Help implementing a puzzle idea

[+medwardl]

I would like to make a puzzle cache but I'm not sure how to implement it. What I want to do is make a cache that you can't get at unless you solve the "you have a 3 gallon bucket and a 5 gallon bucket and you need precisely 4 gallons" puzzle. Without using electronics I'm not sure how to go about creating a device that could tell the difference between too much and too little too little is easy it's the too much I can't figure out.

[+Spraginator]

That probably won't work as a puzzle cache... It used to be that cachers could email the CO when they figured out the puzzle to get the actual coords. but that is discouraged now. Maybe you could do "minimum number of pours to measure 4 gallons" with the 3 and 5 gallon bucket then have the cacher add that to some other coords. IDK if that would work or not...

[+niraD]

I've seen similar puzzles turned into puzzle caches.

 

If you can come up with a number sequence related to the correct solution, then you can use that number sequence to produce the coordinates. For example, one puzzle generated a series of 15 single-digit numbers. The sequence wasn't very close to being a set of local coordinates, but the CO gave an offset that you had to add to the puzzle solution. So if the solution to the puzzle produces the sequence 234567898765432, and the final coordinates are N 37° 12.345 W 122° 12.345, then the CO could give an offset of 136666613446913 because:

 

234567898765432 + 136666613446913 = 371234512212345

 

But for your particular puzzle, the trick is that there are multiple solutions. For example:

 

Fill bucket 5, pour into bucket 3, leaving 2 gallons in bucket 5.

Dump bucket 3, pour remaining 2 gallons from bucket 5 to bucket 3.

Fill bucket 5, fill bucket 3 from bucket 5, leaving 4 gallons in bucket 5.

 

Or:

 

Fill bucket 3, pour into bucket 5.

Fill bucket 3, fill bucket 5 from bucket 3, leaving 1 gallon in bucket 3.

Dump bucket 5, pour remaining 1 gallon from bucket 3 to bucket 5.

Fill bucket 3, pour into bucket 5, leaving 4 gallons in bucket 5.

 

Both solutions yield 4 gallons, but they're going to produce different number sequences.