lignumaqua / hex_puzzle

This is a solver (WIP) for tackling the Escher Cubes puzzle

Escher Cubes Solver

Author: Tong Zhang (ztqwerty)
Date: Nov.1, 2021

Intro

This is a solver (WIP) for tackling the Escher Cubes puzzle.

The Escher Cubes puzzle is a packing puzzle designed by Jean Claude Constantin. The goal is to put all pieces into the cube base. There are existing reviews about this puzzle, like this one. So let's directly jump into the solver!

Demo Solving Process

To run the solver:

>> python hexagon_puzzle.py

• The solving screenshot should be something like this:

escher_cubes_solver.mp4

Tips

• The location of the pin hex can be set like: pin_hex = libhex.Hex(0, -3, 3) The defintion of the hex coordinates can be found in Hexagonal Grid website.

• Once it finds a solution, it will print in the terminal. One can also plot the solution by running: Hex_plot_current_candi(Hex_Map, pin_hex, Sol)

• See more in the Spoiler part in hexagon_puzzle.py

• Currently the solver is quite slow (kind of a brute-force search). Optimization work TBD.

References

• Hexagonal Grid from Red Blob Games: This site is quite helpful for providing some fundamental knowledge including math and modeling of 2D hexagon games.

• I bought this puzzle from PuzzleMaster