I Need My Lunch - Or At Least Some Breakfast!

I Need My Lunch by Idan Shvartz

I don't have much to write about today but thought I would show off something that has been keeping me busy for weeks and weeks and weeks with little success until very recently.

A couple of years ago, a new puzzle designer from Israel, Idan Shvartz, caught the world by storm with a new and phenomenally complex new creation called Abraham's Whale. I really don't have time to keep up with the mechanical puzzle discord group and heard nothing about it until it appeared in the top 3 puzzles of the year in the 2023 edition of Peter Hajek's EPP booklet. It looked amazing in aluminium and brass but was sold out by the time I had heard about it. I was eventually offered the opportunity to get a copy but I had already overspent my budget by a LOT and puzzles of this quality were just not cheap so I had to pass on it.

A few years later, Idan designed and manufactured another limited run of his next creation, I Need My Lunch. This was initially only going to be available to puzzlers who had already purchased the Abraham's Whale. I therefore gave up on the idea of getting a copy and hoped to have a play eventually at an MPP (like Allard did at the last one). Luckily for me, I had been in touch with Idan and he still had a copy available fro someone who had not taken him up on the offer of a second puzzle. I jumped at the chance and sent off some PayPal and he sent off some metal. It made it across gauntlet of HM Customs without interception and I admired a rather diminutive (101 x 53 x 20 mm) but incredibly well made puzzle. It was made from Aluminium, steel and assorted other bits including a rather heavily modified padlock. It arrived in January and I set to work very quickly to see what I could do.

The instructions are to find your food which is hidden inside and Idan says there are 24 moves to achieve this but the reset requires a whole different set of moves which means that there is a whole lot of puzzling to be done.

Back view

When it first arrives, there is almost nothing that is possible. The two flathead screws at each end of the puzzle can be turned with a thumbnail and a ball bearing or two visible through the bars of the cage can be rattled about. Other than that, nothing seems to move. The padlock can be wiggled about and a close look reveals that the key is captive in the body but not inn the keyway - it won't come out! There also seems to be something "wrong" with the shackle.

I got nowhere! Absolutely nowhere for weeks and weeks! There didn't seem to be anything I could do. Now as a short bloke, I have to be careful not to eat too much for fear of getting fat easily. Mrs S said that it was "for better or worse" but not for fatter! As a result of this, I tend to never eat breakfast and as a result I really "need my lunch". This kept me at it. Constantly fiddling and hoping something new would happen trying the same thing over and over again. Of course, that didn't work until suddenly it did! Aaaargh! All I needed was to think about positioning before trying something obvious. I now had a couple of objects to use as tools. But as usual, I couldn't make anything happen until I tried a combination of things.

Progress was being made for a while - I had to take notes because pieces and tools were falling thick and fast. After about 8-10 steps I got stuck and emailed my friend Dominic (he who encouraged me to get a copy if I could). Dominic was very good and gave me little hints that barely told me anything but also encouraged me when I mentioned what I had been doing. 

Over the last 2 weeks he has gradually encouraged me to get further and just this morning I received the first part of my lunch - I have absolutely no idea how I did it and I cannot seem to put it back (which doesn't bode well for the reset). I am stuck again with just the first part of my lunch and starting to get hungry. I have a whole lot of pieces in a little Tupperware box which upsets Mrs S and interests the cats who keep putting paws in to pull pieces out. Hopefully I will continue to make gradual progress but I dare say that I will need more hints from Dominic.

If you get a chance to play or buy a copy of this puzzle then you MUST take it! The quality is incredible. This is along similar lines in terms of quality, puzzling and manufacturing to puzzles produced by Wil Strijbos and Jon Keegan. Amazing puzzling in a very small container.