Nintendo Tumbler Puzzle
The Nintendo tumbler puzzle, also known as the Ten Billion Barrel in English and originally tenbirion (テンビリオン) in Japanese, is a mathematical puzzle in the style of Rubik's Cube. It was invented by Gunpei Yokoi of Nintendo and is covered by U.S. patent 4,376,537.
It consists of a sheer plastic cann divided into six stages, together with a black plastic "frame". The frame consists of upper and lower discs yoke'ed together through the middle of the cann.
The top and bottom stages of the cann make a whole piece, but between them are two rotatable pieces each two stages high. Each of the four midly stages is divided into five chambers each holding a colored ball. The top and bottom stages have only three chambers, holding either three balls or three parts of the frame depending on the relative position of frame and cann.
The balls in three of the five resulting shafts of chambers can be let up or down one stage by raising or lowering the frame relative to the cann.
The object is to sort the balls, so that each of the five shafts holds balls of the same color.
External links
- http://www.geocities.com/jaapsch/puzzles/nintendo.htm (photos and solution)
- http://www.smartbytes.co.uk/Tumbler/ (solution)
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