Hugo Simoes
simple living, careful thinking, collective fun
For a few years I have been mulling over the longest path problem on a 6x6 grid.
It is now time to tell you the story of a busy bee called BZB, her garden, flower bed patches, and the funny way she moves to bring pollen to her hive.
Cross-Pollinator is my newest multiplayer puzzle and it takes place on a garden with 36 patches on a 6x6 grid.
Each patch has two flowers (represented by a letter and a number) and BZB collects pollen from each flower bed patch she visits, flying, orthogonally (same row or same column), from one patch to another, as long as the two patches have one flower in common.
Note that BZB will not visit the same patch more than once, since such patch would have no more pollen left.
The more pollen BZB collects before sunset, the more honey is produced when she reaches the hive.
I believe the interface is simple: try to reach the hive by clicking on a valid next patch (eventually clicking the undo button if you reach a patch with no further valid moves).
To avoid multiple undo/redo clicks, it is possible to shortcut to any patch contained in the undo/redo history just by clicking on it.
Your best (longest) path to the hive is saved and you can restore it by removing the hive patch from the redo history and then clicking on the hive.
By sunset, up to six players get a vote to decide the garden arrangement for the next sunrise.
They can vote to replay the same garden, with the same starting place and destination.
They can do nothing and implicitly choose the same garden, but starting on the previous destination.
Or they can vote to have a completely random garden arrangement.
The choice with the most votes wins. If it is a tie for the most votes, the least disruptive choice wins.
There are no cookies, no ads, no tracking.
If the public garden is too crowded and you don't have a vote, or if you are already too familiar with the default garden and need fresh challenges, sponsor your own private garden to relax alone or to invite some cross-pollinator friends.
That's it! Happy honey making!
If you like it, please share it.
If you don't like it, please share it with people who might.
EDIT 2022/05/03: Cross-Pollinator link updated.
EDIT 2024/02/12: Cross-Pollinator link updated; only daily challenges available.
February 1, 2022
Cross-Pollinator