Brainball

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This is a very difficult puzzle. It looks a bit like the planet Saturn, a ball with a ring around it. The ring consists of 13 numbered pieces, which are white on one side and yellow on the other. This ring can be rotated around the ball. There are two round caps which lie on opposite sides of the ball and which are bisected by the ring of pieces. One cap is 4 pieces wide, the other only 3. These two caps can rotate, which reorders the pieces of the ring. The caps are not independent, they can only rotate simultaneously. The aim is of course to restore the pieces to numerical order with a single colour on each side. The US patent was filed on 4 February 1997 by Andreas Unsicker, and finally granted on 21 Dec 1999, US 6,003,868. If your browser supports JavaScript, then you can play the Brainball by clicking the link below: