IPP Is Over So It Must Be Pelikan Time

Petit Albert by Dr Volker Latussek

I did not get to go to the IPP this year but the photos and videos I saw looked amazing. There were some amazing puzzles entered into the design competition and hopefully I can ignore the threats from "she who must be feared" and purchase one or two (or may be even loads) of them. In the middle of the week I was contacted by Simona from Pelikan (Jakub must be away) to get my phone number as they are using a new courier who needs that. A nice big blue box arrived on Wednesday and I got to unpack it after work on Friday. Oh boy! There are some stunning and very tough puzzles coming your way!

The next batch will include:

Out of Center by Alfons Eyckmans

Social Distance Soma Cube by Lucie Pauwels

Apotheca by Dr Volker Latussek

Petit Albert by Dr Volker Latussek

Slider H by Benjamin Heidt

Minima 2nd Drawer by Frederic Boucher

Antislide 2L by Lucie Pauwels

Smuggler by Lucie Pauwels

It's going to take me a while to get through them - I will post reviews as soon as I can.

I started on the Petit Albert by Volker and that's the only one I have managed since opening the package (I spent all Saturday doing a list of trauma surgery). I couldn't resist it because the pieces look so enticingly shaped and it is clear from the curves on the tetrominoes that some interesting rotational moves were going to be needed. Also, Volker has an incredible eye for interesting ideas that puzzlers love and I had to go straight for it. My first challenge was to take the pieces out of the box from their packing position. The first 3 came out quite easily but after this removing the final 2 is a challenge just by itself. I needed a light source to see inside and about 45 minutes of increasingly desperate fiddling with my finger poked into the hole before I had all the contents on display. This is another fabulous bonus puzzle from Volker.

Beautifully made and interesting shapes

The Petit Albert consists of a 3x3x2 voxel box made from a nicely grained Oak with an L shaped hole in one side. There are 4 tetrominoes and a 1x2 stick made from Wenge. There are a total of 18 vowels to be fitted in the box so there will be no gaps. On each of the tetrominoes one of the edges in rounded off - this is obviously intended to facilitate rotational moves of those pieces. Fascinating!

Volker said this about it:

"A while ago I was reminded of a deformed Tetracube when I was looking at a sculpture by the Spanish artist, Carlos Albert. Perhaps that's not that surprising, given that Carlos Albert forges his sculptures from solid square steel. While for PETIT SUCRIER I had set myself the task of incorporating as many openings as possible into the 3x3x2 box as a tribute to Frederic Boucher, when playing with the deformed Tetracubes it quickly becomes clear that the lack of edges allows for rotations that enable new movements; so the task was to find an opening that would allow for an exciting solution. 

With the opening of my SIXPACK design, this task was solved. I am delighted every time something new emerges from the interplay of the familiar and observations, but I am especially delighted when you discover and enjoy the dance of the pieces while playing with PETIT ALBERT."

It is clear that all the pieces can fit through that hole in one particular orientation but if they are all placed like that the cavity gets filled and blocked up very quickly. Creating a 3x3x2 shape from the pieces is exceedingly easy and there are 4 different ways to create that shape with the tetromiino but with the curve on one edge there are 2 ways each piece can be oriented which increases the number of possible arrangements significantly. Starting outside the box I found a solution that would fit and then tried all the orientations of the solution that might allow one or two pieces to just fall out without rotation (it is impossible for the final 2 pieces to rotate due to the interior being blocked up). 

having found a set of placements that would allow 2 pieces to drop out then it was time to work on the others to see whether I could form a shape that was correct. This was a huge challenge - Volker mentioned a "dance of pieces" so I knew there would not be a nice easy rotation and placement. There was going to be a sequence of moves of which one or more might be rotational.

When only one is inside quite a lot of rotations are possible and almost any orientation is possible. Positioning the second piece was already much more difficult and I ended up discarding several possible arrangements due to being unable to position that piece. I did find a few placements that would work and by pure luck after multiple hours of work on it, I managed to get 3 pieces in leaving a nice gap to drop the last 2 in. The packed puzzle is pictured below. There is a very minor clue so I have put it behind a spoiler button - don't look if you don't want a hint.

That is incredibly clever!

 

 Having solved it and taken my photo - I really struggle to get it apart! I could not remember how I had oriented the pieces and how they rotated in the box. If you buy this, I suggest that you take notes as you solve it - I got quite fraught for a while trying to remove al the pieces. Now, of course, I have the only slightly easier challenge of placing it in the delivery position.

This is another essential purchase from Pelikan and Dr Latussek. You will not be disappointed! Now, I had better get back to work on the rest! 😱

Jakub and team have decided to make another run of the Safe puzzle that I reviewed here. If you are interested in obtaining a copy then you should contact the Pelikan team via their website or by email if you are on their mailing list.