16 August 2014

Sokoban lessons - Small "fix one"

It is called usually "fix one" the puzzle whose boxes are all placed except one. These levels are particularly attractive, at least to me, and are my favorite: when I see one, I can't resist the temptation to try to solve it...

This type of puzzles are often very difficult. The explanation of this fact may be this: with all the boxes placed, the free spaces are minimal, so that the difficulty is maximum.

In this post I have made a selection of some "fix one", and as usual I have tried are represented different styles, authors and difficulties. Comments and suggestions are accepted.

In small "fix one" four authors stand out: Sven Egevad, Aymeric du Peloux (collections Nabokosmos and Picokosmos), Evgeny Grigoriev (collections GrigrSpecial and GrigrComet) and Thomas Reinke. And of course, gyjgw, author of excellent remodels.

Criteria:

- All boxes are placed, except one.
- Maximum 60 boxes. So, this selection is limited to the puzzles of medium and small size, and leave the big levels for another occasion... :P

Note.- In other "Sokoban lessons" there are numerous levels "fix one" selected, that I will not repeat here.

 
In another post I will make a selection of levels "many-in-goal" (according to the terminology of Sven Egevad): all the boxes are placed except a minimum percentage.

You can download all puzzles (except commercial) here:





Author: unknown (Thinking Rabbit) + gyjgw
Title: Sokoban Perfect #288 b
First release of the original level: Soukoban (1985, Sega) #69, then in Sokoban Perfect (1989)
Date: December 1985. Remodel: 2005.7.4
Difficulty: 6.5
Best moves/pushes: 273/100

At the time of Thinking Rabbit was invented practically everything concerning to Sokoban, and also appeared the first puzzles "fix one". This level of unknown author was one of the first "many-in-goal" (the original version has 45 boxes, 2 of them unplaced). I posted a remodel of gyjgw, slightly more difficult.

Question: the 3 "signs" of this puzzle, do they have any meaning, or are simple drawings?

As a curiosity, these were the first levels "many-in-goal" of Thinking Rabbit:

- Siji Nishikawa, Soukoban (1985, Sega) #68 (Sokoban Perfect #303)
- unknown, id. #69 (Sokoban Perfect #288)
- id. #74 (Sokoban Perfect #84 and #305, Masaki Ishino; Sokoban Revenge #279, Kazuo Fukushima)
- id. #88 (Sokoban Perfect #215)
- Yoshio Sakae, Sokoban Perfect (1989) #250, and Sokoban Revenge (1991) #212
- Yoshio Sakae, id. #251
- Yoshio Sakae, id. #263
- Ryo Hachiya, Soukoban 2 (1990, GameBoy) #08-07 (Sokoban Revenge #86)
- unknown, Soukoban Deluxe (1990) #3-E
- id #3-? Stage 5
- Takahiro Suzushima, id #3-? Stage 6 (Sokoban Revenge #227)
- Takahiro Suzushima, id #3-? Stage 6
- Takahiro Suzushima, Soukoban (1990, GameGear) #261 (Sokoban Revenge #127)
- Yoshio Sakae, Sokoban Revenge (1991) #50
- Yoshio Sakae, id. #136
- Yoshio Sakae, id. #210
- Takahiro Suzushima, id. #228
- Shinji Kai, id. #261
- Yoshio Sakae, id. #269
- Yoshio Sakae, id. #283
- Hidemitsy Kobayashi, id. #296
- Masaki Ishino + Yoshio Sakae, id. #300
- Masaki Ishino, id. #305




Author: Yoshio Sakae
Title: Sokoban Perfect #251
Date: 1989
Difficulty: 6
Best moves/pushes: 192/70

Two "diamonds", with the unplaced box and goal in the center of diamonds, respectively. York Shen made up to seven remodels of this level, but none of them is "fix one".





Author: Takahiro Suzushima + Masato Hiramatsu (Hir)
Title: Arranged levels by Hir #12 Sokoban Revenge level 228 arranged
Comment: from BanSoko 051
Date: 1991. Remodel: c. 1997
Difficulty: 6.5
Best moves/pushes: 152/57

The first diamond "fix one" was published in Soukoban (1985, Sega) #88 (then in Sokoban Perfect #215), by an unknown author, with the goal in the center of the diamond and the unplaced box on the outside. Sokoban Revenge #228, of Takahiro Suzushima, seems a remodel of Sokoban Perfect #215, but with the unplaced box in the center of the diamond, which increases significantly the difficulty. Here I post this remodel of Hir, slightly harder than Sokoban Revenge #228.





Author: Yoshio Sakae + unknown
Title: Ultimate Sokoban (PlayStation, Itochu) - Stage 3 Chapter 4 Level 5
Date: 1991. Remodel: September 1996
Difficulty: 6
Best moves/pushes: 258/66

Nice maze. In fact, this is Sokoban Revenge #210, modified and rotated (change 2 boxes/goals for walls, and 1 wall for a box/goal). 





Author: Masato Hiramatsu (Hir)
Title: #12 Genten kaiki
Comment:
from BanSoko 049
いやなタイプの面ですが、けっこう楽しんで作りました(陰険なやつ)。
個室の中の余計な荷物を処分しようとした彼は、長い旅に出ることにな
るのですが、タライ回しの果ての終着駅はどこでしょうか……
Date: 1997.7.2
Difficulty: 7
Best moves/pushes: 522/113

"Genten kaiki" (原点回帰) = "Basics" (according to Google). Elaborate and difficult "fix one". A level-adventure in which the player have to tour all the rooms of the map and practically move all the boxes. Perhaps one of the best puzzles in this style.




Author: Howard Abed + gyjgw
Title: Second Set #22 c
Date: 1999. Remodel (posted in MF8): 2012.8.15
Difficulty: 8.5
Best moves/pushes: 169/57

Very hard remodel, although the solution is relatively simple. Only for experienced players. 





Author: Howard Abed + gyjgw
Title: Second Set #34 b
Date: 1999. Remodel: c. 2005
Difficulty: 7
Best moves/pushes: 160/41

Fun remodel. It seems that there are no spaces to bring the unplaced box up...




Author: Hirohiko Nakamiya
Title: Monster Sokoban 5-3
Date: c. 2000
Website: miya.s16.xrea.com/selection/bannin/
Difficulty: 4
Best moves/pushes: 53/12

A little gem!




Author: Yoshio Murase
Title: handmade #45 発芽 (Germination)
Comment:
「あひる」の改造です。というより、もともとこのような面を作る
つもりで、その過程で「あひる」ができた、と言うべきかも。
Date: 2000.5.17
Website: www.ne.jp/asahi/ai/yoshio/sokoban/index.html
Difficulty: 7
Best moves/pushes: 251/37

発芽, Hatsuga = "Germination" (according to Google). Nice level, laborious to solve.




Author: ZiKo (Zbigniew Kornaś)
Title: Stage #017
Date: 2000.7.12
Difficulty: 7.5
Best moves/pushes: 145/40

You'll have to put elbows on the table to solve this difficult level...




Author: Sven Egevad + gyjgw
Title: SE 107 a
Comment: added 4 boxes
Date: 2000. Remodel: c. 2005
Website: www.egevad.nu/sven/
Difficulty: 7.5
Best moves/pushes: 161/55

Nice and tight chessboard.




Author: Aymeric du Peloux
Title: Nabokosmos #7
Subtitle: Domino 4-3 +
Comment:
Nabokosmos 02 ayant plu, je m'y suis remis. Et j'ai trouvé une combinaison différente et plus difficile.
Date: January 2001

Website: www.onlinespiele-sammlung.de/sokoban/sokobangames/nabokos/
Difficulty: 8.5 (A. du P.)
Best moves/pushes: 156/46

It's a slightly more difficult version of Nabokosmos #2. My rating: 7.




Author: Aymeric du Peloux
Title: Nabokosmos #16
Subtitle: Soupape (Valve)
Comment:
Le sous-titre décrit bien ce qui se passe. Ca descend, ça monte, ça redescent et ça remonte. Nabokosmos 39 est assez similaire.
Date: February 2001

Website: www.onlinespiele-sammlung.de/sokoban/sokobangames/nabokos/
Difficulty: 7 (A. du P.)
Best moves/pushes: 104/27

Excellent! I think that this small level is better of what Aymeric supposes...





Author: Aymeric du Peloux
Title: Picokosmos #1
Subtitle: Fleur (Flower)
Comment:
J'ai eu beaucoup de mal à créer ce premier niveau pour ne pas rater l'entame de cette série. Je me suis inspiré au départ de Minicosmos 30. Cela semble si près d'être résolu... et pourtant!
Date: September 2001

Website: www.onlinespiele-sammlung.de/sokoban/sokobangames/nabokos/
Difficulty: 8.75 (A. du P.)
Best moves/pushes: 207/67

I have chosen two levels from Picokosmos, #1 and #14, both fun to solve and the "fix one" less "compact" in this collection. My rating for this level: 7.




Author: Aymeric du Peloux
Title: Picokosmos #14
Subtitle: Cédille (Cedilla)
Comment: Un thème classique de rangement dans le bon ordre, mais avec suffisamment de caisses et peu d'espace pour que cela ne soit pas trivial.
Date: November 2001

Website: www.onlinespiele-sammlung.de/sokoban/sokobangames/nabokos/
Difficulty: 9.25 (A. du P.)
Best moves/pushes: 253/74

Hard! Before you begin to move all the boxes (which is what I always do... xD ), I recommend thinking about how is built the "ç". My rating: 8.

Aymeric du Peloux is the author of numerous small levels "fix one", the most compact: see especially their collections Nabokosmos, Picokosmos and Cosmonotes. 





Author: François Marques
Title: 100 boxes #8 Opened circle
Date: November 2001
Website: sokoban.online.fr/
Difficulty: 8
Best moves/pushes: 278/84

Hard compact! Rotary puzzle within a vaguely cruciform structure. A classic!




Author: Evgeny Grigoriev (GRIGoRusha)
Title: Grigr2001 #95 Salto (#94r)
Date: December 2001
Website: grigr.narod.ru/sokoban.htm
Difficulty: 7.5
Best moves/pushes: 195/53

Excellent! This is one of my favorite "compact" in this selection. We have take out all the boxes, and then to place them again :P ...

"Salto" (cальто) = "somersault": "an acrobatic exercise in which a person's body revolves 360° with feet passing over the head" (from Wikipedia). Curiously, the voice "cальто" derives from the latin "saltus", so that both in Russian and Italian, Spanish or Portuguese we use the same word "salto".
 

GRIGoRusha is the author of numerous small levels "fix one", the most compact and hard: see especially their collections GrigrSpecial and GrigrComet.


  
Author: Yoshio Murase
Title: handmade #49 6 in 9, arranged
Comment:
原形は単純な面です。未発表ですが、このタイトルと形状から、
だいたいは想像できる形をしています。
Date: 2001
Website: www.ne.jp/asahi/ai/yoshio/sokoban/index.html
Difficulty: 6.5
Best moves/pushes: 108/26

As simple as difficult.





Author: Sven Egevad + gyjgw
Title: SE 297 b
Date: 2001. Remodel: c. 2005
Difficulty: 6.5
Best moves/pushes: 118/32

Logical. Of a relatively easy puzzle, gyjgw has extracted oil. The solution is not obvious.




 Author: Xibei Tian Lang
Title: TL02 豪气冲天 (HaoQi ChongTian)
Date: April 2003
Difficulty: 8.5
Best moves/pushes: 241/50

豪气冲天 = "Heroic spirit" (according to Baidu), or "The heroic spirit soars to the heavens" (according to SystraNet).

This puzzle could be called "the magic square", and is part of a series of several very similar levels. Recalls the famous "squares" of Sven Egevad (see SE 134 et seq.), but this series is quite more synthetic and difficult.




Author: Sven Egevad
Title: SE 828
Comment: in-line hard
Date: 2003
Website: www.egevad.nu/sven/
Difficulty: 6.5
Best moves/pushes: 654/166 (yutaka yamada)

If you like "snakes", this
is one of the best small snakes of Sven Egevad.



Author: Sven Egevad
Title: SE 893
Comment: lines hard
Date: 2003
Website: www.egevad.nu/sven/
Difficulty: 6.5
Best moves/pushes: 158/35

Well, it seems easy but it is not.




Author: gyjgw
Title: gyjgw_0022
Date: June 2004
Difficulty: 7.5
Best moves/pushes: 319/104

This puzzle is known as "the flag". There have been many arrangements, but this - I think - is the first version. 





Author: Thomas Reinke + gyjgw
Title: 81 #3 c
Date: November 2004. Remodel: c. 2004
Difficulty: 7
Best moves/pushes: 178/54

Excellent remodel! This little "snake" will make to sweat to more than one sokoplayer...




Author: gyjgw
Title: (untitled)
Date: c. 2004
Difficulty: 7.5
Best moves/pushes: 257/69

This puzzle is a mystery. Is the author gyjgw, really? Is it a remodel of a puzzle that I don't know? This version was posted in the forum SuperSoko, and there is also another different version, attributed to York Shen. In short: please, someone can provide more information about this level?
Thanks in advance.




Author: František Pokorný
Title: #34 Warm up
Date: 2004
Website: kantorek.webzdarma.cz/sokobana.htm
Difficulty: 6.5
Best moves/pushes: 152/38

Very nice, apparently similar to Nabokosmos #2. See also level #36.




Author: František Pokorný
Title: #74 Warm up
Date: 2005.2.15
Website: kantorek.webzdarma.cz/sokobana.htm
Difficulty: 7.5
Best moves/pushes: 171/47

A little gem, incredibly difficult!





Author: František Pokorný
Title: #87 Black-jack
Date: 2005.7.4
Website: kantorek.webzdarma.cz/sokobana.htm
Difficulty: 6
Best moves/pushes: 234/71

Another little gem! I love it!





Author: gyjgw
Title: 恐怖型第17关 a
Comment: 20050722
Date: 2005.7.22
Difficulty: 6.5
Best moves/pushes: 198/77

Typical diamond. It is not particularly difficult, but it's nice. It is probably a remodel of Sokoban Perfect #215 (with box unplaced in the center of the diamond), or perhaps an extension of Sokoban Revenge #228.

I have taken the liberty to modify its visual aspect as in Sokoban Perfect #215, with double outer wall :)




 




Author: Eric F. Tchong + Marek Letrab
Title: Atlas 1 #100 Arubian rattlesnake (a)
Date: January 2006
Difficulty: 6.5
Best moves/pushes: 593/139

Nice "snake". Zhenying made two excellent remodels, but with two boxes unplaced.





Author: Sven Egevad
Title: SE 1508
Comment: many-in-goal hard
Date: 2006
Website: www.egevad.nu/sven/
Difficulty: 6.5
Best moves/pushes: 298/88 (yutaka yamada)

Fun level, relatively easy, despite his appearance. Personally, I prefer the previous level SE 1507, but has already been posted in "Sokoban lessons - Staircases" (see).





Author: Sven Egevad
Title: SE 1684
Comment: many-in-goal hard
Date: c. 2007
Website: www.egevad.nu/sven/
Difficulty: 6
Best moves/pushes: 309/60 (Philippe Lamat)

I love this one. Fun and nice to solve.




Author: Jordi Doménech + Tian Lang
Title: Double square (a)
Comment: stoned many boxes.
The original level was published in The beautiful world of remodels 4 #3
Date (posted in MF8): 2010.11.24
Difficulty: 8
Best moves/pushes: 222/66

Fantastic remodel of Tian Lang! Originally, it was a double-ring boxes.





Author: laizhufu + Jordi Doménech
Title: L (a)
Set: The beautiful world of remodels 4 #21 L
Comment: stoned 5 boxes, added a wall
Date: 2011.4.7. Remodel (posted in MF8): 2011.4.8
Website: sokoban-jd.blogspot.com/
Difficulty: 7.5
Best moves/pushes: 430/71

I love this L. No bad. It brings back good memories...




Author: Thomas Reinke
Title: Anomaly 3 #30 Beyond the Sea
Date: February 2012
Difficulty: 7.5
Best moves/pushes: 237/42

Hard line, within a double-ring structure. It is not easy to see how it builds. 





Author: Přemysl Zíka
Title: First levels #266
Date: June 2012
Website: www.zusbreznice.cz/rozvrhy-zika-premysl-sokoban.cz
Difficulty: 9
Best moves/pushes: 410/146

Double-ring within a pinwheel-shaped structure, with a box of hindrance. Puzzle very difficult and technical. Obviously, the great difficulty is to place the free box...
and then rebuild the rings :P




Author: Eric F. Tchong + Jordi Doménech
Title: Dushi 2 #35 In little moves or pushes (a)
Comment: stoned many boxes, added 8 walls
This remodel will be published in The beautiful world of remodels, 5
Date: July 2012. Remodel: 2012.7.17
Website: sokoban-jd.blogspot.com/
Difficulty: 8.5
Best moves/pushes: 540/104

Přemysl Zíka has commented on this puzzle: " 'Snail'. Behold, behold! I have had a lot of work. Very difficult. Permanent lack of space, from the first steps to end."





Author: 风过了无痕 (SokoWind) + gyjgw
Title: 睿斗关卡45关-纪念918 (Riddle Sokoban #45 Commemoration of 918) a
Date: 2012.9.18. Remodel (posted in MF8): 2012.9.19
Difficulty: 8.5
Best moves/pushes: 450/135

Hard knot of boxes. Each time you move a box, more you squeeze the knot... Take it easy.





Author: Jordi Doménech + anian + Tian Lang
Title: Tribute to the Greek people, for two times victim of Nazi brutality (b1)
Comment: based on version "a", stoned 10 boxes.
The original level will be published in The beautiful world of remodels, 5
Date: 2012.10.30. Remodel: 2012.11.2
Difficulty: 8.5
Best moves/pushes: 568/135

Hard remodel, only for experienced players.








Author: David Buchweitz + Jordi Doménech
Title: Chrysalis Collection 8 #24 a
Comment: move a wall
This remodel will be published in The beautiful world of remodels, 5
Date: November 2013. Remodel: 2013.11.8
Website: sokoban-jd.blogspot.com/
Difficulty: 7.5
Best moves/pushes: 297/89

Přemysl Zíka made a remodel a lot more difficult. See here (and
download .txt file here).




Author: niwa
Title: Square Dance #31 Classical Labyrinth #2
Date: March 2014
Estimated difficulty: 8

A crazy maze! I have not solved this :P ... Patience, and take it calmly.





Author: Thomas Reinke
Title: Quagmire 3 #42 Lacewing
Date: April 2014
Difficulty: 7
Best moves/pushes: 242/80

Difficult! There is that to maximize the spaces and making a lot of maneuvers.





Author: Thomas Reinke
Title: Quagmire 3 #56 Sanctis
Date: April 2014
Difficulty: 7.5
Best moves/pushes: 274/57

It seems easy but it is not. Thomas Reinke is the author of many other excellent levels "fix one", see especially their excellent collections Quagmire 2 and 3.




Bonus! - Other levels

As the puzzles "fix one" are my favorite, I've done another selection with 50 puzzles more. With some exceptions, they are easy or medium difficulty, and small size. Enjoy!

You can download here:







New additions

Note: These puzzles are not included in the downloadable file



  ####
 ##  #########
 #           ###
 # **********@ #
## *        .  #
#  *#######**$##
#             #
############  #
           ####


Author: François Marques + Tian Lang + Přemysl Zíka
Title:  100 boxes #8 Opened circle (a)
Date: 2014.11.23
Difficulty: 8.5 (P.Z.)



        #####
        #   ##
        #    #
##########*# #
#          # #
#  ####### # #
## *     # # #
 # * *** # # #
 # * * * # # #
 # * * . # # #
 # * * $ # # #
 # * ##### # #
 # *       * #
 # *######*# #
 #     @     #
 ##  #########
  ####


Author: Eric F. Tchong + Jordi Domènech
Title: Dushi 10 #26 Game room parlor (D)
Set: The beautiful world of remodels 6 #44
Date: 2015.5.23, 2015.6.6
Difficulty: 7
Best moves/pushes: 495/83




In addition to the levels above-mentioned, see also:

- Howard Abed
SokoCreation 45, 50, 61

- Archanfel, "Electric bulb", "Light-emitting diode"

- Kevin Cassol
SokoChallenge 1, 6, 14

- Dries De Clercq
696 #696

- Jordi Doménech
Magic Sokoban #75, 98, 99 (Kevin Cassol)
Magic Sokoban 2 #79, 94
Magic Sokoban 3 #60, 86, 92
Magic Sokoban 4 #40, 49, 96, 97, 100
Magic Sokoban 5 #1, 102
The beautiful world of remodels 1 #17, 52
Three parallel #5, 16
Alberto Garcia remixed #61
Chrysalis variations 2 #15, 22
SokoStation variations #37, 80, 90

- Sven Egevad
SE 50 (see remodels of York Shen and mine), 217 (and others of the same style, although they have more than 60 boxes), 245, 304 (see remodel of York Shen +1 box), 341, 357, 574, 821, 822, 862, 886, 905, 949, 956, 981, 989, 1005, 1026, 1027, 1054, 1084, 1509, 1534, 1555, 1565, 1612, 1803, 1899

- Evgeny Grigoriev (GRIGoRusha)
Grigr2001 12 (see remodel of gyjgw +4 walls), 71
GrigrSpecial 29... and many others in this collection
GrigrComet 7, 8, 10, 11, 12... and many others in this collection
GrigrSun 1
Remodel Club 89, 98
GRIGoRusha remodeled by GRIGoRusha 2, 7, 9

- gyjgw
jgw005, gy010 (j1003), gy051 (j1004), 20050305a (j1048a), 20050723, 20051109h, 20070510, 20080209

- Martí Homs
Homz Challenge 21, 29, 31, 43, 46, 48, 53, 56, 60, 62, 66, 67, 80

- Kenyam (Kenya Maruyama) 39

- François Marques
Kokoban 5, 25, 29, 30
Sokolate 25
Sokompact 37, 45
Le concurs du moi - Bonus #5 (April 2002), #13 France

- monry
FirstStep 317, 610
monry-light 110

- morganine
Sokomet 21

- Yoshio Murase
handmade 51

- Aymeric du Peloux
See especially the collections Nabokosmos y Picokosmos. Here indicated only a few:
Nabokosmos 8, 10, 28, 33 (see also remodel of GRIGoRusha), 36, 40 (see also remodel of GRIGoRusha)
Picokosmos 3, 13, 18, 20
Cosmonotes 2, 7, 8, 19

- František Pokorný 77, 92

- Thomas Reinke
81 #10
Anomaly #9, 10, 14
Anomaly 2 #27
Quagmire 2 #5, 7, 20, 39, 42
Quagmire 3 #9, 59, 63, 70

- Erim Sever
erim196

- Shaggath
V2010 18, 37

- David W. Skinner
Microban II #128; III #2
Sasquatch VII #3, 23, 35 (another version: VIII #22, and a reduced version: IX #23); VIII #39; X #3

- Thinking Rabbit
Sokoban Revenge 136 (Yoshio Sakae), 227 (Takahiro Suzushima), 269 (Yoshio Sakae), 300 (Masaki Ishino + Yoshio Sakae), 305 (Masaki Ishino)

- niwa
Petitesse 18

- zhenying + YS + minglw + Tian Lang, "mini gebi"

- Přemysl Zíka
Primus gradus ad Olympo 59, 70
Secundus gradus ad Olympo 67