How to Play Ice Cream Express!

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Welcome to Ice Cream Express!

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Welcome, Trainee!

Ready to deliver some delicious ice cream?

Delivery Challenge 🍦

  • Your Mission: Deliver ice cream from 🚚 to 🏠 using the lowest cost path.
  • Your Path Matters: Every move has a cost. Find the path with the lowest total cost to get the best tip!
  • Map:
    • ⬜ White Roads = Fast (Cost: 1)
    • 🟫 Brown Roads = Slow (Cost: 3)
    • 🌳 Obstacles = Can't go through
  • Challenge: You'll play (Round 1), watch the A* Bot (Round 2), then try to beat its score (Round 3)!

Ice Cream Express

Cost: 0
⏱️ 0.0s
Tip: $10.00
Tip Meter
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🤖 Bot's "Thinking" Colors

  • Dark Blue: "Checking NOW!"
  • Light Blue: "To-Check List"
  • Grey: "Already Checked"
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Bot's Turn!

Get ready to watch the A* Search algorithm find the perfect path!

(This is how a real GPS thinks!)

How the Bot "Thinks"

The bot uses A* (A-Star) Search. It's smart because it combines three ideas:

G-Cost (from "Graph"):
This is the actual cost of the path from the start node (🚚) to the current node. We just call it the past cost.

H-Cost (from "Heuristic"):
A heuristic is just a smart "guess." This is the estimated cost from the current node to the end node (🏠). We call it the future cost.

F-Cost (from "Final"):
This is the total combined score (G + H). The algorithm always picks the path with the lowest F-Cost to explore next!

Watch the Bot Think! (A* Search)

Click "Next Step" to see how the bot thinks!
💡 Be curious! Click any square to see its info!

Game Rules

Level Complete! 🎉

Learning Reflection 🤔

Nice driving!🚚💨 How did your path compare to the bot's? The bot uses A* Search to find the lowest-cost path. It's so smart because it balances the cost of the path so far (G-Cost) with a guess of what's left (H-Cost). Real GPS apps and delivery drivers use this same logic to save time and gas!