Reddit challenged me.

So, a redditor challenged me this morning. 

A bit of backstory- I draw mazes. Most of the time roughly page size. I've got one I've been working on for a while now, that should be the world record holder once it's done. I submitted a thing to guiness, and it expired. Mostly because I highly doubt anyone will ever be able to solve it. It will be solvable, as all of my work is, but berkeley if I know what the solution is before someone does it. One of the guineas requirements is that it be solved. current record is something like 100sf...this one should be...idk. 10x that? I dont remember how big the paper is. 

Anyhow, the challenge. At about 9am est someone on reddit mentioned it would look badass if I did a bowling ball. So, I went to the thrift store and got a bowling ball. When the guy running the counter in the E36 M3ty women's wig gives YOU the weird look in central florida.....

Anyhow, I brought it home. It was $5. It was very dirty. I washed it in my sink. I debated the dishwasher, but it was full.  you can see the progress. Anyhow, I finished it off. So now I have a bowling ball with a maze on it. 

Very cool.  A-Maze-Ing.

Awesome. I love how the end/finish just drops into the thumbhole.

Now I'm curious if there is some kind of clear coating that would stand up to the abuse a bowling ball typically sees, and would retain the gripping properties of the bowling ball... Down the rabbit hole I go I guess.

In reply to Mndsm :

That is badass! You seriously should be able to make $$ with work like that!

On a completely unrelated note, want to team up on my next Challenge build?

That's pretty berkeleying cool! 

In reply to Pete Gossett :

I'm in, though I'm not sure how much use I'll be. 

@barefootskater, that's an interesting question. I have rustoleum clear coat around here somewhere (I'm am VERY prone to flights of fancy) so I will probably shoot it with that eventually. Bowling rules are a ball is 8.5" in diameter, so I'm not entirely sure I want to shoot it in clear and then huck it down a lane. Might jam up the works. Also, this ball definitely does not fit my hand. 

Nice balls!

Next Challenge car should be a Maze-da

In reply to AngryCorvair :

I could make that happen...

Depending on the size of the car,  I could probably do a whole one in a few days. It wouldn't be quite as dense as the bowling ball...

Very cool.  I used to draw similar mazes all the time backwhen I was trapped in class.  A ball would be far more difficult than paper.

This is fascinating. 

Bowling alleys use polyurethane finish. If you could find one that didn't smear/blur the paint, it should work.

Maybe dremel the lines and fill them in?

https://youtu.be/S_Gxpt0n18g

In reply to Brett_Murphy :

I have been trying to figure out a way to carve one. That's for later. 

In reply to ProDarwin :

The ball was shockingly simple. It's just 3 square feet to cover. Maybe I think better in 3d. 

I learned something today. 

Very impressive. But I have to wonder... how does one draw a maze, and know that it can be solved, without also knowing the solution?

MadScientistMatt said:

Very impressive. But I have to wonder... how does one draw a maze, and know that it can be solved, without also knowing the solution?

This is what I was thinking as well.  

xflowgolf said:

MadScientistMatt said:

Very impressive. But I have to wonder... how does one draw a maze, and know that it can be solved, without also knowing the solution?

This is what I was thinking as well.  

i was curious about that as too. I would assume that you would start with your 'start-to-finish' line then build all the routes/paths around that line, but looking at his work so far it doesnt look to be that way.

Absolutely amazing work. 

Amazeballs!

I'll show myself out...

edizzle89 said:

xflowgolf said:

MadScientistMatt said:

Very impressive. But I have to wonder... how does one draw a maze, and know that it can be solved, without also knowing the solution?

This is what I was thinking as well.  

i was curious about that as too. I would assume that you would start with your 'start-to-finish' line then build all the routes/paths around that line, but looking at his work so far it doesnt look to be that way.

Let me show you. 

At it's very core  a maze is nothing but a series of forks . one path splits and becomes 2, 2 become 4, and so on. here, I have a total of 14 possible paths you can take. Now, this is all well and good, but only one can be the answer. So, every so often, I'll close off some paths. sometimes one fork has more than a 2 way split, but you get the idea. As long as I dont close all the paths at the same time, there is always one path available. And as long as I dont start a random new path that's not attached to any open path, there will always be a continuous line available from beginning to end, regardless of how convoluted. 

Mndsm said:

When the guy running the counter in the E36 M3ty women's wig gives YOU the weird look in central florida.....

 

This made my day! - LOL - Ball looks amazing also 

That’s awesome dude. House ball too, nice.