They Are Superstars!

Friends With 3D Printers

Simple Star Puzzle (by Brian Menold) and the Superstar (by Chris P)

This has been written and published in advance quite quickly because I am working this weekend. If you see any errors then let me know. I had to do it quite quickly.

I am very lucky to have friends with 3D printers! Not only does that make them superstars in my eyes, but in this case Chris actually made me the Superstar puzzle.

At the MPP in May, Chris was showing off his amazing printing prowess and amongst them was a version of the star puzzle that had pins and maze plates attached. Like a magpie, I was immediately attracted to the new shiny thing and proceeded to play with the Superstar version that was ready for play. The movement was beautiful and very very confusing. I expressed my lust and Chris said that he might be making more sometime. To my huge surprise, when I arrived at the July MPP, he sidled up to me with a wonderful gift. I have my very own version to bamboozle myself and a nice set of maze plates to prove how useless I am.

From the left: Diagonal Superstar, 9 move, 14 move and 36 move challenges

Lots of variants - all come apart and collapse the same way

When I received the puzzle, Chris had not fully assembled it and I spent a little while taking it apart and marvelling at the smoothness of the moves - 3D printing has really improved over the years. AS with all the star puzzles, it comes apart into 2 pairs of triplets which will fall apart quickly if you don't hold them right. I am sure that all of you have experienced variants of the star puzzle and remember that heartsick moment as it collapses in your hands:

Beautifully made with exchangeable maze plates

Chris even thought through a way to ensure that the 2 pairs are assembled with the correct chirality. A printed C in the sides ensures that I don't attempt to assemble an impossible version.

These will line up to slide together

Pins and mazes lined up

The interesting thing I find with this is that even knowing what the mazes look like, this doesn't seem to help me with the assembly. Once the pins are all engaged in the mazes, it's a matter of exploring which pieces can move. It is made very confusing by moving diagonally and also having several pieces move at once. I found a very nice sequence and seems to be making progress until boom...I pulled it apart without realising that I had made my way through the maze and back out again. It exploded into pieces on my lap and frightened the cat next to me. Nearly frightened me to death too.

Try again! And boom round in a circle (or was it a figure of eight?) and explosion again. Wow! I could not keep track of the process at all. I managed to make it fall apart on me (gulp) at least a dozen times before I finally managed the full assembly. Despite having gone through the maze many many times, I still do not have any idea how I managed it and have an assembled Superstar next to me (not Chris!) and am dreading dismantling it to try the next maze. I think I will try the 9 move version next - hopefully that will prove easier. Thanks so much Chris!

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I met someone new at the MPP who seems much better at puzzling than me (isn't everyone?) I am ashamed to say that I cannot recall his name but he has instantly become a great friend because he has made a small dream of mine come true. I also suggest that he probably should stay as far away from Mrs S as he possibly can. He has alienated her by providing with a big pile of plastic which she hates and I adore! I have put them away very quickly and plan to get them out in dribs and drabs as and when I get a chance to play.

What is it? I can hear you shout at your screens. The voices are quite bad for me these days! 😈

Akaki's Picnic Basket - PLUS a whole bunch of extra challenges

A few years ago whilst on holiday in Edinburgh visiting the outlaws, I managed to solve and blog about the incredible puzzles designed by Akaki Kuumeri. My copy was made by the late Eric Fuller from beautiful woods. I had not gotten around to them for ages and had been hoping that Eric would eventually get around to making some of the MANY others which had subsequently been designed. Unfortunately, Eric passed away before this could become a reality and I was stymied in my chance of getting any more by the lack of a 3D printer of my own. I was flabbergasted (and incredibly grateful) when my new best friend announced that he had a whole bunch of these picnic cubes available to be given away just as I was about to leave the MPP! I immediately jumped at the chance as did Tamsin. Tamsin took the basket and the 3 that were in the original set and I blagged the rest. I have another 11 challenges to play with (I actually don't know how many there are in the series but hopefully I can get the rest sometime). The wonderful thing is that these plastic cubes are made with the same voxel size as the version that Eric made 5 years ago. I cannot wait to play - but first, I'd better try another star puzzle.

Thank you to my two new best friends for some wonderful challenges.

Cast Planet

Hanayama Cast Planet

Today, is another quick puzzle review. I had actually failed to solve anything all week. I should have managed it with ease because Mrs S was oop North again for a week and I was home alone with a cat who seems to be steadily improving on his Prozac (even if the cutting of the white powder with a razor blade is giving me headaches). Not only was I far away from the demands of "She who must be flinched from", but I also spent 3 days sitting on my arse attending an on-line conference from 9-5 (note to the Americans - it's an arse not an ass because an ass is a donkey and there's no room in the house for one of those). You might have thought that I could have used my conference time to play with one of my toys but, alas, I am definitely a uni-tasker. If I play with a puzzle, then I seem to have no recollection of what has gone on in the conference...believe me, I tried. It may have been that I attempted the wrong puzzles? I have begun playing with the Box of Celts and so far failed to find even the first step. Plus my copy of Dee Dixon's gorgeous Vertigo puzzle arrived and I similarly failed to find any moves on that as well.

Box of Celts by Numbskull puzzles

Vertigo by Dedwood crafts

It may well be that these are just too complex to be done in a week...especially by a man of very little brains like me. However, it would have been nice to at least find the first move on just one of them before being forced to look for something simpler to solve!

Towards the end of the week I thought I had better do at least a couple of the chores that had been set as a target for me by "She who frightens the sun into setting every night". Part of those chores involved housework and forced me to look in my office. I have been avoiding that room for a while due to the unholy mess. Glancing at the desk revealed a couple of other unsolved but simpler puzzles that had just slipped my attention and rather than tidy said office, I went through the "catastrophe" to pick something for today... hence the Cast Planet as the subject of my blog.

OMG! Luckily, "She who is responsible for thunder" never looks in here

Amongst the unsolved and forgotten puzzles to solve was the Hanayama Cast Planet which I have to say looks lovely but probably remained on the desk because it also looked like it was going to be solved by random movements.

Hanayama rated it as 4 out of 6 and PuzzleMaster as 8 (Demanding) on their scale of 5 - 10. Personally, I would rate it as 3 (or 7) myself. As you would expect from the name and the look of it it consists of a rather rocky looking planet made from silver chromed metal inside a sort of Saturn's ring of gold coloured metal. I wonder whether it should have been called the Cast Virus or Cast Corona but maybe that wouldn't help it sell? It was designed by a new designer to me, Masui Ohno and is effectively a maze puzzle with all parts and paths visible.

The starting point is marked by grooves on the North and South poles of the planet which line up with marks on the ring. Obviously, the planet needs to be manipulated within the ring until the odd cutouts in the ring line up with the correctly shaped "mountains" on the planet to allow them to be slid apart.

I started looking at what kind of movements are possible and realised that the movement of the planet is quite constrained along the orientation of the ring and only at set positions was it possible to rotate the planet out of that axis to open up another sequence of moves in the plane of the ring again. Initially I was very cautious for fear of being unable to return to the beginning and hence, adopted my usual too and fro approach. Unfortunately, after about 5 minutes of puzzling I found myself unable to return to the start. Damn! OK, onward only. 

For the first 15 minutes, it seemed that I was going around in circles with no real plan for how to go about it. I felt that I was just making random moves and either I was going to continue forever making these random moves or it was going to solve itself by pure chance without me being the reason for the solve. At that point, I noticed a shape on the planet and had one of my very are thoughts. I had found a shape that looked like it might be useful and I had a "what if I aim for this?" thoughts. As you all know, thought is a rare thing for me so when it happens, I have to assume that it originated elsewhere and should probably be acted on. From this point, after another 2 or 3 minutes of systematically manoeuvring the planet into successively better positions, it fell apart into my hands and left me with a triumphant grin. Mrs S looked at me with disbelief - she rarely sees me solve anything and thinks that I either cheat or break them apart!

That's actually quite clever!

Having left it for a while, returning it to the strut position was just as tough as solving it. This is partly because it's quite hard to work out where the start position is and there are less clues for which way to move things when going in that direction.

Despite fairly low expectations for this puzzle (I am not really a fan of mazes anymore), this puzzle was actually quite enjoyable and a nice small challenge to be done in about 20-30 minutes. I looks good on display and is perfect for children and newbies as well as dedicated puzzle fans. Buy it from PuzzleMaster if you are in the Americas or from Sloyd or Hendrik if you are in Europe. For only €12-15 or $18CAD then you cannot really go wrong.

Spring With Pelikan (part 2)

Pelikan spring release - coming 17th April 2pm CEST

I do apologise to all of you and especially to Jakub and team about spreading the reviews over 2 weekends! I was just too busy to work on all 6 in one week and have any chance at all of solving and understanding them. It did not change Jakub's intended release date but has inconvenienced him by being late getting my reviews for him.

Today I finish off the final 3 and they are something else in terms of complexity and difficulty. They are also very beautiful!

Euklid for Bernhard

Euklid for Bernhard - simply gorgeous

This fabulous addition to the Euklid series (I have still not managed to solve the Euklid for Nick!) is a tribute from Dr Volker Latussek to the amazing puzzler, collector and friend, Bernhard Schweitzer. Volker wrote the following about the design of this puzzle:

"When Bernhard Schweitzer told me that he was winding up his puzzle collection, I remembered our first meeting at Bernhard's house. Back then, I had designed my first puzzle, which I wanted to enter in the Nob Yoshigahara International Puzzle Design Competition in 2011 after doing some web research. I didn't know that the IPP was being held in Berlin at the time, and Bernhard hadn't told me, but he encouraged me to send in my two copies. WAY is still the most important puzzle for me today. I called it the Puzzle Construction Set because it could be used to formulate very different challenges. I didn't win a prize at the IPP, but the puzzle was published by Popular Playthings under the name ROUNDABOUT. Unfortunately somewhat modified. But back to Bernhard.

Bernhard showed me his collection at the time. I had never seen anything like it before. He told me stories and anecdotes about some of the puzzles from the community, a world that was completely unknown to me. I still remember the HASELGROVE BOX by Jenifer Haselgrove: it was probably my personal key experience that gave me time to think about what I should, and hopefully will, come up with over the years.

With EUKLID FOR BERNHARD, I want to say thank you for the encouraging comments on my ideas and the time we spent together at the puzzle parties at Bernhard's home in Glattbach.

It has become a EUKLID with an addition. When the six blocks are packed into the box, give the puzzle a good shake and then open your ears for a short walk with Jenifer Haselgrove to empty the box again.

Thank you, Bernhard."

Volker tends to stipulate not only the delivery packing as well as the dimensions of his puzzles but also the wood choices as well. His decision this time was absolutely inspired as it is an absolutely gorgeous combination of Purpleheart for the box and Downy Birch for the pieces. Interestingly the pieces are all very similar in size - 21mm deep with 3 pieces 47x25mm, 1 of 47x47mm, another 47x30mm and the other 52x25mm. There are only a few combinations of sizes that will fit within the walls of the box.

Now I had not read this tribute when I received and worked on my copy of this puzzle and had no idea that it might have a common feature with the Hazelgrove box. That would not have helped me much because I don't own and have never played with one of those famous puzzles. I set to in the usual way that I do with this sort of puzzle - I look at all the pieces and try to see which dimensions are combinable inside the confines of the box. 

I found several ways that all the pieces would fit inside but the restricted opening meant that I was unable to achieve the vast majority of them. I played for a couple of days with it and failed every time until I had a sudden Aha! moment and all 6 pieces were inside. I was very pleased with myself and took my obligatory photo. Only when I received the introduction from Volker did I begin to question myself. My solution did not have any fancy locking mechanism and seemed a lot simpler than most of the previous Euklid puzzles. I looked at the solution that was provided by Jakub and my solution was different. You have 2 challenges here - an easier one (mine) and a REALLY fancy one that was the one intended by the designer. The intended solution requires thought and dexterity - it is very impressive (rather like Bernhard!)

Stefka-Flop

Stefka-Flop by Dr Volker Latussek

This is another (and to me, unexpected) entry in the Flop series of packing puzzles. I have said on several occasions that this Flop series of puzzles by Dr Latussek are an incredible feat of puzzle design and when coupled with Pelikan's magnificent craftsmanship and wood choices, they are some of the highlights of my packing puzzle collection. This one was stipulated to be made with a glorious Purpleheart box and Acacia soma pieces. Volker wrote the following about this puzzle:

"Since 1987, the 1996 Bulgarian Olympic champion, Stefka Kostadinova, has held women's high jump the world record with a height of 2.09 meters - providing a fitting conclusion to my little series of packaging puzzles with the STEFKA-FLOP. As previously announced, LITTLE TETRA-FLOP will come as an encore, however, I would still like to pursue the principle further and use the term FLOP here and there, e.g. perhaps for a COFFIN-FLOP.

STEFKA-FLOP with seven pieces follows DICK-FLOP with its six Tetra cubes and FRITZ-FLOP with only five pieces. The boxes are completely filled, and the opening is so large that some pieces have to tumble out of the box. STEFKA-FLOP has a very unusual, and very beautiful, new turning movement in before a flop.

Oskar van Deventer has previously published STEFKA-FLOP under the name UNFOLDED-FLOP. The seven pieces corresponds to the SOMA CUBE with an unfolded v (I). That was a consolation, because at first, I couldn't find a SOMA-FLOP with all seven pieces of the SOMA-CUBE."

They are not just packing puzzles with restricted openings...they are also variants on the Soma cube, using entirely Soma shaped (or a subset of them) and also are TICs as well with the very important requirement that a few of the pieces cannot fit through the entryway without rotation and then often need rotation into place inside the box which adds a special requirement for the correct order.

The Soma cube has 240 3x3x3 assemblies and I am still ashamed to say that it takes me quite some time to find even one of them! And that is without the restriction of doing it within a box and also without further hindrance of restricted entry and rotational moves! This is going to be a hell of a challenge for any puzzler. I spent 3 days attempting this amazing feat of puzzle design and had to peek at the solution to find the last 3 pieces to be inserted. Having restricted the number of pieces I needed to experiment with, I finally managed to find a bunch of cubes that assembled that way and then still could not get them into the box. With a deadline looming I looked at the cube assembly that was required and spent another happy hour or so working out how to put it inside the box. Even with a huge clue, it is still a decent challenge. I am sure that the rest of you with more time to play will manage this without help.

This is a fantastic addition to the series and I cannot wait to see the others that Volker intends (I am sort of hoping they won't be quite so tough).

SISU

SISU by Benjamin Heidt

The word Sisu is a Finnish word - it is not easily translatable into English but it roughly means:

Strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity. Sisu is not momentary courage, but the ability to sustain that courage. 

Does this mean that it requires enormous strength of will to solve it? I also noticed that there is a hole in the box which goes all the way through and remembered the scene from the recent movie where the hero stabbed a Nazi in the head through and through with his knife. I've added the image below - it's not suitable for people of a nervous disposition or children - You have been warned! Don't look unless you really want to know what the Finnish war hero, Sisu did.

It has been beautifully made by Jakub and team from Mahogany, Ash, some magnets and a steel ball bearing. It is a restricted entry packing puzzle as we have seen many times before and also has pieces that are based on the Soma puzzle. Making this one very different from the others we have seen before, the pieces have some beautifully drilled holes in them. Some of these holes are blind ending and others are part of a channel through the piece and out another hole. The aim seems to be to assemble the pieces in the box and close the lid on top and then to roll the ball bearing through the maze that has been created until it comes out the other side. This means that the assembly requires the formation of a maze that goes entirely through the puzzle. This significantly adds to the challenge!

Now this is an interesting puzzle to write about! I have so far not come even close to solving the full thing. Just before starting to write this review, I have finally managed to assemble the pieces into a cube shape - I am ashamed to say that this has taken me a whole day! I then went to BT and discovered that there is only one possible assembly for these pieces into a cube. I will then need to see how to get them into the box through the H-shaped entry - I assume that only one of the 6 possible orientations of the cube will be possible to assemble in the box and probably not without some fancy sequential moves. The pieces that have rotational symmetry will need to be oriented correctly to form the complete maze - whilst the piece shape might be symmetrical, the holes and channels are not. After this I will have a blind maze to negotiate with the ball bearing.

I love a puzzle with multiple challenges and this will require some significant "Sisu" to achieve it! Despite not having completed the challenge yet, I know that this will be an essential purchase for you all. Hopefully Mrs S will not get upset with my muttering and stab me through the head later tonight!

Thank you Jakub, Jaroslav and team for the wonderful challenges and also to the amazing designers - you are all brilliant. 

Get there at 2pm CEST on 17th April to get your pick of these puzzles.

Gravitational Burr

A Burr That’s Also a Maze

Gravitational Burr by Junichi Yananose
Gorgeous wood!

Well, what a way to start the year! First, I start on the amazing PicoLock and now I have a stunning and fun chunk of wood sent all the way from t'other (getting in touch with my inner Yorkshireman) side of the world.

This beauty has been made from a rather gorgeously grained American Black Walnut and Juno has mixed and matched the light grained pieces with the dark to make something arrestingly beautiful (I am a sucker for lovely wood) and the fact that it is a fabulously tactile 117mm across in each direction makes for a really nice thing to play with. The only downside is that my Juno puzzle collection is currently stuffed into 2 shelves of my Billy bookcases and this (plus the equally stunning Dual Meanders Box I also received) will now no longer fit in that space and I will need another reconfiguration.

Looking at it, you would think: "so what! It's just another 6 piece burr. Surely everything interesting has been done with this type of puzzle?" You might be right about that as I have multiple burr sets and am always on the lookout for more but this is NOT "just" a 6 piece burr. Juno has added a ball bearing inside and a track for it - therefore it is a 7 piece burr and the seventh piece needs to move around inside to allow the other 6 to move.

In fact, it is even more amazing than that. It is actually a level one 6 piece burr with a solid key piece which Juno has made into a level 2 one by having a tiny locking move that needs to be pushed to allow the key piece to slide. The locking mechanism is held firm by a pair of magnets. Once the key piece is unlocked then the first movements are possible and it quickly becomes clear where the name Gravitational burr" came from. You cannot initially see the ball bearing but you know it is there and the only way to manipulate it is to rock the puzzle side to side or turn it over and over. It is clear when the bearing has moved because you can hear it click to a new position. It is only after 4 moves that you can actually see the ball bearing and at this point a small part of the track/maze that it is in can be seen.

4 Moves in and the BB with some maze is revealed

Having found the bearing, I return to the beginning and try it again - it is weirdly satisfying just rolling the ball around and controlling where it goes by holding the key piece tight and clamping the ball in place and not allowing it to roll or fall until I was ready. I found a choice at the 5th move and I carried on deeper into the maze. After a few more moves I lost my courage and returned to the beginning again...except I couldn't get back to the beginning! GULP! Lost already? I knew that I was in good company because Goetz had got himself into the same difficulty. It was a little early for a full on panic and I just wiggled it about in every direction I could whilst manipulating the movable piece and, after a rather fraught 10 minutes, it was back at the beginning again. Phew! I was unable to play with this whilst Mrs S was around. She often takes the piss out of me for listening to puzzles and she very rarely will sit in silence - there is always radio or music or TV on around her and if it's too loud or too distracting then I cannot tell where the bearing is going.

I carried on with my exploration and found another pathway and all of a sudden my ball bearing was peeking out at me in a different part of the maze on a new section of the puzzle. How on earth did I get there? Back-tracking was really hard as I hadn't been really paying attention to orientation as well as piece position and I must have missed an opening. It took me a whole evening to return to the start.

Time to think©! Ouch! I could see that this was going to be rather complex and maybe I was going to have to draw a maze pathway. I started off doing just that and quickly came to the conclusion that my mapping skills weren't going to work. The problem for me and the fun part of this puzzle is that it is not just a burr...it is a maze and to make it extra fun it was a dynamic maze because the pathways moved with the key piece and parts that are blocked become available to explore only at certain positions. On top of this, the bearing needs to be moved by gravity making it impossible to randomly find your way through. I would go as far as to say that randomly exploring will get you into trouble as you will almost certainly get lost and then be in trouble.

Oh, the think©ing hurt me bad this time. I suspect that designing a hidden maze inside a burr using Burrtools might not be that difficult for an expert but that would almost certainly lead to a puzzle that required a lot of random moves and luck to get through - it would not be a good puzzle. Here Juno shows his true genius - with the Gravitational burr, Juno had designed the maze in such a way that once the initial confusion of manipulating the bearing and it popping up in odd places has been overcome, then the think©ing makes you realise that he is showing you different bits of the maze as you go. First you see the top of the key piece, then you see the sides of the key piece and later, a bit by surprise, you get a peek inside the body of the burr and see pathways on the fixed walls of the cavity. Each time you see a bit more it opens up a possible section for use. 

In the end, I actually deliberately worked my way through the pathway section by section until all of a sudden the key piece is in a very extended position to allow the extraction of other parts and full disassembly of the burr. Again, the genius of Juno is shown by the presence of a magnet which holds the ball bearing in place so that it doesn't fall out and get lost in the furniture or swallowed by a cat. In retrospect, I realised that magnet also held the bearing in place at the start of the puzzle - there is no rattle if you listen to the closed puzzle.

All 6 (7) pieces and Juno's stamp is revealed.

Once the puzzle is in pieces then the true genius is on show and you can look at the complexity of the pathway. Not really a spoiler but if you don't want to see the key piece detail then don't click the show hide.

Only half the key paths shown

Now it was time for reassembly. Juno has provided a quick assembly method which doesn't use the maze at all - there is a big cavity in one of the pieces where you can store the bearing and just assemble the 6 piece burr without it.

Ball in the hole and then assemble the burr for a level 2 puzzle

As usual, I had not paid attention properly to the positioning of the pieces and which order they came out in. Have I told you before that I am truly awful at assembly puzzles? To my eternal shame, it took me several hours to reassemble the burr without using the maze. Blush! 

Once I had worked out the burr assembly I was then able to deliberately work out my sequence of moves whilst able to see inside the puzzle and plan out the true reassembly. It took me about an hour to work it out and be certain of the sequence and orientation. Such fun even when you can see everything in place.

This puzzle is a masterpiece! It looks gorgeous, it looks simple and has layer upon layer of complexity and is definitely not solved by chance. It requires initial blind exploration followed by a reveal or 2 or 3 and then definite planning of your moves. Finally the reassembly is not just a simple backtrack - I wanted to truly understand it in its' entirety and that took some time and a lot of fun. Thank you Juno!

The Dual Meanders Box is waiting for me and after just a tiny bit of exploration, I have to say that it frightens me a lot - there are 506 moves to open it!

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Are you a Brass monkey fan? You should be! The BM puzzles are amazing. The 6th Brass monkey burr has just gone up for preorder/early bird sale! The previous 5 were amazing and this is set to be the very best yet. Go buy it now.

Brass Monkey 6 preorder information

Hanayama Master Sword

Hanayama Master Sword

The box is more beautiful than the puzzle!

I just realised that the photo above is not actually a terribly good pic! Depth of field issues - sorry about that. At the end of October I reviewed the Hanayama Triforce puzzle which I broadly enjoyed even if it was actually much easier to solve than the advertised level of 5 out of 6. The other two in the series have been sitting in my pile of to be played with toys but I seem to have had very limited time this last week and I only managed to start playing with this last night.

This is another in the Legend of Zelda series produced in collaboration (or maybe just with permission from) Nintendo. The Master sword is Link's weapon and here it is captive in a stone with the Hyrule crest insignia on it. Your aim is to free the sword from the stone. I think this might be better marketed in the UK as an Arthurian legend puzzle and called Excalibur.

The puzzle has a sort of pewter coloured metal for the base and collar and the sword is a chromed metal. The base has a weird sort of feel to it - I felt that I was going to get a discolouration or staining of my hands (this did not happen). It is 9.5 x 4.4 x 3.4 cm in size which makes it a little fiddly to grip the parts of the collar and has been ascribed a difficulty level by Hanayama of 6 out of 6 and by PuzzleMaster as 10 out of 10. I sort of agree with this assessment.

On the underneath of the puzzle you can partially see inside but the view does not help during the solve. There is a collar around the sword which is split into two halves. These collar pieces can move up or down and intermittently rotate in either direction depending on position of all the various pieces. This effectively makes the challenge a hidden maze type puzzle which is made more difficult by the fact that there are 4 pieces that can all move independently with certain restrictions which you cannot see. With my puzzle origins being with the Revomaze, I expected to enjoy this challenge and begin mapping fairly early. With such a limited size, I did not expect it to be anywhere near as tough as a Revomaze.

Fiddling early on, it is worrying to discover that the collar can rotate in either direction and also one of the pieces can be pulled up to allow more limited rotation with the piece in this position. I started taking some notes and very quickly realised that there were lots and lots and lots of possible moves after each decision that you make. It is really hard to make a decision tree for it to help keep track. This was rather disheartening and then at some point (not that far in), I must have either allowed a piece to move without me realising or forgot to note a move and I was lost in the maze. Aaaargh! 

I was unable to go back to the beginning by following my notes and I was now left blindly wandering around a maze in the hope that I could either randomly get out or find my way to a reset. I got quite close to a disassembly a few times with everything protruding from the base quite a long way but not enough to allow a release. After about 30 minutes of fiddling blindly I managed to release the pieces:

The sword has been released (spoiler free)

It is interesting to see how the pieces are able to interact and also interesting to look in the prism at the maze obstructions but this is singularly unhelpful in attempting a reassembly.

To put it back together, obviously, the exact reverse of the movements done is required. Except, I had absolutely no idea what I had done. So far I have failed to get this back to the start after an hour. I have got frustratingly close but each time been blocked and ended up inadvertently dismantling again (with a fair while being lost in the maze). I am sure that I will get there eventually but I have to say that I didn't really enjoy this puzzle. It was too random for me with very little thought.

Obviously, if you are a seasoned puzzler then you will be better at it than me and have no problem with it and probably find it quite enjoyable. If you are a collector then this along with the rest of the set is an essential purchase. Zelda fans should probably buy as well.

Intrism Level One Assemble-able Maze

Intrism Level One

Well, this is something very new for me - a puzzle I have to make first. I did buy the Buttonius Crazy elephant dance N-ary puzzle but have not managed to assemble it yet (I made a mistake with some glue and ended up shelving it for a while which has ended up as quite a few years!)

I was contacted by Farhan from Intrism.com a couple of months ago and he offered me (and Allard and Steve) a chance to try their brand new creation - how could I resist? Free puzzle! They started in 2015 with their first design the Intrism Pro and the ethos of sustainability. I had honestly never heard of them until they contacted me and the website with puzzles looked really good. The Level One is their latest creation with a slightly different aim to their earlier puzzles. The puzzle has 2 aspects - there is the one off assembly stage which can be done by following the included instructions or, if you are feeling brave then assemble it from scratch using no instructions and only clues from the numbering of the pieces on the boards.

The contents are very well packed

I have been quite impressed at the thought that has gone into this - the box is compact and fits through a letterbox. It opens up to reveal basic instructions on the inside and all the pieces stacked in boards with any loose easy to lose bits trapped inside. It consists of 3 large boards made from laser-cut and etched Baltic Birch plywood (they have the characteristic smokey smell but not too overpowering and the marble, acrylic box parts and instructions all inside (there is a sticker if you are that way inclined and a small piece of sandpaper if you feel the urge to use it (I didn't):

Quite a few pieces!

It is all nicely labeled and inviting. I set off with the assembly. The website says that it can take anything from 30 minutes to several hours to assemble. I think I took about an hour due to difficulty peeling the paper off the acrylic. I did use the instructions because I wanted something to write about reasonably quickly but I would suggest that for all of you puzzlers reading this, then you will almost certainly want to do it without instructions - I think it is definitely achievable.

Board 1 finished

Starting with Board A and piece 1 I followed the very easy to follow instructions and worked my way through. It really is quite fun. I was impressed at how perfectly everything went. The pieces could be pushed out of the boards with ease (there is a pusher tool to help push any tiny pieces out of their small holes) and the precision of the laser cutting is so good that they pieces fit together absolutely perfectly. Not even a hint of force is needed and it all just slides together. As the pieces snap into place they are snugly held and will not fall off whilst reaching for each subsequent piece. On to the second board and it starts to get more complex and slightly harder to snap the pieces together because you need to find a way to push one on without pushing another earlier piece off. At one point I gave myself a little fright by pushing a piece on with the puzzle on the work surface and there was a small crack and anther piece shot off. Looking at it, I should have realised that one part was slightly protruding at that stage and I should not have pushed down onto a hard surface. Nothing was broken and it was a simple matter of replacing the dislodge section. They offer free replacement parts if you were to break something by accident.

Board 2 finished

It gradually got more and more complex and the sheer complexity was stunning. they have made every attempt to decrease the amount of waste. Just looking at the empty boards after the final pieces are removed shows how close the laser cut pieces had all been placed. After the maze components had been assembled, it was time to assemble the acrylic cube. The instructions say to peel the paper coating off them all first which is much easier said/typed than done! Almost half my assembly time was trying to peel the darned paper off! I keep my fingernails short (something which my patients are probably glad of) and finding an edge was awkward to say the least. In the end, I resorted to a small sharp paring knife and made a bunch of fine cuts on the top of my index fingers and thumbs which will no doubt come to bite me when I am working and use the alcohol gel multiple times a day!

Assembled and ready to play

In the end I had a lovely little 4" cube with a maze and a black marble inside and a nice self assembly stand to display the puzzle - attention to detail is really high here. The aim is to move from one chequered area (it can be seen bottom right above) to the other on the opposite side of the puzzle. The Level one version which I have here is the smallest and cheapest of the three puzzles they sell - it is only £25 compared to the Mini which is £53 (for a 6" puzzle with 130 pieces) and the Pro which is £99 (for a huge 8" puzzle made from 217 pieces). The larger puzzles are more similar to the old Perplexus maze balls which I found so frustrating that I gave them away. The larger puzzles have a large amount of dexterity required as the ball can easily fall off the maze. The Level one is totally different - there is still some dexterity involved to keep going the right way through the path but the ball cannot fall off. The challenge is to find the path and get through it as quickly as possible without taking detours/overshooting. Whilst maze puzzles are no longer really my favourite type of puzzle (I haven't bought a Revomaze since the Gold), I have had a fair bit of frustrating fun working my way through this. There are a total of 16 steps/paths to be taken and a few short blind ends. After about 30 minutes I reached the other side and am slightly ashamed to admit that there might have been a modicum of swearing going on at times.

Overall, I can wholeheartedly recommend this - I think the big one will be quite spectacular as a challenge and on show. They are very nicely made (no glue is required), a rather fun puzzle to assemble with instructions and probably even more fun without and a nice little maze challenge afterwards which is not too difficult. The age range states 8 years old as the limit and that's probably reasonable. The price is good and they are trying to be a sustainable company by partnering with organisations that plant trees and clean the oceans.

Juno Makes a Fantastic Case for Collecting Boxes!

Card Case from Juno

Let me start by saying that there are no spoiler photos in this blog - there are some photos that some might think show too much but I have hidden all the important stuff and what can be seen is visible within 5 seconds of looking at the puzzle.

I told you about this gorgeous puzzle last week - the Card case went on sale last Sunday and sold 120 copies in just a few days (as I write there are still 21 left for sale) and you should definitely consider buying one. In summary, it is beautiful, tactile, fun, with a nice pair of Aha! moments/you sneaky bastard moments. Is it difficult? Not terribly - I really enjoyed the challenges - there are 3 in total and I still have the last one to do.

Juno's Cases so far

Juno has called this the card case because it is the right size to hold some credit cards. I had initally thought that it might be able to hold a pack of cards but that is not so. As a wallet, this seriously fails...If you put your credit cards in it, it's going to be a real problem when it comes to paying for stuff. Even when you know the solution, it takes a good few minutes to get it open and, I don't know about you, but this will not fit into either trouser pocket (pants to you yanks) or jacket pocket to carry it around. I guess it might be good at slowing Mrs S down in her shopping but she has her cards on her phone for that unfortunately. I think that I have all the other cases that he has made and I am certain that many of you will delight in reminding me that they are actually boxes which Juno has named in such a way as to allay my aversion to collecting boxes. It was a sobering thought when George informed me and the world that if bread fits inside then they are all boxes and Juno began adding loaves to my puzzles as a joke. In fact, if we accept that they are boxes if they are cases or called boxes then Juno has tricked me into buying quite a lot of boxes over the years. I had to think how much I have spent on this little lot (I REALLY hate to think that Mrs S might find out!)

Cases and boxes from Juno

Right, sorry about the side-track. Back to the Card case...

This beauty is instantly recognisable as Juno's work. He has made them from Bubinga (Sap wood), Jarrah, American Rock Maple, Golden Sassafras and Plywood (Oak + Poplar core). It's a nice comfortable puzzle to play with due to its' size at 112 x 86 x 55 mm and the very nice tactile bevelling on the edges. Juno has classified it as a hidden maze-type puzzle box (another reason that it's Ok for me to own) and as you play with it, you will be able to partially see the hidden paths and reach the goal if you persevere in your efforts. He also states that there is more than one challenge to the puzzle. Apart from opening the puzzle the next step is to remove the red-coloured slider at the top without using an external tool. After that has been done Juno has given us a second, much more difficult, maze to try and navigate blind.

As I have already said, the maze quickly becomes visible once you start to play but not quite all of it. Some parts you need to deduce during your navigation. If you have worked on a Revomaze then this will be right up your street (the mazes are nowhere near as complex as them). Once you have worked your way through the maze a bit then you suddenly realise that you haven't really made any progress. Something is odd about this puzzle and then you will have to Think© (just a little bit) to interpret some of the clues that Juno has put in front of you. First Aha! moment under your belt and then you have some more work to do and it is quite fun. I tried to do it without mapping and managed quite a lot of it but eventually did need to take some notes on the paths. After about an hour (because I'm rubbish at boxes) I had the maze removed but this has not completely opened the box - the red slider was still trapped:

First stage done but it's not open yet
what little you can see of the maze is NOT a spoiler

The next step to finally opening it shouldn't take you too long if you are used to boxes. For me, I am not terribly bright and I thunk© and thunk© and thunk© to no avail. Time for an iced coffee - it is bloody hot in the UK just now. The room where I puzzle is currently 30.6ºC and the thermometer in the sun on the back of my house is reading 44ºC - Ouch! My study where I write the blog posts is at the cooler front of the house but I have a bit of a space problem just now:

I really must tidy up before "she" starts throwing things away!

After my coffee, I had a little brainstorm and my "what if I" moment turned to a final solution - delightful and clever. 

Fully solved and ready for reassembly with the other maze
Once you have seen the other maze, you will realise why it is so much more difficult.

Obviously I had to buy this to ensure my collection remained complete but you also should buy it - it is a lovely idea, absolutely stunning to look at and play with, might work as a credit card wallet and is pretty reasonably priced ($192AUD is about $136USD, £112GBP or €133) - this is not one that will break the bank. Juno has produced a lot of them with the aim to prevent the puzzle flippers making a fast buck and ruining everything for everyone.

Now I need to go and lie down because of the heat - hopefully the cat won't join me! 😱😱😱