Devil Dice (also called Xi) is a beautiful action-puzzle game for the PlayStation. As well as the
normal 1 player, 2 player co-operative, and 2-5 player competitive modes, there is a lovely puzzle
mode.
There are 100 puzzle levels constructed by the programmers of the game, which require you to clear
set fields of dice within a set number of moves. Although most of these require exactly the number
of moves allocated, there are some which can be solved in less moves, which presents an added
challenge.
But in my opinion, the best part is the random puzzle mode which has 1000 levels, each a 4x4 field
with 6 dice and 20 moves. It's not really random though – the levels are always the same. I
suppose the random bit might be because the levels are generated procedurally by a pseudorandom
number generator. Anyway, I think it's a fantastic idea to be able to generate so many challenges
that don't require the programmers to manually create each one. I think that they're better than
the normal puzzle levels too, because they weren't designed with a particular solution in mind, and
there are so many possible combinations that you can't really be sure that there isn't a better
solution. Uncertainty and no prospect of 100% completion, like real life – much better than
those silly achievements in modern games. Isn't life more interesting because it's not all nice and
orderly? Even in maths, there are some things we can't ever know – read about the work of
Kurt Gödel.
Stars
For each of the 100 normal puzzle levels, 1 star is awarded for solving it with 1 or more moves
remaining.
For each of the 1000 random puzzle levels, 1 star is awarded for solving it by matching 6 sixes,
and 2 stars if you also have 5 or more moves remaining.
So how many stars can you get? My total so far is:
★ 1736
★
123456789X ★
0 ---------- 0
1 --○○----○- 3
2 --○--○---- 2
3 ---○---○○- 3
4 ---○-○○○○○ 6
5 -○--○--○○- 4
6 --○------- 1
7 ○--○○----○ 4
8 ○○--○○○--- 5
9 --------○- 1
A abcdefghij ★
a ○●●●○●●●●● 18
b ●●●●●●●●●● 20
c ●●○○●●●○○○ 15
d ●●●●●○●●○○ 17
e ●●●●●●●●●○ 19
f ○●○●●●○●○○ 15
g ●○●●●○●●●○ 17
h ○●●○●○○●●● 16
i ●●●●●●●●●● 20
j ○○●○●●●●●● 17
B abcdefghij ★
a ●●●●○●○○●● 17
b ●●○●●●○●○● 17
c ○●○●●●○○●○ 15
d ●●○●●○●○○● 16
e ●●○●○●○○●● 16
f ●○●○●○●○●● 16
g ●●○●●●●○●● 18
h ●●○●●●○●●● 18
i ●●○○●●●●●- 16
j ●○○●●●●○●● 17
C abcdefghij ★
a ●●○●○●●○○● 16
b ●●●○●●●●●○ 18
c ○●○●●●○●○● 16
d ●○○●●●○○○● 15
e ●●●●●○●●○● 18
f ●●●●●●●●○● 19
g ○○●○○○○○●○ 12
h ●●○●●●●○○● 17
i ●●●●○●●●●● 19
j ○○●●●○○○●○ 14
D abcdefghij ★
a ○○●●●○●○●- 14
b ●●○●●○●●●- 16
c ●○○○●●●●○● 16
d ●●○○○○○●●● 15
e ○●●●●●●○●○ 17
f ○○●●○●○●●● 16
g ●○●●●●●●●● 19
h ○○●●●●●●●● 18
i ○●○●○●●●○● 16
j ●●●●●○●●●● 19
E abcdefghij ★
a ○●●●○○●●●● 17
b ○●●●●●●○○● 17
c ●●○●●●●●●● 19
d ●●●○●●○●○- 15
e ○●○●●●●●●● 18
f ○●●●●●●●●○ 18
g ●●●●●●●●●○ 19
h ●●●●●○●○●○ 17
i ○●●●●●●○○○ 16
j ●●●●●●●○○● 18
F abcdefghij ★
a ○○●●●●●○●○ 16
b ●●○○●●●●●● 18
c ●●○●●●○●○● 17
d ○●○●●○○○●● 15
e ○●○○●●○●●● 16
f ●○●●○○○●●● 16
g ●●○○●●●●●● 18
h ●●○●●●●○●○ 17
i ○●●●●○●●○● 17
j ●●○●○○●●○● 16
G abcdefghij ★
a ●●○●●○○●○○ 15
b ●●●○●●●●●● 19
c ●●●●○●●●●● 19
d ●●○●●○●●●○ 17
e ●●●●○○●●●○ 17
f ●○●●○○○○○● 14
g ○○○●●●●●○● 16
h ●●●●●●●●●● 20
i ●●●○○●●○●● 17
j ○●○●●○○●●○ 15
H abcdefghij ★
a ●●●●●●●●○● 19
b ●●●●●●●●●● 20
c ●●●●●●●●●- 18
d ●●●●○○●●●○ 17
e ●●●●●●○●●● 19
f ○●●●●●●●●○ 18
g ●○●○○○●●●● 16
h ●●●●●●●●●○ 19
i ●○●●●●●●●● 19
j ●●●●○●●●●○ 18
I abcdefghij ★
a ○●●●○●●●●● 18
b ●●●●○●○●○● 17
c ●●●○○●○●●● 17
d ●●●●●○●●●○ 18
e ●●●●●○●○○- 15
f ●●○●○○●●●- 15
g ●○●●○○○●●● 16
h ●●○○●●●●●● 18
i ○●○○●○○●●● 15
j ●○○●○●●●●● 17
J abcdefghij ★
a ●●●●●●●●●○ 19
b ○●●●●●●●○● 18
c ●○○●●●●●●○ 17
d ●○●●●●●○●● 18
e ●○○●●●○●●● 17
f ●○●●●●●●○● 18
g ○●●●●○●○●○ 16
h ●○●○●●●●○● 17
i ●●●●●●○●●● 19
j ●●●●●●●●●● 20
○ = ★
● = ★★
Solutions
Some people have kept a record of their solutions.
