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Sokoban was created in 1982 by Hiroyuki Imabayashi, and was published by Thinking Rabbit, a software house based in Takarazuka, Japan. Thinking Rabbit also released three sequels: Boxxle, Sokoban Perfect and Sokoban Revenge.
Implementations of Sokoban have been written for numerous computer platforms, including almost all home computer and personal computer systems. Versions also exist for several hand held and video game consoles, including mobile phones. The text-based computer game NetHack contains a sequence of dungeonA dungeon (or donjon is an underground prison or vault, typically built underneath a castle. Although many real-life dungeons are simply a single plain room with a heavy door or with access only from a hatchway or trapdoor in the floor of the room above, levelsIn computer and video games, a level (sometimes called a stage course or map is a separate area in a game's virtual world, in modern games typically representing a specific location such as a building or a city. In very early games, levels were simply "le deliberately designed to simulate a Sokoban game.
Several variants of the Sokoban game have been created.
In the standard game, the mazes are laid out on a rectangular grid, or tilingIn geometry, a tiling (also called tessellation mosaic or dissection of a given shape S consists of a collection of other shapes which precisely cover S. Often the shape S to be tiled is the Euclidean plane, but other shapes and three-dimensional objects. Several variants apply the rules of Sokoban to mazes laid out on other tilings. Hexoban uses a tiling of regular hexagonA regular hexagon A hexagon (also known as "sexagon") is a polygon with six edges and six vertices. Its Schlafli symbol is {6}. The internal angles of a regular hexagon (one where all sides and all angles are equal) are all 120 °. Like squares and equilats and Trioban a tiling of equilateral triangleFor alternate meanings, such as the musical instrument, see triangle (disambiguation). A triangle is one of the basic shapes of geometry: a two-dimensional figure with three vertices and three sides which are straight line segments. Types of triangles Tris.
In another variant, called MultibanMultiban is a Sokoban variant in which the player can switch control between multiple pushers ( Sokoban only has one player/pusher that can be used to move boxes). Alfred Pfeiffer is credited with the idea for Multiban having originally posted his idea in, the player can switch control between multiple pushers.