Devil barrel
The devil's barrel is a mathematical 3D puzzle game , comparable to the magic cube or the magic tower . It was invented by Gunpei Yokoi for Nintendo and was protected by US patent 4,376,537. This was suspended in 1995 due to non-payment of the fees and deleted in 2018 when the maximum term was reached.
overview
design
In simplified terms, the devil's barrel is a barrel-shaped “cylinder” made of transparent plastic, which is divided into six drums lying one on top of the other, as well as a “frame” made of black plastic that can be moved along the axis. This frame consists of an upper and a lower part, which are firmly connected to each other and form the longitudinal axis of the cylinder.
If the six drums lying on top of one another (levels) are designated by 1 to 6, the two outer 1 and 6 can only be moved in a coupled manner, and drums 2 and 3 as well as 4 and 5 can only be rotated together around the cylinder axis. Each of the four drums 2 to 5 has five chambers which are filled with colored balls (four each yellow, orange, red, blue and green). The two outer drums 1 and 6 each have two empty spaces and three chambers into which the outer frame parts engage to move and therefore contain only three black balls (in the basic position), so three empty chambers remain. An upward or downward movement of the frame is only possible if, after the drums have been rotated, all of their chambers are exactly one above the other.
Gameplay
The task is to sort the balls using the empty chambers in such a way that balls of the same color come to lie in the chambers of the center drums 2 to 5 lying one above the other.
Web links
- https://rolandroid.wordpress.com/2016/04/11/nintendobarrel-loesung/ - photos and solution
- http://www.jaapsch.net/puzzles/nintendo.htm - photo and solution