On the Subject of Varicolour Flash
Dictum Threbbin: “No matter how gloom things get, there’s always the future.
Even the United States of America used to have a future.”
- A Varicolour Flash module has five stages.
- In each stage, the module will display five different words representing different colours.
- In stage 1, the first four displays lie on the corners of a 4×4 subgrid of the grid below.
Press Yes if the fifth display lies in the subgrid or No if it does not. - Remember the last display of each stage’s sequence.
- In all other stages, the first four displays each describe a movement in an orthogonal direction that the subgrid undergoes in order:
- There are four cells in the grid that match each of the displays, move in the direction that brings the subgrid closer to the cell that is furthest away from its centre in that direction.
- If the maximum distance from the centre is achieved in more than one direction, the subgrid does not move.
- Otherwise, the subgrid moves as many spaces as the display’s position in the sequence.
- For each of the previous stages and the current stage, in order, press Yes if its last display is contained in the subgrid or No if it is not.
- Pressing a wrong button will reset the input for that stage.
| W | M | R | W | Y | M | R | B | G | B | G | R |
| M | B | Y | R | W | Y | R | R | B | M | W | M |
| Y | W | B | W | M | Y | M | G | W | Y | R | W |
| B | G | G | B | R | G | G | M | W | R | W | G |
| R | B | M | G | Y | W | Y | M | Y | W | B | G |
| R | R | G | M | G | B | B | Y | M | Y | Y | B |
| B | W | R | M | Y | R | G | G | W | G | R | G |
| W | Y | W | M | Y | R | B | B | G | M | B | Y |
| G | M | Y | W | Y | R | W | R | Y | R | Y | R |
| B | W | B | Y | W | M | W | G | M | B | R | W |
| R | G | B | R | B | G | M | M | W | M | M | Y |
| G | M | M | G | G | B | B | W | B | R | Y | Y |
Note: Highlighting the No button without pressing it for the full duration of the sequence will reset the module back to stage 1.