''Turing Tumble'' is a

game A game is a structured form of play (activity), play, usually undertaken for enjoyment, entertainment or fun, and sometimes used as an educational tool. Many games are also considered to be work (such as professional players of spectator s ...

and demonstration of

logic gate A logic gate is an idealized or physical device implementing a Boolean function, a logical operation performed on one or more binary inputs that produces a single binary output. Depending on the context, the term may refer to an ideal logic gate, ...

s via

mechanical computer A mechanical computer is a computer built from mechanical components such as levers and gears rather than electronic components. The most common examples are adding machines and mechanical counters, which use the turning of gears to increment outp ...

. Named after

Alan Turing Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...

, the game itself could (abstractly) duplicate the processes of any computer whatsoever if the game field itself were sufficiently large. This follows because the game is

P-complete In computational complexity theory, a decision problem is P-complete (complete for the complexity class P) if it is in P and every problem in P can be reduced to it by an appropriate reduction. The notion of P-complete decision problems is usef ...

by the

circuit value problem In computational complexity theory, a decision problem is P-complete ( complete for the complexity class P) if it is in P and every problem in P can be reduced to it by an appropriate reduction. The notion of P-complete decision problems is use ...

and

PSPACE-complete In computational complexity theory, a decision problem is PSPACE-complete if it can be solved using an amount of memory that is polynomial in the input length (polynomial space) and if every other problem that can be solved in polynomial space can b ...

if an exponential number of marbles are allowed. The device has implications for

nanotechnology Nanotechnology, also shortened to nanotech, is the use of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale for industrial purposes. The earliest, widespread description of nanotechnology referred to the particular technological goal o ...

. The game is advertised as

Turing complete Alan Mathison Turing (; 23 June 1912 – 7 June 1954) was an English mathematician, computer scientist, logician, cryptanalyst, philosopher, and theoretical biologist. Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical com ...

; an extension of the game that allows an infinitely large board and infinitely many pieces has been shown to be Turing complete via simulations of both

Rule 110 The Rule 110 cellular automaton (often called simply Rule 110) is an elementary cellular automaton with interesting behavior on the boundary between stability and chaos. In this respect, it is similar to Conway's Game of Life. Like Life, Rule 1 ...

for

cellular automata A cellular automaton (pl. cellular automata, abbrev. CA) is a discrete model of computation studied in automata theory. Cellular automata are also called cellular spaces, tessellation automata, homogeneous structures, cellular structures, tessel ...

, as well as of

Turing machines A Turing machine is a mathematical model of computation describing an abstract machine that manipulates symbols on a strip of tape according to a table of rules. Despite the model's simplicity, it is capable of implementing any computer algori ...

. Although it resembles a

pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of low-stakes, low-st ...

machine in its

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...

use of gravity-fed metal balls, it is primarily a teaching device in the fundamentals of

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the science of deductively valid inferences or of logical truths. It is a formal science investigating how conclusions follow from premises ...

computer programming Computer programming is the process of performing a particular computation (or more generally, accomplishing a specific computing result), usually by designing and building an executable computer program. Programming involves tasks such as ana ...

, and as such is an example of

gamification Gamification is the strategic attempt to enhance systems, services, organizations, and activities by creating similar experiences to those experienced when playing games in order to motivate and engage users. This is generally accomplished thro ...

. The

framing device Framing may refer to: * Framing (construction), common carpentry work * Framing (law), providing false evidence or testimony to prove someone guilty of a crime * Framing (social sciences) * Framing (visual arts), a technique used to bring the focus ...

in the included

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

features an astronaut who must solve sixty increasingly difficult logic problems which illustrate the fundamentals of computer programming. The impetus of the

puzzle A puzzle is a game, Problem solving, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together (Disentanglement puzzle, or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at th ...

itself was the frustration of the programmer and chemistry professor Paul Boswell (along with his wife, Alyssa Boswell, a

DIY "Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and sem ...

maker), then at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

, at the lack of computing prowess of other scientists which was necessary for their own projects; he was already well known for programming complex games for

Texas Instruments Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) is an American technology company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that designs and manufactures semiconductors and various integrated circuits, which it sells to electronics designers and manufacturers globall ...

computers. They were also inspired by the

Digi-Comp II The Digi-Comp II was a toy computer invented by John "Jack" Thomas Godfrey (1924–2009) in 1965 and manufactured by E.S.R., Inc. in the late 1960s that used marbles rolling down a ramp to perform basic calculations. A two-level masonite platfor ...

, a precursor from the late 1960s.

Construction

A Turing Tumble machine has the following parts: * Ball drops. The standard version uses two ramps which store a given number of balls. A switch at the bottom of the board triggers the release of the initial ball (typically blue), from the top left of the panel. The second ramp, on the right, contains red balls. * Ramps and crossovers. The green ramp allows the balls to run down it one way and release it in only that direction, whereas the orange crossover lets balls traverse it to either side both ways, i.e. from right to left and ''vice versa''. * Interceptors. This black piece stops a ball. * Bits. This is a one-bit storage: it changes direction when a ball rolls through, such that the next ball goes to the other side. * Gear and gear bits. Gear bits are exactly like regular bits, but they can be connected to gears. The gears allow for linking state changes, thus integrally adding extra (abstract) power.

Reception

Critically it has received high praise for its concept and execution, albeit with some caveats (the recommended age being 8+). The computing game has won the Parents' Choice Gold Award, and won in the category Best Toys of the Year 2018 under the aegis

American Specialty Toy Retailing Association The American Specialty Toy Retailing Association, or ''ASTRA'', is an organization of manufacturers, manufacturers representatives, distributors and retailers of specialty toys (as compared to mass market product). The American Specialty Toy Re ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.turingtumble.com
Turing tumble simulator
(JavaScript) Mechanical computers Educational toys