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This is the White DoTS. It was developed by the brilliant puzzle inventor Dr. Pantazis Constantine Houlis and was first released for asian markets in late 2009.
The white DoTS belongs to a family of puzzles, called the Gravity Puzzles. It's called Gravity Puzzles because you're not able to touch the pieces inside the sphere, so you rely only on gravity to act on the puzzle, by rotating the sphere and move one of the five pyramids at a time to the available space. Each pyramid has dots, from 1 to 4, on each of its four sides and it's also dotted at the base.
The DoTS is nothing like the Varikon Puzzle and past gravity puzzles. It has rotational gravity movement, or in other words, it combines sliding and shifting, by rotating the pyramid with respect to the puzzle's center. This concept proves that other mediums can also be used to fill the sphere. The Aquadron is a perfect example of this.
The design is flawless. The sphere feels just right in the hand, has the appropriate size and weight to maneuver it very easily and is extremely intuitive. You can pick it up for the first time and start playing right away.
The DoTS is nothing like the Varikon Puzzle and past gravity puzzles. It has rotational gravity movement, or in other words, it combines sliding and shifting, by rotating the pyramid with respect to the puzzle's center. This concept proves that other mediums can also be used to fill the sphere. The Aquadron is a perfect example of this.
The design is flawless. The sphere feels just right in the hand, has the appropriate size and weight to maneuver it very easily and is extremely intuitive. You can pick it up for the first time and start playing right away.
Unlike some of the other Gravity Puzzles, the White DoTS has a lot of different challenges for you to attempt, with different degrees of difficulty. Below is some of them:
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Easy - For first timers, to get used to the solving process. Start by getting one dot (or any other combination) in every pyramid, when looking from above.
Moderate - After you've mastered the easy challenges, try to get the bottom of the pyramids, also in a correct sequence (1,2,3,4).
Advanced - Now with all the correct sequences, try to get the 'DoTS' pyramid with the right orientation. For example, with the pyramid of one dot above it.
Besides the basic challenges, you can also try your own, like choosing a number (12), where you get the middle dots (4+4+3+1) to match the right sum.
Regarding difficulty, the Cubedron is the harder one in the market right now, because of its parity problems and the DoTS is more recommended for a wider target for its easier challenges. If you want to speedsolve it though, you should choose the Cubedron, for not using stickers on the side of the pyramids, it provides a faster movement. If you're a collector, like myself, I recommend all the designs. Each of them is a different experience and with the new ones coming up, the family is getting bigger.
There's a lot of different designs for Pantazis' Gravity Puzzles. However, only a few of them are commercially available, although Pantazis plans to release a few new designs soon.
Regarding difficulty, the Cubedron is the harder one in the market right now, because of its parity problems and the DoTS is more recommended for a wider target for its easier challenges. If you want to speedsolve it though, you should choose the Cubedron, for not using stickers on the side of the pyramids, it provides a faster movement. If you're a collector, like myself, I recommend all the designs. Each of them is a different experience and with the new ones coming up, the family is getting bigger.
There's a lot of different designs for Pantazis' Gravity Puzzles. However, only a few of them are commercially available, although Pantazis plans to release a few new designs soon.
In conclusion, the White DoTS and the Gravity Puzzles in general, are very welcome to the world of puzzles. It's a breath of fresh air to have something out of the ordinary and so original, like you've never seen before. With all the puzzles that have been released lately, many of them are very similar to what we already saw and bring nothing new to the puzzling experience. And with all the new ideas that Pantazis has in mind, stored for us, we can expect many more 'out of this world' concepts in the near future. For now, I only have the White DoTS, but I loved it so much that I plan to get the other ones soon, for my collection.
The White DoTS and the other designs are available to purchase online at Mindstrat Puzzles, the inventor's company.
Update: The White DoTS has been discontinued and rebranded to The Oginov Tumbler.
Update: The White DoTS has been discontinued and rebranded to The Oginov Tumbler.
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Re:"Besides the basic challenges, you can also try your own, like choosing a number (12), where you get the middle dots (4+4+3+1) to match the right sum."
ReplyDeleteHello!
I find that you have made great efforts preparing this article, a good introduction to the new gravity puzzle, White DoTS.
If you've time, I recommend my video of introducing one meaningful approach to play this gravity-driven mechanical puzzle.
Title:A new approach to playing White DoTS(Grativy puzzle)
Link:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMjO8KnK7Jc
Besides, one of my sons also learned to play this game mostly on his own.
The following videos are recommended for you.
(1) Novice to Intermediate Level
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF071FcsOa0
(2) Upper-intermediate Level
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78jYT8k8PSM
Thanks for your kind attentions!
Mechanical puzzle addict and Math learning mania
erauqscme (the reversed order of emcsquare)
Hello!
ReplyDeleteThe following article shares the path of my learning to solve the White DoTS.
http://erauqscme.blogspot.com/2010/09/dear-pantazis-in-january-this-year-you.html
Mechanical Puzzle Addict
erauqscme