Black Box (5x5 and 3 balls)
Black Box is an online hide and seek game. You have to deduce the location of hidden marbles within a "black box" by applying inputs and observing the behavior of the outputs.
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Select game size and balls: 5x5 (3 balls) | 6x6 (4 balls) | 8x8 (3 balls) | 8x8 (4 balls) | 8x8 (5 balls)
Object of the game:
3 to 5 balls (depending on the settings of the game) are hidden in a square grid - Black Box. On the entrances, which are on all four sides of the square, you "shoot rays" which react in a certain way when in the vicinity of the balls. By observing the results of the "rays" you can quess where exactly are the hidden balls. The goal of the game is to find the exact positions of the balls using the least possible information obtained by the "rays".
Shooting rays:
You shoot a ray into the grid by clicking on one of the entry ports along the periphery of the grid. The port is replaced with a marker which indicates the result of the ray. This result will be one of the following:
A hit is indicated by a red marker. A hit occurs when the ray enters the grid, but never exits, and is a result of ray hitting a ball.
A reflection is indicated by a yellow marker. A reflection occurs when the ray exits the grid at the same port through which it entered.
A deflection occurs when a ray exits the grid from a different port than it entered. It is indicated by an green marker with a number. The number is not significant, but it is used to match the entry and exit ports. Deflection markers are always placed in pairs using same number. Entry and exit points are commutative - if a ray shot into one port and exits at a second, if the ray had been shot into that second port, it would have emerged at the first.
Ray behavior:
When there is a ball on the ray's path, the ray never comes out of the box.
When from the left or from the right side infront of the ray stands a ball, the ray will be deflected by 90 degrees away from the ball.
When there are 2 balls on the right and on the left infront of the ball, the ray will be reflected in 180 degrees and will exit from the point it has entered.
When there is a ball at the edge of the grid it prevents a ray from entering the grid and will be feflected back to the point it has entered.
When there is no ball ahed or on the sides, the ray doesn't change the direction.
Scoring:
Try to solve the puzzle using as less information as possible, so lower scores are better. The score is based on how much information you have: 1 point for every hit or reflection, 2 points for a deflection. If you place ball on a wrong place the result is not saved!
Useful links:
More information about the game can be found on wikipedia.org site: Blackbox game
