Altered States 2

June 2024 : Solution

We received over 500 valid boards for this month’s challenge. Above are some of our favorites, courtesy (in order) of Alex Jian, Cathan Gormley, David Spencer, Mark Rothery, Josh Perks, and Daan Oorts.

A table containing many of the entries we received1 can be viewed here. A few interesting points:

  • The most commonly used stated was Texas, narrowly beating out Ohio and Iowa.
  • Connecticut and Rhode Island were the only states to appear in exactly zero boards. (Does there exist a valid board that contains both of these, and which excludes Texas?)
  • The number of states appearing in valid boards ranged from 12 to 33. (Does there exist a valid board with fewer than 12? Or more than 33?)

We also received a handful of improvements to the original Altered States.

Thanks to everyone who sent in a valid board!

  1. We tried to limit this doc to one board per submitter.