Difficulty Rating of Puzzle Rings Based on Configuration Space

Abstract

The difficulty of puzzle rings is mainly due to the complexity of the solving procedures and the dimensions of the possible moving paths. This paper aims at quantitative evaluation of the puzzle ring difficulty. We propose some feature values to express the difficulty. Then, effectiveness of those values is evaluated by comparing with how difficult we feel when we solve real puzzle rings. To be solved puzzle rings by the computer, we have implemented data structure to express puzzle rings and algorithms to manipulate them. The search algorithm to find the optimal path and a method for characterizing the configuration space are presented.