Fan of deduction and secret code? Turing Machine is for you

what is the board game Turing Machine ?

Choose one of the millions of problems offered, and try to decode the three-digit combination. To do this, ask questions to the cardboard “computer”, and check the answer using punch cards. Want to measure yourself against others? Play competitively. But you can also cooperate to try to find the answer together.

Accessible from 14 years old, for 1 to 4 players, it is ideal if you are aficionados of logic, mathematics and deduction, for games of about twenty minutes.

Edited by the Masked Scorpion, Turing Machine is a game by Fabien Gridel and Yoann Levet, illustrated by Sébastien Bizos, and sold for €33.90 at Philibert.

How to play Turing Machine?

Set up

The installation, even if it is not complicated, and a little painful. Indeed, whether it is one of the twenty problems offered in the box, or among the millions available on the game’s site, you have to look for very specific numbered cards among a large package.

Ditto for storage, where it is better to put everything back in place properly, otherwise there will be a big hassle in the next part.

Anyway, each player is provided with a small screen to hide his notes, a pen and a deduction sheet.

And the “computer”, or rather the deduction machine, is placed in the center of the table. It is made up of four to six verifiers (depending on the difficulty of the problem), each associated with a criterion card.

Be careful, even if the principle is not complicated in itself, it generally takes a few rounds, or even a complete game, to fully understand how the game works.

Course of a game

Whether competitive or cooperative, everyone plays simultaneously.

The goal is always the same: find the three-digit code of the chosen problem. Obviously, there is only one possible solution.

For this, we compose a combination, which we then compare to a verifier. More or less random at the start of the game, it is refined as we deduce.

Each position of the combination is represented by a colored shape: blue triangle for the first number, yellow square for the next and purple circle for the last.

The overlay of matching punch cards, which match the shapes/colors to the numbers in your combination, and the verification card, determines whether your guess is correct or not. If a green tick appears, it’s all good, if it’s a red cross, it’s wrong.

The verification cards are numerous and varied, but are imposed during the implementation according to the chosen problem. Some loose examples: “Compare the value of the yellow square to 1”, “Check if the values ​​are in ascending, descending order, or neither”, “Check which color has a value strictly smaller than the other two”, “Check if a value repeats”, etc.

You get three deductions per round, then if you think you’ve found the code, you announce it and check whether you’re right or not. If so, you win, if not, you are eliminated and the others keep racking their brains without you.

Why play Turing Machine ?

Do you like logic, mathematics, deduction? Go for it, because Turing Machineis arguably the best of its kind. Are you allergic to it? Run away, because the game won’t change your mind. Quite the contrary.

Indeed, even if the basic principle is ultimately not complicated, it still requires some cerebral gymnastics to assimilate it well. But the whole point is not to understand how it works, but also to be able to interview the right verifiers at the right time, in the right order.

Because, if you play against each other, it’s a race that begins, to the one who will find the code before the others. It is for this reason that we greatly prefer the cooperative mode, where everyone thinks together, by pooling their deductions. Provided of course that a leader does not take precedence over the others.

The game is even played perfectly in solitary. And, a bit like the Wordle, the site offers a new problem every day, which you can solve while having breakfast, or before going to bed. It may even be our favorite way to practice Turing Machine. When will the application on the phone, to play it in the metro?

Beyond the pleasure of playing it, we are also very impressed by its operation, its mechanics, and by the ingenuity of the two authors. It’s really stunning. Not to mention the hardware that allows the whole thing to work without a hitch.

If you are the target of the game, a fan of mathematical deductions, there is no possible doubt, Turing Machineis clearly made for you. Its principle is original, clever, surprising, and the satisfaction one derives from having found the right answer is truly palpable. Infinitely replayable thanks to its millions of problems, you will have plenty to satisfy your desires.

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