The Nintendo tumbler puzzle, also known as the ''Ten Billion Barrel'' in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and originally in

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

, is a mathematical puzzle in the style of Rubik's Cube. It was invented by

Gunpei Yokoi , sometimes transliterated Gumpei Yokoi, was a Japanese video game designer. He was a long-time Nintendo employee, best known as creator of the Game & Watch handheld system, inventor of the cross-shaped Control Pad, the original designer of the ...

of Nintendo in 1980 and was covered by until the patent expired in March 1995 due to non-payment of a maintenance fee.

Overview

The puzzle consists of a cylinder of transparent plastic divided into six levels, together with a black plastic frame. The frame consists of upper and lower discs that are joined together through the middle of the cylinder. The top and bottom levels of the cylinder form a single piece, but between them are two rotatable pieces each two levels high. Each of the four central levels is divided into five chambers each containing a colored ball. The top and bottom levels have only three chambers, containing either three balls or three parts of the frame depending on the relative position of frame and cylinder. The balls in three of the five resulting columns of chambers can be moved up or down one level by raising or lowering the frame relative to the transparent cylinder. The object is to sort the balls, so that each of the five columns contains balls of a single color.

Cameos

As a tribute to the late creator of the puzzle and former ''Metroid'' series producer,

, the puzzle has a small cameo appearance in ''

Metroid Prime ''Metroid Prime'' is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main installment in the ''Metroid'' franchise and the first game in ...

'' for the GameCube.

Samus Aran is a fictional character and the playable protagonist of the video game series ''Metroid'' by Nintendo. She was created by Japanese video game designer Makoto Kano. She was introduced as a player character in the original 1986 video game ''Me ...

uses morph ball form and charges to interact with it. The puzzle appears in '' Animal Crossing: New Leaf'', as one of the prizes the player can receive from Redd during the fireworks displays throughout August. It is an easter egg in '' The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D''. In ''

WarioWare Gold ''WarioWare Gold'' is a minigame compilation co-developed by Nintendo EPD and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS family of video game consoles. The ninth installment in the ''WarioWare'' series, it was released ...

'', it appears as one of the microgames, requiring the matching of 4 of its marbles.

References

External links

* http://www.jaapsch.net/puzzles/nintendo.htm (photos and solution) * http://blog.beforemario.com/2011/09/nintendo-ten-billion-1980.html (photos) * https://github.com/SteveJM/tumbler-puzzle (Python code to find a solution) {{DEFAULTSORT:Nintendo Tumbler Puzzle Mechanical puzzles Nintendo toys