Message #491

From: Melinda Green <melinda@superliminal.com>
Subject: Re: [MC4D] Magic120Cell Realized
Date: Sun, 04 May 2008 19:44:59 -0700

Roice rocks!!!

Don and I have been cooking up plans to support more puzzles including
this one in MC4D for some time but Roice beat us to the best one. The
120 cell holds a special place in the pantheon of regular polyhedra in
all dimensions. It has no analog in any dimension greater than 4. If
puzzles were planets, the 120 cell would be Saturn. Being the first to
tame this beauty will earn you a special place in history, though the
task may be as hard as being the first to visit Saturn. We’re lucky that
Roice didn’t solve it before publishing it. Please tell us why, Roice?
Did you try to but underestimate the difficulty or did you just want to
give everyone a chance? The screen shots are amazingly beautiful and it
is such a gift to the world that you would have been completely
justified to have kept it secret until first solve.

Thank you so much!
-Melinda

Roice Nelson wrote:
>
> The 4D analog of Megaminx is here! This has been a work in progress
> for some time really (the basics were done in 2006), but it is now
> evolved enough for you crazy solvers to have at it! I like playing
> with it and it will be fun to figure out sequences, but I’m not
> imagining I’ll try a solution myself. I do hope some of you will take
> it on, and that getting it out now is good timing with the summer
> break for students and all. I’m really pleased with how it is turning
> out, and have screenshots at the site to check out if you don’t feel
> like installing…
>
> www.gravitation3d.com/magic120cell/
> <http://www.gravitation3d.com/magic120cell/>
>
> You’ll see that I made some easier (or should I say just slightly less
> ludicrous) puzzles which are only different in that they have multiple
> cells set to the same color. These accentuate some of the 120cell
> symmetries and could be more enjoyable simply because there are not so
> many colors to deal with. The biggest feat is of course the full
> puzzle with 120 different colored cells, but all of them are hard and
> I will post the name of anyone who solves any of the puzzles in a Hall
> of Insanity.
>
> I admit straight away there are still features that would be nice to
> have at some point, and I do have my own wish list. Though I make no
> guarantees when or if I can add stuff, please feel free to make
> suggestions or requests you would find valuable. Bug reports will
> also be appreciated.
>
> I hope you all really enjoy it. Good Luck!
>
> Roice
>
> P.S. This is what I alluded to this morning. I haven’t figured it out
> exactly yet and may not be able to, but a quick estimate shows it to
> have well over 10^15000 (that’s right, 10^15K) permutations!
>