Oskar's four dimensional maze
Consider this ... what would a four-dimensional maze look like if prototyped as a three-dimensional mechanical puzzle or rendered as a two-dimensional virtual puzzle? Well, here is the answer. Can you navigate the four-dimensional runner to its four-dimensional goal?
The four red runners must reach the blue targets. Notice that the four runners are coupled and always form a rectangle. A move is only possible if the coupled runners can move simultaneously. Learn the operation by first playing the 'trainer' challenge a few times.
The photo on the right shows a mechanical realisation of Oskar's 4D Maze. The red disc contains two mazes, there is a second disc on the reverse that contains another two mazes. The 'runners' are the clear spheres, there are two more on the reverse. The runners are locked in pairs (back and front) and also locked to the green and yellow semi-circles which can be slid apart in a controlled manner to effect the always form a rectangle rule. The photo here illustrates the start position, the goal is to solve all four mazes simultaneously so the puzzle comes to pieces.
The illustrated puzzle is an implementation of maze '4x4x4x4' (see applet) but translated into three-dimensions as opposed to four. Puzzle design is by Oskar and manufacture is by George Miller.
concept & maze design - © Oskar van Deventer - 2003
puzzlescript implementation - © Matthieu Haller - 2021