Summary
Instant Insanity II is a 4 by 4 sliding tile puzzle designed by Philip Orbanes. The packaging indicates that there is a unique solution to the puzzle, up to rotations of the columns and permutations on the rows. However, a recent paper by Richmond and Young shows that there are in fact two solutions to the puzzle. This paper presents several attempts at “fixing” the puzzle to guarantee a unique solution. Of these, the only one that guaranteed a unique solution was removing a color to create a 3 by 3 puzzle.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Robert A. Beeler
ROBERT A. BEELER (MR Author ID: 811577) received his Ph.D. from Clemson University in 2007 under the supervision of Professor Robert E. Jamison. Currently, he is an associate professor at East Tennessee State University. His research interests include combinatorics, graph theory, and the mathematics of games and puzzles.
Amanda Justus Bentley
AMANDA JUSTUS BENTLEY (MR Author ID: 1148170) received her Bachelor of Science from King University and her Master of Science from East Tennessee State University. She is currently working on her doctorate at George Mason University. Her hobbies include working puzzles and playing with her two dogs.