Yes, I just found out about the evil known as sokoban. Yesterday, to be exact, was my introduction to this seemingly easy task devilishly designed to look like just another computer game.
Of course, I failed my first attempt miserably on Level 1. But that didn’t sway me. I tried, tried, and tried again. On the last try, success!
And addiction.
I’m now stuck on Level 9 (yes, if you’re above that, feel free to make snide comments–it’s part of the addiction, after all, to both make the snide comments about others who’ve yet to delve as far into this mindless beast as one has and to be subject by those who’ve descended to a greater depth) and am irritatingly close to solving it. That is, if you can say that I keep leaving A DIFFERENT BOX in a corner and thus running out of moves.
So, since I asked for help and not the solutions: What are good solving strategies for this demonic entertainment?
Ah, so you got afflicted by the evil that is SOKOBAN!
I used to play that at work all day…(good thing they didn’t fire me).
I dunno which version you’re playing, but I found one that had over 400 levels. I think I finished about 150 of them. Some were quite simple, and others were mind numbingly difficult.
A version with unlimited undos can be very helpful. Remember that once a box hits a wall, it can’t be moved away from it unless you can push it perpendicular to the wall until it reaches a more open area. Try to think backwards, as in first place boxes into further away goal spots, then deal with the closer ones. Also, most of the time, you’re going to have to shuffle a lot of boxes, so don’t be afraid to move something that you’ve already placed.
I also found a Java Sokoban solver on the web. You build the level, and it solves it in the optimal number of moves. It was pretty neat. Only worked with 10 or less boxes though.
Level 9 has 14 boxes, so I think I might be up to speed with a 10 box problem. This does raise an interesting question in my mind: Can one make more than one solveable, but more difficult, layout for the maze and/or the boxes at the same level (by “same level” here, I mean “same number of boxes”)?
BTW, it’s not a crime to feed my addiction to this stuff…links, please.
Ah. I’ve gone beyond level 9 and am now stuck on level 12. And even more insidious: there’s a version called Hexoban, created 2 January 2002 using hexagons instead of squares for the map!