Talk:Klotski

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[edit] Origin?

All my search attempts for "Taquin" return French results. I am hoping someone who has more knowledge of these old games will come to the rescue, at which time we can remove the verify tag. :) --Kooky (talk) 22:51, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

I looked at the French pages and they show the Fifteen puzzle, a.k.a. N-puzzle. There is indeed some resemblance between Klotski and Fifteen--in both puzzles you move pieces within an enclosure, but that's about it. --Bartosz 16:10, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Klotski and Fifteen puzzle are different things. They only have one thing in common -- sliding blocks. The main target for fifteen puzzle (jeu du taquin in French) is to slide 15 square blocks in a 4x4 square boundary so that they will be rearranged. OTOH, the aim of Klotski is to move one block out of a trapped boundary, enclosed by other blocks. This Klotski page already shows a standard example: move the largest block until it touches the blue block at the bottom. If people here don't mind I'll remove the verify tag. AbelCheung 01:21, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
Please wait, I'd like to dig deeper before conclusion. There is a page about L'âne rouge, which is french name of Klotski. It also mentions having Thai origin. That page is written around late 2003, so its content shouldn't be affected by wikipedia. AbelCheung 03:28, 10 June 2006 (UTC)
I would not be surprised if this game has far-Eastern origins, or if this is one of those things that sort of just happened in different places at once. I have no objection to the removal of the verify tag (you seem to have covered the bases well). Great job, AbelCheung! :) --Kooky (talk) 18:03, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Author?

Does anyone know who wrote the original version of Klotski for Windows? --Bartosz 16:01, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Probably it could be found if anybody still has the Windows 3.1 game pack packaging available. AbelCheung 21:58, 2 July 2006 (UTC)
  • I have a version from 1991 and the about box says:

"Klotski

Minneapolis - Warsaw

Copyright ZH Computer, 1991 " ---EEPROM Eagle 19:20, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, EEPROM. You prompted me to get a copy and do some binary analysis on it (don't ask me how :-) ). Some interesting facts:
  • ZH Computer is founded by Zbigniew Karwowski. See this page: "Mr. Karwowski moves from Poland, to Minneapolis". The irrelevant line "Minneapolis - Warsaw" most likely indicates this fact.
  • Within the binary reveals several names:
    • Maurycy R.K.
    • Valdi Karwowski
    • Thaddy Karwowski
They are most likely developers of this game, or at least involved in development work. AbelCheung (talk) 23:15, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
Correcting myself -- they are the level creators. AbelCheung (talk) 21:54, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Verifying history info

I need some help verifying the misc info and the people involved:

  • When does L'âne rouge appear in France? Is it 1946 according to puzzleworld.org? How is J.H. Fleming related to it? (copyright? patent? introduce to people? write document about it?) This site seems to tell something, but I don't really understand its content.
  • Is it related to Thai's Khun Chang Khun Phaen? (given that Thai has been a colony of France, this is not 100% impossible) This page contains a picture of Thai variation.
  • This site contains some info not seen in any other Klotski site, is the info real?

Of course, I'll be happy if anybody can help confirming or denying other info in this page. babelfish is just a mediocre tool to help me understand french pages :-( AbelCheung 19:43, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Windows Copy Available Anywhere??

The original copy I had several years (and several Windows upgrades) back was by far my favorite puzzle program ever. The final level was huge, a sort of square within a square, with a five-by-five block to move out of the inner square and along the outer square back to the top. I can't seem to find a copy of the original game anywhere. It was definitely a Windows game (not DOS), and all the versions of Klotski I've found so far aren't even close to what I remember of the original (which, if I recall, didn't have fancy trick bricks, either). If anyone could possibly put me in touch with the original program, or some new version that actually has the original levels (including the huge final level), preferably with Windows operation, I would be eternally grateful. (Also, if anyone has a screenshot of the final level, or anything of the sort, showing where the bricks are, that might be almost as good, because I'd be able to program my own by this point.) Kilyle 09:51, 15 March 2007 (UTC)