Eternity II - Revision history

Al Piskun at 11:57, 30 September 2026

2026-09-30T11:57:35Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:57, 30 September 2026
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	\| category = Mathematics and puzzle solving		\| category = Mathematics and puzzle solving
	\| compute = CPU		\| compute = CPU
	\| dependencies = ~~[[BOINC]] client~~		\| dependencies =
	\| developer = Benjamin; rebirther (server and website setup)<ref name="setup">Benjamin and rebirther, discussion in the BOINC Discord community, September 2026.</ref>		\| developer = Benjamin; rebirther (server and website setup)<ref name="setup">Benjamin and rebirther, discussion in the BOINC Discord community, September 2026.</ref>
	\| author =		\| author =
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	\| rac =		\| rac =
	\| credit per day =		\| credit per day =
	\| gpu performance = ~~Not available~~		\| gpu performance =
	\| cpu performance = 3.052 TFLOPS<ref name="status" />		\| cpu performance = 3.052 TFLOPS<ref name="status" />
	\| website = {{URL\|https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/}}		\| website = {{URL\|https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/}}

Al Piskun: old project eternity2.net link

2026-09-30T11:42:25Z

old project eternity2.net link

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:42, 30 September 2026
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	==Relationship to earlier distributed searches==		==Relationship to earlier distributed searches==

	The 2026 project should not be confused with '''Eternity2.net''', an earlier BOINC project associated with the original prize period. BOINC announced Eternity2.net in July 2007 as a project offering participants a chance to compute for a share of the US$2 million prize.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://boinc.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=5185 \|title=A newly-launched project, Eternity2.net, offers a chance to compute for a share of a US$2,000,000 prize \|website=BOINC message boards \|date=20 July 2007 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> BOINC statistics later listed Eternity2.net among retired projects.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919090657/http:/boincstats.com/stats/project_graph.php?pr=bo \|title=BOINCstats project list \|website=BOINCstats, archived by the Wayback Machine \|date=19 September 2010 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> The present project's website describes itself as an open community effort but does not claim organisational continuity with Eternity2.net.<ref name="about" />		The 2026 project should not be confused with '''[https://web.archive.org/web/20071128150637/http://eternity2.net:80/ Eternity2.net]''', an earlier BOINC project associated with the original prize period. BOINC announced Eternity2.net in July 2007 as a project offering participants a chance to compute for a share of the US$2 million prize.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://boinc.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=5185 \|title=A newly-launched project, Eternity2.net, offers a chance to compute for a share of a US$2,000,000 prize \|website=BOINC message boards \|date=20 July 2007 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> BOINC statistics later listed Eternity2.net among retired projects.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919090657/http:/boincstats.com/stats/project_graph.php?pr=bo \|title=BOINCstats project list \|website=BOINCstats, archived by the Wayback Machine \|date=19 September 2010 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> The present project's website describes itself as an open community effort but does not claim organisational continuity with Eternity2.net.<ref name="about" />

	==See also==		==See also==

Al Piskun: images

2026-09-30T11:31:43Z

images

← Older revision		Revision as of 11:31, 30 September 2026
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	==Background==		==Background==

	[[File:Eternity_II_1.jpg\|thumb\|left\|300px\|The commercial Eternity II puzzle. Photograph by Matěj Baťha, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eternity_II_1.jpg \|title=File:Eternity II 1.jpg \|website=Wikimedia Commons \|date=29 October 2007 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>]]

	The physical Eternity II puzzle was launched on 28 July 2007. It was developed by [[wikipedia:Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley\|Christopher Monckton]] and marketed by [[wikipedia:Tomy\|TOMY]] UK as a successor to the original [[wikipedia:Eternity puzzle\|Eternity puzzle]]. A competition offered US$2 million for the first complete solution, but the deadline passed at noon on 31 December 2010 without a winner.<ref name="wiki-puzzle">{{Cite web \|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternity_II_puzzle \|title=Eternity II puzzle \|website=Wikipedia \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref><ref name="archive-final">{{Cite web \|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511115531/http://eternityii.com/ \|title=Eternity II \|website=Official Eternity II website, archived by the Wayback Machine \|date=2011 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>		The physical Eternity II puzzle was launched on 28 July 2007. It was developed by [[wikipedia:Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley\|Christopher Monckton]] and marketed by [[wikipedia:Tomy\|TOMY]] UK as a successor to the original [[wikipedia:Eternity puzzle\|Eternity puzzle]]. A competition offered US$2 million for the first complete solution, but the deadline passed at noon on 31 December 2010 without a winner.<ref name="wiki-puzzle">{{Cite web \|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternity_II_puzzle \|title=Eternity II puzzle \|website=Wikipedia \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref><ref name="archive-final">{{Cite web \|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511115531/http://eternityii.com/ \|title=Eternity II \|website=Official Eternity II website, archived by the Wayback Machine \|date=2011 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>
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	===Early statistics===		===Early statistics===

			[[File:Eternity_II_1.jpg\|thumb\|300px\|The commercial Eternity II puzzle. Photograph by Matěj Baťha, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eternity_II_1.jpg \|title=File:Eternity II 1.jpg \|website=Wikimedia Commons \|date=29 October 2007 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>]]

	The following figures are a dated snapshot and will change as hosts join, leave or return work.		The following figures are a dated snapshot and will change as hosts join, leave or return work.
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	At the same snapshot, the download server, upload server, scheduler, feeder, validator and assimilator were reported as running.<ref name="status" /> A scheduled physical server relocation on 30 September 2026 was expected to interrupt service for about 15 minutes; the project stated that tasks would continue locally and completed results would upload after service returned.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/old_news.php \|title=News archive \|website=Eternity II \|date=29 September 2026 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>		At the same snapshot, the download server, upload server, scheduler, feeder, validator and assimilator were reported as running.<ref name="status" /> A scheduled physical server relocation on 30 September 2026 was expected to interrupt service for about 15 minutes; the project stated that tasks would continue locally and completed results would upload after service returned.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/old_news.php \|title=News archive \|website=Eternity II \|date=29 September 2026 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>
			[[File:Eternity-banner.jpg\|center\|frameless\|1000x1000px\|Eternity II BOINC banner]]

	==Relationship to earlier distributed searches==		==Relationship to earlier distributed searches==

	The 2026 project should not be confused with '''Eternity2.net''', an earlier BOINC project associated with the original prize period. BOINC announced Eternity2.net in July 2007 as a project offering participants a chance to compute for a share of the US$2 million prize.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://boinc.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=5185 \|title=A newly-launched project, Eternity2.net, offers a chance to compute for a share of a US$2,000,000 prize \|website=BOINC message boards \|date=20 July 2007 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> BOINC statistics later listed Eternity2.net among retired projects.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919090657/http:/boincstats.com/stats/project_graph.php?pr=bo \|title=BOINCstats project list \|website=BOINCstats, archived by the Wayback Machine \|date=19 September 2010 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> The present project's website describes itself as an open community effort but does not claim organisational continuity with Eternity2.net.<ref name="about" />		The 2026 project should not be confused with '''Eternity2.net''', an earlier BOINC project associated with the original prize period. BOINC announced Eternity2.net in July 2007 as a project offering participants a chance to compute for a share of the US$2 million prize.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://boinc.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=5185 \|title=A newly-launched project, Eternity2.net, offers a chance to compute for a share of a US$2,000,000 prize \|website=BOINC message boards \|date=20 July 2007 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> BOINC statistics later listed Eternity2.net among retired projects.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919090657/http:/boincstats.com/stats/project_graph.php?pr=bo \|title=BOINCstats project list \|website=BOINCstats, archived by the Wayback Machine \|date=19 September 2010 \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> The present project's website describes itself as an open community effort but does not claim organisational continuity with Eternity2.net.<ref name="about" />

	[[File:Eternity_II_solved_4x4_sample_puzzle.png\|thumb\|right\|300px\|A solved 4 by 4 sample puzzle formerly offered as a Flash game on the official Eternity II website. This is a non-free screenshot; local reuse depends on the wiki's non-free-content policy.<ref>{{Cite web \|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eternity_II_solved_4x4_sample_puzzle.png \|title=File:Eternity II solved 4x4 sample puzzle.png \|website=Wikipedia \|access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>]]

	==See also==		==See also==

Al Piskun: first light

2026-09-30T11:22:10Z

first light

New page

{{Infobox software
| name = Eternity II
| logo = Eternity-banner-crop.jpg
| logo caption = Eternity II project banner
| screenshot = Eternity_II_1.jpg
| caption = Pieces from the physical Eternity II puzzle
| description = Eternity II is an active volunteer computing project that uses BOINC and volunteered CPU time to search for improved arrangements of the 256-piece Eternity II edge-matching puzzle.
| status = Active
| category = Mathematics and puzzle solving
| compute = CPU
| dependencies = [[BOINC]] client
| developer = Benjamin; rebirther (server and website setup)<ref name="setup">Benjamin and rebirther, discussion in the BOINC Discord community, September 2026.</ref>
| author =
| sponsor =
| maintainer = Benjamin (project administrator)<ref name="forumadmin">{{Cite web |url=https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/forum_thread.php?id=2 |title=Infrastructure update: work supply and Windows telemetry |website=Eternity II |date=27 September 2026 |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>
| released = September 2026<ref name="apps">{{Cite web |url=https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/apps.php |title=Applications |website=Eternity II |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>
| completed = No
| discontinued =
| repository =
| programming language =
| operating system = [[wikipedia:Microsoft Windows|Windows]] (x86-64), [[wikipedia:Linux|Linux]] (x86-64)<ref name="apps" />
| size =
| stats as of = {{Start date and age|2026|09|30}}
| average performance = 3.052 TFLOPS<ref name="status">{{Cite web |url=https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/server_status.php |title=Project status |website=Eternity II |date=30 September 2026 |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>
| active users = 66<ref name="status" />
| total users = 66 with credit<ref name="status" />
| active hosts = 215<ref name="status" />
| total hosts = 218 with credit<ref name="status" />
| rac =
| credit per day =
| gpu performance = Not available
| cpu performance = 3.052 TFLOPS<ref name="status" />
| website = {{URL|https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/}}
| license =
}}

'''Eternity II''' is a [[BOINC]]-based [[wikipedia:Volunteer computing|volunteer computing]] project that coordinates a distributed search for improved arrangements of the [[wikipedia:Eternity II puzzle|Eternity II puzzle]]. The project sends independent search tasks to volunteers' computers, where a CPU solver examines candidate boards and prunes unpromising branches. Completed tasks are returned to the server for checking, and promising boards are incorporated into the community's continuing search.<ref name="about">{{Cite web |url=https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/about.php |title=About Eternity II |website=Eternity II |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>

The project entered a public pilot phase in September 2026. As of 30 September 2026, it offered native x86-64 applications for Windows and Linux and reported about 3.052 TFLOPS of current CPU throughput.<ref name="apps" /><ref name="status" /> It is a community puzzle-search project rather than a claim that the puzzle has already been solved.

==Background==

[[File:Eternity_II_1.jpg|thumb|left|300px|The commercial Eternity II puzzle. Photograph by Matěj Baťha, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Eternity_II_1.jpg |title=File:Eternity II 1.jpg |website=Wikimedia Commons |date=29 October 2007 |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>]]

The physical Eternity II puzzle was launched on 28 July 2007. It was developed by [[wikipedia:Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley|Christopher Monckton]] and marketed by [[wikipedia:Tomy|TOMY]] UK as a successor to the original [[wikipedia:Eternity puzzle|Eternity puzzle]]. A competition offered US$2 million for the first complete solution, but the deadline passed at noon on 31 December 2010 without a winner.<ref name="wiki-puzzle">{{Cite web |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternity_II_puzzle |title=Eternity II puzzle |website=Wikipedia |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref><ref name="archive-final">{{Cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511115531/http://eternityii.com/ |title=Eternity II |website=Official Eternity II website, archived by the Wayback Machine |date=2011 |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>

The puzzle contains 256 distinct square pieces, which must be rotated and placed in a <math>16\times16</math> grid. Every pair of touching edges must carry the same pattern. Four corner pieces have two grey sides, 56 border pieces have one grey side, and 196 interior pieces have four coloured sides. Grey edges face the outside of the board. The set uses 22 non-grey edge patterns, and a completed board contains 480 internal adjacencies.<ref name="wiki-puzzle" />

For a square board of side length <math>n</math>, the number of horizontal and vertical adjacencies is

:<math>E=2n(n-1).</math>

With <math>n=16</math>, this gives <math>E=2\cdot16\cdot15=480</math>. A convenient score for a candidate board <math>B</math> is therefore

:<math>S(B)=\sum_{e=1}^{480}\mathbf{1}[\text{the two patterns at adjacency }e\text{ match}],</math>

where <math>\mathbf{1}</math> is 1 when the stated condition is true and 0 otherwise. A complete solution has <math>S(B)=480</math>. The BOINC project describes every additional matching edge as useful progress and says that returned results are checked before strong boards are added to the collective search.<ref name="about" />

==Search space and difficulty==

If border rules, clues and colour matching are temporarily ignored, 256 distinct pieces can be permuted and independently rotated in

:<math>N=256!\,4^{256}\approx1.15\times10^{661}</math>

ways. Taking account of the four corner pieces, 56 border pieces, 195 unfixed interior pieces and the mandatory central hint gives the tighter upper bound

:<math>N_{\mathrm{fixed}}=4!\,56!\,195!\,4^{195}\approx1.12\times10^{557}.</math>

These counts are upper bounds rather than estimates of the amount of work the project will actually perform: edge colours, fixed clues and search heuristics eliminate large numbers of arrangements without examining complete boards.<ref name="wiki-puzzle" /> Research on framed edge-matching puzzles and the Eternity II instance has treated it as a difficult combinatorial search problem.<ref>{{Cite conference |last1=Ansótegui |first1=Carlos |last2=Béjar |first2=Ramon |last3=Fernández |first3=Cèsar |last4=Mateu |first4=Carles |title=How Hard is a Commercial Puzzle: the Eternity II Challenge |book-title=Proceedings of the 11th International Conference of the Catalan Association for Artificial Intelligence |pages=99-108 |year=2008 |doi=10.3233/978-1-58603-925-7-99 |url=https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1566899.1566916 |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>

The best result recognised during the original prize competition had 467 matching adjacencies out of 480. Louis Verhaard of Lund, Sweden, received US$10,000 for that partial solution after the first scrutiny date in 2008.<ref name="wiki-puzzle" /> In August 2020, Joshua Blackwood publicly reported a board with 468 matching adjacencies and posted it to Reddit; this was a community report, not a complete solution.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.reddit.com/r/Jigsawpuzzles/comments/ijhn8f/new_best_solution_for_the_eternity_ii_puzzle_12/ |title=New best solution for the Eternity II puzzle (12 breaks) |website=Reddit, r/Jigsawpuzzles |date=30 August 2020 |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> No verified complete solution had been published when the BOINC project opened.<ref name="wiki-puzzle" />

==BOINC project==

===Development and administration===

Before establishing the BOINC project, Benjamin was already operating the Eternity II solver as a stand-alone application. He asked for assistance in the BOINC Discord community with running the existing stand-alone instance alongside a BOINC deployment. The website and BOINC server were subsequently set up with help from '''rebirther''', the administrator of the [[SRBase]] BOINC project.<ref name="setup" />

Rebirther has administered SRBase since its early years and is identified by that project as its administrator, developer, tester and project scientist.<ref name="srbase-admin">{{Cite web |url=https://srbase.my-firewall.org/sr5/show_user.php?userid=1 |title=rebirther |website=SRBase |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> SRBase's front page also identifies rebirther as its administrator and publishes an invitation code for new accounts.<ref name="srbase-home">{{Cite web |url=https://srbase.my-firewall.org/sr5/ |title=SRBase |website=SRBase |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> This experience included assisting other BOINC administrators with server configuration and less common setup problems.<ref name="setup" />

===Purpose and method===

The project's stated purpose is to push the best-known score farther by combining the work of many volunteer computers. BOINC assigns each host a small, independent portion of the search. The pilot solver tests promising arrangements, uses pruning to stop work on branches that cannot usefully continue, and sends its completed output back to the server. The project then verifies returned results and retains strong boards for subsequent work.<ref name="about" /> This model is a form of [[wikipedia:Distributed computing|distributed computing]] suited to searches containing many independently executable tasks.

The public site calls the software the '''Eternity II CPU solver (pilot)'''. On 30 September 2026, application version 2.29 was available for 64-bit Windows and version 2.26 for 64-bit Linux. The applications page did not list a GPU application or a native macOS solver at that date.<ref name="apps" /> The project nevertheless directs prospective participants to install BOINC on Windows, Linux or macOS; whether a host receives work depends on the application versions actually available for its platform.<ref name="about" />

===Participation===

Participation requires the BOINC client and a project account. During the initial pilot, the account-creation page used the invitation code <code>eternityathome</code>.<ref name="home">{{Cite web |url=https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/ |title=Eternity II |website=Eternity II |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> The code is published openly and is intended to stop automated account-creation scripts rather than restrict participation.<ref name="setup" /> The approach follows the practice at SRBase, which still publishes its required invitation code on its front page. SRBase has described the code as effective spam protection.<ref name="srbase-home" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://srbase.my-firewall.org/sr5/old_news.php |title=The project is now beta |website=SRBase news archive |date=28 November 2014 |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> Volunteers can control the amount of CPU time used, set schedules, pause computation or leave the project. Application downloads and task assignment are handled automatically by BOINC.<ref name="about" /><ref name="apps" />

The project also provides message boards for announcements, search results, solver development, platform support and general discussion.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/forum_index.php |title=Message boards |website=Eternity II |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>

===Early statistics===

The following figures are a dated snapshot and will change as hosts join, leave or return work.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Project status at 30 September 2026, 09:35 UTC<ref name="status" />
! Measure !! Reported value
|-
| Users with credit || 66
|-
| Users with recent credit || 66
|-
| Computers with credit || 218
|-
| Computers with recent credit || 215
|-
| Tasks ready to send || 3,202
|-
| Tasks in progress || 10,481
|-
| Current performance || 3,051.68 GFLOPS, or about 3.052 TFLOPS
|}

At the same snapshot, the download server, upload server, scheduler, feeder, validator and assimilator were reported as running.<ref name="status" /> A scheduled physical server relocation on 30 September 2026 was expected to interrupt service for about 15 minutes; the project stated that tasks would continue locally and completed results would upload after service returned.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/old_news.php |title=News archive |website=Eternity II |date=29 September 2026 |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>

==Relationship to earlier distributed searches==

The 2026 project should not be confused with '''Eternity2.net''', an earlier BOINC project associated with the original prize period. BOINC announced Eternity2.net in July 2007 as a project offering participants a chance to compute for a share of the US$2 million prize.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://boinc.berkeley.edu/forum_thread.php?id=5185 |title=A newly-launched project, Eternity2.net, offers a chance to compute for a share of a US$2,000,000 prize |website=BOINC message boards |date=20 July 2007 |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> BOINC statistics later listed Eternity2.net among retired projects.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100919090657/http:/boincstats.com/stats/project_graph.php?pr=bo |title=BOINCstats project list |website=BOINCstats, archived by the Wayback Machine |date=19 September 2010 |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref> The present project's website describes itself as an open community effort but does not claim organisational continuity with Eternity2.net.<ref name="about" />

[[File:Eternity_II_solved_4x4_sample_puzzle.png|thumb|right|300px|A solved 4 by 4 sample puzzle formerly offered as a Flash game on the official Eternity II website. This is a non-free screenshot; local reuse depends on the wiki's non-free-content policy.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eternity_II_solved_4x4_sample_puzzle.png |title=File:Eternity II solved 4x4 sample puzzle.png |website=Wikipedia |access-date=30 September 2026}}</ref>]]

==See also==

* [[BOINC]]
* [[wikipedia:Volunteer computing|Volunteer computing]]
* [[wikipedia:Distributed computing|Distributed computing]]
* [[wikipedia:Eternity II puzzle|Eternity II puzzle]]
* [[wikipedia:Edge-matching puzzle|Edge-matching puzzle]]
* [[wikipedia:Backtracking|Backtracking]]
* [[wikipedia:Combinatorial optimization|Combinatorial optimization]]

==External links==

* [https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/ Official Eternity II BOINC project]
* [https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/server_status.php Project server status]
* [https://boinc.eternityathome.org/eternity/forum_index.php Project message boards]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Active BOINC projects]]
[[Category:Mathematics projects]]
[[Category:Volunteer computing projects]]
[[Category:Puzzle solving]]