I'm On A Roll With Incredible Puzzles!

Cold Duck Time by Stephan Baumegger

I saw when Stephan entered this puzzle in the IPP design competition last year and thought that it looked absolutely amazing. I was not surprised that it was one of the top 10 vote getters because these sorts of puzzles are just elegant and often can leave you with a smile or even a big grin when you see the eventual solution. These simple packers are some of the most fun puzzles of all due to their innate simplicity and yet still have an amazing challenge to them. I had to wait until the beginning of this year for Stephan to catch up with orders and make a few extras. I jumped on it straight away though. and was not surprised at the beauty and sheer workmanship in it when it arrived.

There are just 4 rather complex hinged pieces to be placed in a 3x3x3 box with a partially blocked entrance. Three of them are identical and consist of a 1x1x3 piece attached to a 1x1x2 by a bolt that allows them to rotate freely on each other. The four piece consists of 2 of the 1x1x3 pieces attached to each other via a 1x1x2 piece using 2 bolts. This one can also be freely moved into any shape you like. 

The picture at the top gives an idea of how freely the pieces can move. The curves on the ends of all the pieces are beautifully smooth making the puzzle a gorgeous tactile experience. It is all so smooth and beautiful.

The main challenge is to place all the pieces in the box to ensure that the top surface is completely filled. The pieces have 23 voxels in total, adding the two constrained in the box makes 25. There will therefore be 2 empty voxels hidden inside which must obviously be needed to allow them to slide into place.

Arrival position - it pays to take note!

Having taken the pieces out to examine them and take my photo, I had to quickly put them away as I was being called by the current wife to do something around the house. I am much to frightened of her to ask for time to play first so I left the puzzle in pieces and went off to do as I was told. When I went back to it, it was much too late to play so I decided to take it to work and play there if I got some time. I then decided to put the pieces back in the box for transport. Or at least I tried to! I had not really paid any attention to the transport positions and had left it for far too long to have any recollection at all. I ended up taking it to work with the pieces in a zip lock bag. 😱

As usual, I started by attempting to place the pieces in the box to see where they could go. It's pretty obvious that the biggest piece has to be in a particular configuration to possibly fit in a 3x3x3 volume. Also there is a single voxel in the top layer that is going to be a huge challenge to get filled. I started with that and realised that at least one rotation was going to be necessary. A bit of experimentation revealed that achieving the filling of this voxel blocks off the remainder of the box filling. Time to think©...ouch!

Rachael getting frustrated

At this point, I had to think outside the box to find configurations that might be possible with gaps to fill with the fixed blocks. The smooth curves, the very mobile joints and the incredibly fine lacquer finish on the pieces make this a frustrating puzzle to assemble outside the box - it keeps slipping out of your fingers and ends up as a There actually doesn't appear to be that many assemblies. I found a nice one and proceeded to work on assembling it in the box. Everything I tried got stuck. I stopped for a few minutes for another think© and had a lovely little Aha! moment.  What if I tried this complex move sequence? Oh YES!

The final assembly is an absolute joy to perform. As soon as I had it, I realised why it had received the award. The solution is not hugely difficult, it is just supremely elegant! I would go as far as to say a beautiful solution!

I have kept it in my work bag for a week or so and let a bunch of people play with it during a big 10 hour case in which we had some time to play between blood transfusions! I was delighted that none of my usual colleagues were able to solve it - Rachael gave it a good try but also gave up and insisted that I show her how it was done. She, and everyone else who tried, was rather gobsmacked at the eventual solution.

If you get a chance to own or play with it then go for it. This is so delightfully elegant in its simplicity and solution that it is yet another candidate for a top ten(ish) of 2026. Thank you Stephan!