Teach the Cast
Some of PuzzleForge’s cast are still learning. When you teach them, YOU learn it best — catch what they get wrong, then quiz them.
Teach Evan
You be the teacher — Evan is still learning. Helping Evan figure it out is the practice. (Only for you; nothing is saved.)
Teach the connections
Show how the puzzle-solving ideas connect
You've helped them one at a time. The real understanding is how the ideas CONNECT — teach that next.
Wend (state-space search — map which positions are reachable) × Evan (parity / solvability — count swaps mod 2 to know if it can be solved at all)
Why does Evan run BEFORE Wend on a scrambled sliding puzzle?
Wend then says: “I'll just start searching moves on any scrambled 15-puzzle — it's always solvable.” — is that right?
The link: solvability (Evan) prunes the search (Wend) — don't search what can't be solved.
Check if it CAN be solved, then search how.
Nestor (recursion / decomposition — solve the big tower via the smaller tower) × Minim (optimality — refuse any solution longer than the fewest moves)
How does Nestor's "move the smaller tower first" also satisfy Minim's demand for the fewest moves?
Nestor then says: “Recursion is elegant but wasteful — you can always beat it with clever ad-hoc moves.” — is that right?
The link: the recursive decomposition IS the optimal solution — Nestor and Minim agree.
Break it down the right way, and it's already the shortest.
Capstone — plan one puzzle solve together
Three moves of a solver's plan. Bring in the cast member for each.
Before touching a scrambled 15-puzzle, decide if it's even solvable. Who?
Who do you bring in?
Solve Tower of Hanoi by first moving the smaller tower. Who?
Who do you bring in?
Reject any solution longer than the fewest possible moves. Who?
Who do you bring in?
The synthesis: check it CAN be solved, decompose it recursively, and hold to the minimum — a solver plans before moving.
Solvable, decomposed, minimal — the solver's plan.
Try it in the puzzle tools →
