Puzzles!!!

A brain-teaser called the game of Chinese Rings is constructed as follows: n rings (in this case 6) of the same size are each connected to a plate by a series of wires, all of which are the same length. A thin doubled rod is slipped through the rings in such a way that all the wires are inside the U-opening of the rod. The wires are free to slide in holes in the plate. Your objective is to remove all the rings from the rod.

Wow...this is pretty awesome stuff. I already know what I'm getting for Christmas next year. Have a look at the following puzzles too:




An easy puzzle...





I solved one of these *smug look*, and I plan to use one of them on the school gates...MUAHAHA. I love how it has the letters 'S' and 'A' on it. (nope, it wasn't photoshopped)





And now we come to the infamous Tower of Hanoi problem. I solved this too...for the four ringed Tower of Hanoi (nothing to be proud of, really). This one has 7 rings, so one has to make at least 2^7 - 1 moves to solve it. I guess I should be able to solve it...but I bet no one is patient enough to solve a 20-ringed Tower of Hanoi, considering that it will take at least 2^20 - 1 = 1,048,575 moves. (The maths is solid - you can try proving me wrong.)

Intrigued? Well, here's how the game works:

At the start of the game, all the rings are arranged on one peg with the larger rings on the bottom, forming a pyramid. The objective is to transfer all the rings (one at a time) from the initial peg to another peg. The third peg serves as an auxillary peg. During the transfer, it is not permissible to place a larger ring on top of a small ring.

Hmm, the Chinese Rings Puzzle is gonna keep me pretty busy for now. I've been on it the whole morning, but haven't made much progress yet. Solving puzzles which tax your spatial skills is difficult, especially if you don't have the actual, physical puzzle with you. Wish me luck.