Goh Pit Khiam has figured quite a bit on this site over the years. He's very
prolific but not just someone who exhaustively creates Burrtools assembly
puzzles. He has a very odd brain that finds things that are clever and
interesting. This week's puzzle is something very special.
Elbow room was a huge hit in the
IPP design competition. In fact, it was considered so so good that it won a special award -
something I have never seen before. The Jury gave it their Grand Prize and the
Puzzlers voted it as their favourite from all the puzzles in the design
competition. Together, this meant that it was awarded the "
Puzzle of the Year" award - this is something I have never seen before and it is absolutely
well deserved. It was my number one puzzle which I voted for and that is quite
something because the field was so strong. I have already seen that several
people liked it so much that they have created their own 3D printed versions.
I really wanted to get it in wood - that way I would have a fantastic puzzle
to torture people with and a wonderful wood object to go on display.
I had my suspicions about who had made it but wasn't certain until the day of
the announcement of the winners. and literally as soon as it was confirmed as
the winner and the craftsman revealed, I sent an email to Tom Lensch from the
IPP dinner. It was so good that I couldn't even wait until after the dinner
had finished! Tom responded pretty quickly and put me on the list for when he
had made them. I must have reached the front of a long queue last week as I
got an email asking to confirm my address and requesting a little PayPal
transfer. The hop over the pond seemed to be exceptionally fast this time and
just a few days later Mrs S was frowning at me for yet another delivery. She
really shouldn't complain - I have slowed down my buying considerably this
year!
The puzzle was nicely packed and I quickly revealed a nice chunky box made
from Cherry with a single Voxel hole in the corner and Tom's mark on the
inside. The blocks are a beautifully grained Sapele. There are 2 pieces with
an extension on one side and a slot to take the extension and 2 pieces with
just slots only. Finally there is a single square cotton-reel type piece
which can join two slots. The aim, clearly is to place all the 4 pieces
together inside the box as a 2x2x2 cube. However this is only possible if it
is done as a sliding pre-linked snake assembly that transforms into a cube
during the insertion.
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Make an assembly to slide in - NOT like this!
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Just the very idea of doing that is something that kept me going in the
competition area. There is something very tactile about these pieces and
making different shaped snakes of linked pieces that keep failing to be able
to be inserted through the orifice was quite compulsive.
I think I must have spent a good 30-45 minutes being laughed at by various
puzzlers when I kept failing but they also encouraged me to keep going.
Initially, I was just creating random assemblies and failing but after a
while, I actually had to start think©ing about what I was trying and the
logic gradually dawned on me. Finally I had my assembly and received a small
cheer from puzzlers nearby. The IPP is great (just like the MPP) for having
fun poked at you, receiving support when needed as well as cheers when
earned. It felt great and due to the elegance of it, I had to keep it as my
number one. My number two was the Step by Step by Yavuz Demirrhan because it
was also a clever packing puzzle with an unusual twist to it. Elbow room won
out for me because of its sheer elegance.
When I received my own copy, I had to play straight away and it was just as
difficult several months later despite having been solved by me in the past.
I spent a little while trying random things before my logical thoughts from
June came back and I proceeded to work on it systematically. It didn't take
quite as long this second time but was just as enjoyable.
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This was sooooo good!
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If you get a chance to work on this then jump at it - it is literally one of
the best puzzles of the year. It is so simple in idea and yet so tough and
logical to solve. The wood version is certainly the best but even a 3D printed
one should be fun.
Thank you Tom.
It's arrived! Hooray.
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| Safe 2 from Pelikan design |
Jakub and team had not managed to get the Safe 2 SD puzzle ready in time for the
last release. Mine arrived on Thursday and so far I have found my first tool and managed to use it make things happen inside. I have no idea what it has done but there's some significant movement going on. I can also undo what I move but then gotten no further.
It is still not yet up for sale but preorders are open if you
contact Jakub.
From my previous posts, the Frau L. and one version of Loach Bed is sold out but the rest are still available as I type so you should have a look before they sell out.
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