This level was solvable in lots of ways, some of which I anticipated, and some which surprised even me. Another thing that surprised me was the number of participants: 10 people submitted a solution, and one of them (Grale) did so for the first time!
The most popular approaches were:
- Let the armadillo run up to the halfway point, then drag it
This seems like the most intuitive way, considering that the Armadillo starts spinning to the left.
- Drag the armadillo to the halfway point, then let it run
A few people - and, notably, the winner - used this method, which has a significant advantage over the above: letting the armadillo run on top means that you don't have to use lots of metal plates, and the metal bars to drag it up from the bottom are comparatively cheap.
- Drag the armadillo all the way
Another popular method, this was mostly accomplished by just affixing a cloth piece to the cloth surrounding the 'dillo. The most highly tweaked solution using this method reached nearly 7k, but was still hampered by the cost of the long pieces of cloth necessary.
- Roll the armadillo all the way
Many, including me, speculated that it was possible, but just one man did it. It was none other than the infamous ?rjan Flatseth - but his genius in developing the cloth-rubber-turn method only got him to second place!
To make a long story short, BFC won with a highly optimised solution reaching 7502. I almost expected him to win the first B contest tough...
Orjan was the only other player in the 7000+ field, though kingofthespill was hot on their heels. Bob and n.fav built the only force-using solutions that I could spot, both are worth a look! As are all other attempts of course
The .zip with all the solutions is attached to this message, as are a few selected screenshots. But do yourself a favor and download them!
Thanks and congratulations to everyone who made a solution, you mastered the first ever B type challenge! Let's look forward to the ineffable horrors BFC will unleash upon us now