Calculator Game

A clone and solver of Calculator: The Game by Simple Machine. It supports all 17 rule types. It supports portals. Users can play and solve all 199 levels of the game, plus any custom level they want to create. It runs through the terminal.

The solver prompts for input about a particular level, and then beats the level. It outputs all solutions to the user. It then prompts the user to complete another level or quit the program. This repeats until the user chooses to quit.

The clone prompts for a first level (1 to 199), and then displays that level. The user is able to enter a rule, quit the game, or restart the level at any time. If the user beats a level, the clone prompts the user to continue to the next level or quit. This repeats until the user quits or beats level 199.

This document covers the rules of Calculator: The Game and how to use the program. For installation instructions, see the usage docs. If you have any issues with the program, feel free to open an issue on the repository.

The Main Program

In Calculator: The Game the user is presented with a simple challenge: change the calculator's value to the goal value by pressing the buttons (AKA applying the rules). The player is limited to a number of total moves before they lose the game. The value is displayed in large digits just above the buttons. Each button corresponds to a rule (detailed below) and changes the value in different ways.

A pair of portals may be part of the level. The left portal will be below one digit in the value, and the right portal will be above a different digit. The portals don't move. The digits will "fall into" the left portal and "fall out of" the right portal, adding to the level's value. This behavior is detailed on the portals docs.

To solve a level, pass in the details through the terminal, and the solution will be printed to standard output.

Rules

The game has 16 rules, detailed below. The code parentheses wrap placeholder values: replace the placeholder values with digits and leave off the parentheses when giving input to the program.

• Add (+(op1)), subtract (-(op1)), multiply (*(op1)), and divide (/(op1)) function as expected
• Pad ((op1)) pads op1 to the right of value. op1 must be positive
  • 1 pad 2 becomes 12
  • 12 pad 34 becomes 1234
• Sign (+/-) changes the sign of value
• Delete (<<) deletes the rightmost digit of value
  • 1234 delete becomes 123
• Convert ((op1)=>(op2), "convert op1 to op2") converts all instances of op1 to op2
  • 1234 convert 34 to 89 becomes 1289
• Power (^(op1)) raises value to the power of op1
• Reverse (Reverse) reverses the order of the digits in value
• Sum (SUM) changes value into the sum of its digits but preserves the sign of value
  • -123 SUM becomes -6 (because 1 + 2 + 3 = 6)
• Shift left (< Shift) and shift right (Shift >) shift the digits of value one position left or right, respectively
  • 1234 shift left becomes 2341
  • 1234 shift right becomes 4123
• Mirror (Mirror) appends the mirrored value to the end of value
  • 23 mirror becomes 2332
• Meta Add ([+](op1)) adds op1 to all operands of non-meta rules in the level
• Store (Store) is the only rule that can be updated
  • To update the Store rule, enter Update Store
  • The Store rule cannot be applied until it is updated
  • Upon updating the Store rule, its operand becomes the value of the level
  • Applying the Store rule functions just like applying the Pad rule
  • The Store rule can be updated any number of times, but updating it does decrease the move counter
  • There can only be one Store rule in a level
• Inverse Ten (Inv10) converts each digit to its "10-additive inverse"
  • 4 inverse ten becomes 6, because 4 + 6 = 10
  • 123 inverse ten becomes 987, because each digit is evaluated independently

For more detailed rule documentation, see the rule docs.

Use Case

Sample Play Use Case

Welcome to Calculator: The Game!
Enter the first level: (1 to 199, inclusive): 1
Level 1
goal: 2
moves: 2
portals: null
rules: ['+1']
value: 0

Enter rule to apply ('quit' to quit, 'clear' to restart the level): +1
goal: 2
moves: 1
portals: null
rules: ['+1']
value: 1

Enter rule to apply ('quit' to quit, 'clear' to restart the level): +1
Congratulations, you beat the level!
Next level? (y/n): n
You got to level 2.
Goodbye!

Sample Solver Use Case

Enter start value: 2
Enter goal value: 5
Enter the number of moves: 3
Enter one rule per line (empty string to mark end of list):
+2
+1

Are there any portals for this game? (y/n): n
Solution:
+1
+2
Solve again (y/n): y
Enter start value: 3002
Enter goal value: 3507
Enter the number of moves: 5
Enter one rule per line (empty string to mark end of list):
7
Shift >

Are there any portals for this game? (y/n): y
Enter the distance from the ones place of the portal on the left: 5
Enter the distance from the ones place of the portal on the right: 0
Solution:
7
Shift >
7
7
7
Solve again (y/n): n

To go from 2 to 5 in at most 3 moves using the rules "add 2" and "add 1", a solution is to first add 1, then add 2. Although 3 moves are allowed, only 2 moves are needed. Other solutions exist, but this one is the first one found by the program, so it is the one output.

Let's examine the second part of the above use case (going from 3002 to 3507):

Start:
     Y
  3002
Y

'7':
     Y
 30027
Y

'Shift >':
     Y
 73002
Y

'7':
     Y
730027
Y

     Y
 30034
Y

'7':
     Y
300347
Y

     Y
   350
Y

'7':
     Y
  3507
Y

Developer Mode

Running the developer mode allows for test cases to be written automatically via a test factory while using the solver as normal. For more information, see Testing: Test Cases

Roadmap

This program is enough to beat the original game and any custom level. I want to do more.

Eventually, I'd like to:

• Add a feature to only display hints on demand
• Write my own levels and custom rules
• Share levels and rules with friends
• Show detailed instructions
• Present through a good UI (and restrict bad input)

View the issues and PRs to see what's in development.

Further Documentation

All further documentation is found in the docs folder indexed here.