Original Usenet thread from rec.arts.ascii, started 8 Mar 1996.
Line-talk: Puzzling Challenge
rec.arts.ascii
· 1 message · 8 Mar 1996
I was playing around with pattern replicating and stuff like that
one day and ended up with something that completely puzzled me! :->
_______________________________________________________________________
| (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ |
| _) _) _) _) _) _) _) _) |
| _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _|
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
| _) _) _) _) _) _) _) _) |
| (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ |
|_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ |
| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_|
| (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ |
| _) _) _) _) _) _) _) _) |
| _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _( _ _|
|_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |
| _) _) _) _) _) _) _) _) |
| (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ |
|_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ )_ _ |
| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_|
| (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ |
| _) _) _) _) _) _) _) _) |
|_______(_______(_______(_______(_______(_______(_______(_______(_______|
Normand Veilleux
From this came the idea to make a real ASCII puzzle for all those
ASCII art fans out there. So, here is a small puzzle that only
contains 22 pieces. Don't laugh, putting it back together is a lot
harder than you might think at first. All pieces are different and
the goal is to assemble them to produce a rectangle of this size:
_______________________________________________
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|_______________________________________________|
Got it? OK, here are the pieces:
_ _ ________ _ _ ________
_| |_| | (_ (_ _| |_| | (_ (_
(_ _) _) _) _) _) _) _)
_) (_ ( ( (_ (_ ( (
( ) | 13 | ) ) | 20 |
| 1 | _) _) | 16 | _) _)
(_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_ (_
_) _) )_ _ ) _) _) )__ __)
(_______( |_| |_| (__ __( |_|
|_|
_ __ __
__| |__| |_| | ________________
_) _) (_ (_
(_ 5 (_ _) 8 _)
) _ _ _ ) (__ __ _ _(
|__| |__| |_| |_| |_| |_| |_|
_ ____ __
_| |_| |_| | _ _ _
| (_ | |_| |____| |__
| 9 _) (_ (_
| _ _ _ _( _) 19 _)
|_| |_| |_| |_| (_______________(
__ __ _ _ ________ _ _
| |_| | _| |_| | | (_ | |_| |_
_) _) | (_ | 4 _) (_ |
(_ 2 (_ | 3 _) | _ _( _) 6 |
)_ _ ) | _ _( |_| |_| (_______|
|_| |_| |_| |_|
_ _ _ _ _ _
| |_| |_ _ _ _| |_| | | |_| |_
(_ (_ _| |_| | | _) (_ (_
_) 7 _) | (_ | 11 (_ _) 12 _)
( _ _( | 10 _) | _ _) ( _ (
|_| |_| |_______( |_| |_| |__| |__|
_ _ _ _
_| |_| | _ _______ | |_| |_
_) _) __| |__ (_ | (_ |
(_ 14 |_ (_ (_ _) 17 | _) 18 |
) _ ) _) 15 _) (_ _ | (_ _ |
|__| |__| (_______( |_| |_| |_| |_|
_ _ _ _
| |_| |_ | |_| |_
_) | _) |
(_ 21 | |_ 22 |
)_ _ | )_ _ |
|_| |_| |_| |_|
A few additional information:
1) if you want to give this a try, a text editor
with a block copy is a must,
2) none of the pieces need to be rotated,
3) consecutively numbered pieces do not touch each
other (ex: 7 does not touch either 6 or 8, not
even diagonally), and
4) when combining certain pieces it's possible that a
parenthesis or a vertical bar will replace an underscore.
For example, when combining
__ __
| |_| | _ _ _
_) _) | |_| |____| |__
(_ 2 (_ and (_ (_
)_ _ ) _) 19 _)
|_| |_| (_______________(
like this:
__ __
| |_| |
_) _)
(_ 2 (_
)_ _ ) _
| |_| |_|__| |__
(_ (_
_) 19 _)
(_______________(
the underscore over the 1 had to be replaced by the
vertical bar.
One last thing: good luck! You'll need it!
Sol'n included below...
_______________________________________________
| (_ (_ (_ (_ |
| 4 _) _) 8 _) _) 17 |
| _ _( (__ __ _ _( (_ _ |
|_| |_| | 20 | |_| |_| |_| | 13 | |_| |_|
| _) _) _) _) _) |
| 11 (_ (_ 2 (_ (_ (_ 21 |
| _ _)__ __)_ _ ) )_ _ )_ _ |
|_| |_| |_| | |_| |_| 16 | |_| |_| |_| |_|
| (_ (_ (_ (_ |
| 9 _) 12 _) _) 7 _) 18 |
| _ _ _ _( _ (__ __( _ _(_ _ |
|_| |_| |_| |_| |__| |__| |_| |_| |_| | |_| |_|
| (_ _) _) _) |
| 3 _) (_ 5 (_ 14 |_ 22 |
| _ _( ) _ _ _ ) _ )_ _ |
|_| |_| | 1 |__| |__| |_| |_|__| |__| |_| |_|
| (_ (_ (_ (_ |
| 10 _) _) 15 _) 19 _) 6 |
|_______(_______(_______(_______________(_______|
Normand Veilleux
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