Hi Shapeways fans,
Switched Maze is a mechanical maze. The object is to roll the metal ball from "Start" to "Goal". The ball is impeded by gates at several points in the maze. By rolling the ball against the levers, gates can be opened and closed.
This maze is related to Robert Abbott's
Sliding Door Maze and Eldon Vaughn's
Amaze. The rules of Abbott's puzzle is electronically enforced by the software implementation. The rules of Vaughn's maze is psychologically enforced by the game rule that says not to lift the stylus from the board. The switched Maze is fully mechanically enforced. That is, you cannot cheat without taking the puzzle apart or removing the transparent cover.
Switched Maze implements logical one-way gates, logical crossings and a
Chinese-Rings type of passing point. Most likely, one could build a
Turing Machine using the Switched Maze concept.
Watch the
YouTube video.
Buy the puzzle at
my Shapeways Shop.
Read more at the
Non-Twisty Puzzles Forum.
Check out the photos below.
Enjoy!
Oskar