The Rules
These classic figures of computer gaming are armed with laser beams and ready for a battle royal. Your task: Distribute them on the grid so when they fire their lasers horizontally, vertically, and diagonally, the beams do not hit
any teammates (with the same color). Multiple solutions are possible.
Ivan Moscovich, author of 1,000 Playthinks, describes this brain-teaser as a combination of two "seemingly unrelated classic puzzles, the Eight Queens Problem and the Magic Latin Color Square."
(Go to next page for one answer.)
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Science is reinventing play, from extreme sports to gamification to ridiculous roller coasters to the playgrounds of tomorrow, and this issue is chock full of fun. Also, on a less fun note: Did global warming destroy my hometown?