John Graham-Cumming took a break from calculating the number of licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop to write a quick program that calculates the number of possible loop configurations for the 16-pieces of the IKEA's Lilibo train set.
The answer's somewhere between 8 and ∞, but the program also showed that if you steal just four more track pieces from a playdate, you can make 13x more. I'm not saying you should, I'm just saying!
More fun with toys: the Ikea LILLABO Train Set [jgc.org via boingboing]
We've got a toy store here in the neighborhood which sells individual pieces, so no stealing necessary... assuming the ikea are compatible with the other brand which has its own TV show...