Only One

The 17th puzzle is a mysterious maze like Escher’s painting. It is to make the routes arranged separately into the correct arrangement.

One difficulty with this puzzle is how to detect completion. If memorize the arrangement of the correct routes and detect if they match, it will not be able to complete the game if there is an unexpected correct routes.

As a countermeasure, we made two improvements to the maze. The first is to set checkpoints that cannot be moved along the way. This makes it possible to limit the number of combinations of correct routes.

The second is to make each divided maze part a unique shape. This makes it difficult to assemble any routes that is different from the assumed correct route.

With these improvements, this maze was able to be the only one correct route. (We haven’t checked all combinations)

Route visualization

When we built it and checked it with an iPhone, etc., it was difficult to distinguish the gaps and impassable parts because the image was small. Therefore, we implemented it so that players can see how far they are connected by different colors.

With this implementation, it became possible to check whether all the checkpoints were passed and connected to the goal without comparing with the correct placement. It may not be the only one, but it is now possible to complete even a new correct answer pattern.