Billiards 9-Ball Puzzle

Apie

This puzzle consists of 10 numbered beads which slide along tracks. The track has the shape of a circle with one diameter. The circle can hold 9 beads, the diameter two, and as there are only 10 beads there is a single gap. There are an odd number of beads in the outer circle, so the diameter track leads from a single bead at the top down to a pair of beads at the bottom, and it therefore splits near the bottom. The beads are coloured like pool balls, numbered 1 to 9 in different colours, and one white ball. In the solved position, the white ball (and the gap) is in the centre, and the other balls are in order around the circle, from 1 at the bottom left to 9 at the bottom right. This puzzle was invented by Joshua Frankel, and produced by Binary Arts, now called ThinkFun. If your browser supports JavaScript, then you can play Nineball by clicking the link below: