way to get the right pitch, probably without even having any idea which muscles they are. Your brain just knows "to make this sound, I send out these signals via those nerves", and you couldn't work out logically how much muscle tension to use.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/timtfj/statuses/117329518123139463https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/timtfj/statuses/117329518123139463Fri, 25 Sep 2026 03:19:27 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:56:17 GMT]]>@Bumblefish @FediThing @futurebird @TerryHancock probably the part of me that did mental arithmetic to pass the time during ad breaks as a kid (before years of shitty maths teachers ruined it) was lighting up and detecting that something literally didn't add up

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/sinvega/statuses/117329427005824057https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/sinvega/statuses/117329427005824057Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:56:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:55:08 GMT]]>@Bumblefish @FediThing @futurebird @TerryHancock not just material! Spotting spambots and sock puppets (or lately, chatbot shite) was never about "rules" or "tells". You can just SEE it and you can't really explain how

And when I worked with complex records, I made such a habit of checking over the whole record (instead of just changing the little part of it some form or other instructed), that after a while I could often tell that something was wrong with it just from a couple of glances, without consciously knowing why

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/sinvega/statuses/117329422453907400https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mas.to/users/sinvega/statuses/117329422453907400Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:55:08 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:46:43 GMT]]>@futurebird

easy solution

as a moving company, what you do is you break the piano by accident

voila, extra room

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benroyce/statuses/117329389405416736https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/benroyce/statuses/117329389405416736Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:46:43 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:28:35 GMT]]>@somebody @futurebird

That seems way too hairy. It can be seen as just a game tree with a set of possible moves. You cache positions so you can detect loops*, and then you just search the resultant tree.

Folks who wrote chess/othello sorts of games could program this up real quick.

* A move that returns to a prior position forms a loop, and thus can't be making progress towards an end state.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.mit.edu/users/djl/statuses/117329318067385984https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.mit.edu/users/djl/statuses/117329318067385984Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:28:35 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:15:38 GMT]]>@futurebird the various Professor Layton games have this style of puzzle and they're so hard!!

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/iagox86/statuses/117329267164827135https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/iagox86/statuses/117329267164827135Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:15:38 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:05:50 GMT]]>@Bumblefish @FediThing @futurebird @TerryHancock I have nothing to add here, but I love this conversation so much. So many cool things to think about.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pnw.zone/users/pseudonymsupreme/statuses/117329228622411794https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://pnw.zone/users/pseudonymsupreme/statuses/117329228622411794Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:05:50 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:02:28 GMT]]>@FediThing @futurebird @TerryHancock It's experience. When you work with materials and your hands, you come to understand all kinds of physical properties. Woodworkers understand grain. Spinners understand how different kinds of fibers will split or combine. Repeating again and again with slight variations each time develops instinct. Instinct is highly internalized knowledge that you know with your body and brain together.

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.scot/users/Bumblefish/statuses/117329215414210953https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.scot/users/Bumblefish/statuses/117329215414210953Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:02:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:02:22 GMT]]>@futurebird

I have an old game I've copied from phone to phone called "Unblock Me" which is basically this.

You get into a groove eventually and it just happens.

The Wikipedia article doesn't really explain how or why. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliding_puzzle

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/jrdepriest/statuses/117329214968703455https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://infosec.exchange/users/jrdepriest/statuses/117329214968703455Fri, 25 Sep 2026 02:02:22 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 01:29:17 GMT]]>@futurebird A lot of work has been done on Klotski type games. The reason one possible outcome seems harder than another is because the possible paths in the moves graph to get to that outcome are more hidden with more branch points that foreclose them (like a system of roads that it's easier to get lost on). Here's a neat visualization of how these games work.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGLNyHd2w10
https://inv.nadeko.net/watch?v=YGLNyHd2w10 (no google proxy link)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://circumstances.run/ap/users/116793608457702695/statuses/117329084924640593https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://circumstances.run/ap/users/116793608457702695/statuses/117329084924640593Fri, 25 Sep 2026 01:29:17 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 01:25:28 GMT]]>@futurebird I don't do math, but am pretty good with visual problem solving. I've made a replica on paper and am trying it now. Like you, I was able to get it to the lower right corner easily, but am currently stumped. Some instinct tells me that getting the lamp and clock on opposite sides of the field would help, but I don't yet see how to do that (or how exactly it would help).

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://famichiki.jp/users/RachelThornSub/statuses/117329069882849942https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://famichiki.jp/users/RachelThornSub/statuses/117329069882849942Fri, 25 Sep 2026 01:25:28 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 01:24:09 GMT]]>@futurebird Nice piece of ephemera, obviously an advertising give-away for the moving company.

Here's the history of this puzzle:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klotski

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/agreeable_landfall/statuses/117329064697342473https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://mastodon.social/users/agreeable_landfall/statuses/117329064697342473Fri, 25 Sep 2026 01:24:09 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 01:23:32 GMT]]>@futurebird is this photo taken from the top down, or is it meant to be played in a vertical orientation keeping gravity in mind?

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://gts.nyquil.org/users/nyquildotorg/statuses/01M3B2J63NJ1A23TNWV8VYCBDShttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://gts.nyquil.org/users/nyquildotorg/statuses/01M3B2J63NJ1A23TNWV8VYCBDSFri, 25 Sep 2026 01:23:32 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 01:21:15 GMT]]>@futurebird (Now that I think of it, that’s not that far removed from the background of Aperture Science…)

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/ap/users/116274777763908831/statuses/117329053304179064https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://cosocial.ca/ap/users/116274777763908831/statuses/117329053304179064Fri, 25 Sep 2026 01:21:15 GMT<![CDATA[Reply to I'm kind of obsessed with this old puzzle. on Fri, 25 Sep 2026 01:19:24 GMT]]>@futurebird@sauropods.win I guess the reason it's hard is because the single square pieces are distracting. A totally consistent graph muncher algorithm would find the solution eventually, but a human working quickly on intuition is going to be subject to misdirection and red herrings and bad intuitions due to the way we think quickly.

I think it's interesting from a psychology and cognition standpoint, beyond just the surface level "fast thinking mistakes" thing, there's something really interesting going on with how cognitions blend unconscious intuition and conscious reasoning 🙂

]]>https://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://zoner.work/notes/arju7m0q3ns301pthttps://forum.fedi.dk/post/https://zoner.work/notes/arju7m0q3ns301ptFri, 25 Sep 2026 01:19:24 GMT