Black arrow out
Ahh gamedesign.jp ❤ When life Flashes before my eyes will I be able to make out the marathon Dice Wars sessions? And Red Tile Out (箱入り娘)! Such an elegant, consuming little puzzle. Number 7. So haaaard.
I couldn’t solve it online but was determined to never give up so made a physical version I could easily reset. With my love of Japanese design I wanted it to require zero explanation. I accept the result lacks tact but I adore it.
(Please pretend not to notice that the mini-version is out of sync with the actual puzzle here)
I also enjoyed finding the most satisfying thickness of tiles and building a box that sits well in the hand. The colours had to be the classic Lego palette1. The result is strongly western but there is a simplicity there too.
During all this I noticed that the 8 levels presented by Game Design are essentially variations on 3 core levels, the others being just a minor change in starting position or a simplification by replacing a 2×1 tile with a pair of 1x1s. The 3 presented here are the hardest versions of their type.
With this set you can make all 8 of course but the beauty of the core 3 is that they build directly on one another, each introducing a new sub-sequence of moves that form part of the solution to the next. It really is a magnificent little challenge and I encourage you to try it out, online or in real.
A series of hints to solve level 7 are here.
- The story is that when Godtfred Kirk Christianosen (son of Lego founder Ole Kirk) was looking to lock down those early Lego colours he took inspiration from modern Dutch master Mondrian and the De Stijl Movement. The art theory behind that became known as Neoplasticism in English and was later extended to become Elementarism. All very appropriate. ↩︎
