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When I was young I got this puzzle as a gift to me.

The aim is to get the long piece out. I haven't yet found a solution, and I'm not sure if there is one

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Does this have a solution and if so what is it?

Hunter
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hazoriz
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2 Answers2

22

This puzzle is called a "Baguenaudier" which is French for "Time Waster".

This solution assumes that you are holding the handle end on the left. The rings are numbered from right to left starting at 1.

The solution to the puzzle involves a couple possible moves.

1) The first ring is always available to put on or take off of the bar. You take it off the bar by pulling it to the right and then dropping it through the center of the bar. You put it on by pulling it up through the bar and pulling it right and putting it on the bar.

2) To remove or put on any other ring, the next lowest ring must be on the bar and every other lower ring be off the bar.

Video Solution Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtkvROd1YLY

Mine:
enter image description here

LeppyR64
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17

This can be solved in 16 steps. Lets use binary here, 0 is off, 1 is on the handle

You start with 11111

1 - Remove the first ring to get 01111

2 - Remove the third ring to get 01011

3 - Put back the first ring to get 11011

4 - Remove the first two rings to get 00011

5 - Remove the fifth ring to get 00010

6 - Put back the first two rings to get 11010

7 - Remove the first ring again to get 01010

8 - Put back the third ring to get 01110

9 - Put back the first ring again to get 11110

10 - Remove the first two rings to get 00110

11 - Remove the fourth ring to get 00100

12 - Put back the first two rings to get 11100

13 - Remove the first ring to get 01100

14 - Remove the third ring to get 01000

15 - Put back the first ring to get 11000

16 - Remove the first two to get 00000

Community
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Beastly Gerbil
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    +1 but without the video @LeppyR64 gave in his comment on the op I will not understand your answer – hazoriz Jun 19 '16 at 17:50
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    @hazoriz, sorry to hear that, tried to make it as simple as possible, in 11111 the first one (the one furthest to the left) is the first ring and the one furthest to the right is the fifth, hope this helps – Beastly Gerbil Jun 19 '16 at 17:53
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    +1 This is an excellent way of looking at it. A lot of people who solve these puzzles in my circle of friends don't look at it this way. Brilliant! – LeppyR64 Jun 19 '16 at 17:56
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    @LeppyR64, thanks, this also broke my 3000 barrier! :) – Beastly Gerbil Jun 19 '16 at 17:58
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    That's a binary grey code, I do beleive. – JDługosz Jun 20 '16 at 05:52
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    not a grey code, but ther may be a transformation that gives one. – Jasen Jun 20 '16 at 06:17
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    @Jasen Beastly Gerbil shortcuts a couple moves in his answer. By my definition of a move it actually takes 27 moves and each move only changes one bit. – LeppyR64 Jun 20 '16 at 11:10
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    It's also important to note that this answer is for a 5 piece puzzle (like mine) but the OP puzzle has 6. – LeppyR64 Jun 20 '16 at 11:11
  • @Jasen It is a part of Gray code. Note how only one bit is flipped from one to the next number. (This is basically the definition of a Gray code) – flawr Jul 08 '16 at 16:43