Think-a-Dot Replica

thingiverse

Think-dot is a puzzle game devised by Joseph A. Weisbecker and distributed by Education Science Research (E.S.R. Inc.) in the mid to late 60's. Think-dot has an upright frame with eight dots on its front face, arranged in rows of three, two, and three. The dots are one of two colors, blue and yellow by convention, indicating the state of a flip-flop gate inside the frame. There are three openings at the top of the unit through which marbles can be dropped. When a marble traveling through the game encounters a gate, it will both flip the state of the gate (changing its color), and be deflected to the left or right depending on the initial state of the gate. Marbles drop to the bottom of the frame and are collected in side pockets for reuse. You reset the game to one of two starting positions by tilting the frame to the right or left, so that all the gates face the same direction. The four corner gates are colored differently so that they will always be the opposite color of the rest of the dots. Given a particular target pattern of dots, the goal is to drop marbles into the holes at the top until the target pattern is reached in as few moves as possible. There are many excellent online references for Think-dot. Here are a few to get you started: [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think-a-Dot) [Jaap's Puzzle Page](https://www.jaapsch.net/puzzles/thinkadot.htm) [Adafruit](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=4&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj0pN6dl8PeAhWwj4MKHTW4BkoQwqsBMAN6BAgDEAc&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DUyibzWVOTkw&usg=AOvVaw3mhbWIoKHqZSausSeDlJ0X) Also, along with the STL files for this project, you will find images of the leaflet that came with the original Think-dot. Think-dot games are becoming increasingly rare. My goal in creating this replica is to help preserve this great little game and honor the creativity of its inventor. If you like Think-dot, you might also enjoy [The Amazing Dr. Nim](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3192730).