Tacoyaki (Lights Out) Game

Last crawled date: 4 years, 3 months ago

This make is a games console with 16 light up push switches, a 2 digit 7 segment display and a piezo-electric speaker. It is all driven by an Arduino Pro Mini.
The sketch included plays 3 variants of the game Tacoyaki (also known as Lights Out).
Video
https://youtu.be/8bgJnCufaDM
Level 1 - Tacoyaki+
In this variant, by pressing a button, its light and those of the (non-diagonally) adjacent buttons will change (switch on if it was off, and vice versa). The goal is to switch off all the LEDs in under 25 moves.
Solution:
a. For each light on row 1, press the button beneath it on row 2 to turn the light off. This way row 1 is completely unlit.
b. Repeat step a for rows 2-3, This is usually called 'chasing the lights'.
Level 2 - Tacoyaki+ with wrapround
The main difference is that the board has no edges - the left and right columns are considered to be adjacent, as are the top and bottom rows. Every light therefore has exactly 4 neighbours, and so every move changes exactly 5 lights.
Solution:
This is an easy puzzle once you know the following two facts:
To change an individual light, press it and its four neighbours.
To know whether you need to press a button or not, check its own light and the neighbouring lights. If an odd number of these 5 lights are switched on, then the button needs to be pressed, otherwise it does not.
The following solution then suggests itself:
a. Use fact 2 above on all the buttons in the middle two rows.
b. For each light that is on in row 2, press the button above it in row 1.
c. For each light that is on in row 3, press the button below it in row 4.
Level 3 - Tacoyaki
In this variant, pressing a button will change the state of all LEDs diagionally from it. So all lights in a NW, NE, SE, SW direction from the pressed button (including the button itself) will change state.
Solution:
Number the rows 1-4, the columns A-D.
Press a combination of buttons on row 2 such that the lights on row 1 are switched off. This seems tricky, but is quite easy once you know how. First switch off lights A1, C1, from left to right as follows:
If A1 is on then press B2.
If C1 is on then press D2.
Next switch off lights A2, A4, A6 from right to left as follows:
If D1 is on then press C2.
If B1 is on then press A2.
Now row 1 is completely unlit.
Repeat step a for rows 2-3, so that now you only have lights on row 4.
If the light at A4 is on, press D1.
If the light at B4 is on, press C1.
If the light at C4 is on, press B1.
If the light at D4 is on, press A1.
Note how the button pattern to press on the top row is the mirror image of the light pattern on the bottom row.
Repeat steps a-b, chasing the lights down and it will be magically solved.
Other games you might want to add
Whack-a-Mole
Super Simple Simon
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