No Goblin Next To Goblin
No Goblin Next To Goblin is a reverse puzzle game about arranging creatures in a unique way!
You are the owner of Tavern Unicorn, a peculiar tavern with strict seating guidelines. Define rules for the tavern so each table has only one unique and valid arrangement of patrons!
Controls
Use the mouse to drag and drop rules into slots to form phrases.
Rule Semantics
The tavern rules apply to each table independently
Next To: on the immediate left or right of
Seated: in any seat
Left/Right of: on the left/right of but not necessarily next to
Between: on the left and right of but not necessarily next to
This game was made for ThinkyCon Jam 2025 and was inspired by Alastair Aitchinson's Modeling Puzzles as Constraint Satisfaction Problems talk. Players define the rules/constraints for a puzzle, and then a MiniZinc model is created at runtime to evaluate if their constraints lead to a unique and valid solution!
By sharkwithlasers, Eamon of Wax Lion, uctuviun.
Attributions
Engine/Tools: PixiJS + MiniZinc
SFX: 50 Free Game Sounds Pack by Place Holder Assets
Music: Medieval city/tavern ambient by DeusLower
Font: Subiaco by Claudio Vincoletto
Comments
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This is neat! I didn't realize what was happening while it was checking the first time, didn't realize it was doing all the verification online!
I hope you don't mind and might find it interesting, I'd tried something similar but with simpler rules, only rearrangement, and the rules apply over all puzzles: untitled prototype c3
Very cute and fun! Creating the constraints was an interesting twist on the puzzle and took some time to wrap my head around. The hard ones were really satisfying (especially when it made a nice pattern! 🙂) but I had to tap out at level 12, I'm stumped. Really cool idea and well executed, the little characters are cute and funny.
Very cool game! Took some time to get to grips with whether I was describing the characters already present, or describing how those who would turn up should sit. Still, maybe that's my issue as once I got past the first level (which took the longest...) I completed the first 5 and they were very fun! Well executed and clever
So I love the idea of "make the rules fit the seating" instead of "make the seating fit the rules"!
I did get a little stumped on the second one, where I put together the rule "At least one goblin next to elf". The "VERIFY" result seems to show the second row not working when it's "goblin - elf - goblin", but that row does indeed have at least one goblin (in fact, two) next to every elf in it. What is it that's wrong with that solution?
EDIT: I'm not entirely clear on the grammar of the rules. Does "at least one goblin next to elf" mean there's at least one goblin next to every elf, or that there's at least one goblin next to some elf?
The other thing that's not clear is that I think I'm gathering that the rules have to uniquely determine the row, and not just allow the row to be satisfied? That would explain why "At least one elf seated" isn't valid in the second puzzle (even though it's perfectly satisfiable, with either "goblin - elf - elf" and "goblin - elf - goblin"). I think that probably wants to be more explicit. Even with that, though, I don't know why "At least one goblin next to elf" fails on the second row, since "goblin - elf - elf" doesn't have at least one goblin next to each elf.
Hey Tahnan, thanks for playing! Sorry, the objective of the game is not the most direct, so I'll try to clarify.
The rules need to both satisfy and uniquely determine each row. In the 2nd puzzle, "At Least One Goblin Next To Elf" could lead to two results for the 2nd row: [Goblin, Elf, Goblin] and [Goblin, Elf, Elf]. You want your rules to constrain each row to one result.
Think of "Next to" as "Next to a". So in your case, "At least one goblin next to an elf" means theres at least goblin that is next to an elf in each row.
EDIT: also future terms:
- Left/Right of: means a character is somewhere to the left/right of another. For example "at least one goblin left of (a) elf" would be satisfied by [Goblin, Dwarf, Elf], or [Dwarf, Goblin, Elf]