Pelikan Summer Release Part II

Continuing what I started last week. Jakub sent me the latest offerings which I suspect will be released later this week. I showed them off at the MPP yesterday and a several people were completely bamboozled by them. 

Minima For Frederic

Minima for Frederic by Dr Volker Latussek

Oh, Yesssss! More Minima puzzles! By now, you will all have realised that I absolutely adore the Minima series and all its' variants. Initially they were designed by Frederic Boucher to have a box with a 2x2x3 cavity and varying numbers of oddly shaped, but small, pieces to be fitted inside the box. Usually the aim was to make sure all the holes were occluded and at times the solution required interesting rotations of the pieces. Some of the puzzles had clever slots in the box to facilitate the rotations which did sometimes make the puzzle very confusing. One or two of them had extra "bits" attached to the pieces. Other designers jumped on the bandwagon with all sorts of interesting shapes and challenges. I have loved every single one of them so far. There is something very special about Volker's brain - he sees shapes and movements that almost no-one else can see and produces challenges that are incredibly difficult and interesting to explore. He created the amazing Minima-Flop and I have been waiting with bated breath for another special Minima from him. Here we have, not only another fun Minima designed by Volker, but also a Minima which he felt was good enough to be named as a tribute to the originator of this series, Frederic. Jakub and team have manufactured it from a very beautifully grained Oak and Wenge. Volker wrote this about the puzzle:

"A few years ago, Frederic Boucher wrote to me and invited me to contribute to his MINIMA series. To make my decision easier, he suggested that I didn’t have to fill the box’s internal volume strictly as 3x2x2, but could also consider using half-cubes and thus interpret the box as 6x4x4. I still remember well how I expressed my confusion to him about this; from my point of view, this offer – though certainly well-intentioned – contradicted the originally intended minimalist design concept of a 3x2x2 box, given the generous interpretation of the strict guidelines.

Now we all know what outstanding ideas Frederic was able to realise in his MINIMA series. Nevertheless, I wanted to resist this temptation and only agreed to the project under the strict conditions. I’m still pleased with the result today: MINIMA-FLOP, especially as I was able to completely fill the 3x2x2 box with four identical Tricubes and incorporate the FLOP moves – which were so important to me – into the solution. In fact, I was very satisfied with the result, and I think Frederic was too.

However, when I was recently playing with one of my 14-piece complete sets of building blocks of the same size, I checked whether six of these building blocks – each consisting of one cube and two half-cubes – could be used to fill a 6x4x4 box in an appealing way. I was pleased to find that, out of the 924 possible arrangements, only 13 filled a 6x4x4 volume in 50 different ways. For whatever reason, I then looked for suitable 3x2 openings – which I’m familiar with from my FLOPs – in order to offer a challenging and unique solution. I was so impressed by the result that, despite my initial reluctance, I asked Frederic if he would sponsor it. To my great delight, he agreed immediately, and so Pelikan is now able to release this puzzle under the name MINIMA FOR FREDERIC. I’m very pleased about this, and I think Frederic is too."

As you can see above, the puzzle arrives in a special transport configuration which took me quite a long time to actually unravel from the box. It is so nice to have this extra challenge. It reveals the rather unusual pieces to be packed inside:

Six interesting pieces to be packed.

Having managed to unpack the pieces, I realised that the assembly was going to be a huge challenge. Especially when you remember the rest of Volker's incredible rotational packing puzzles. I actually struggled to make the 4x4x6 cuboid for a while and when I did construct one, I placed it alongside the box and looked for ways the shape could possibly be taken apart through the holes. The cuboid could be arranged in 8 ways to try and interestingly, only 3 of them had even a single removable piece which was very helpful but to my horror, none of those positions would allow a second piece removal (even with interesting rotations). The constraints of the box just wouldn't let another piece out. At this point I was worried that there might be dozens of assemblies of the pieces to then try and find a way to get them inside the box. Because of my time-constraints, I went to Burrtools to look for cuboid assemblies. There are just 2 and I had found the wrong one first. 

I used BT and constructed the correct assembly and looked again to see how it could be disassembled using the various holes in the walls. 

The first piece obviously has to just lift out the top hole but after that there is a sequence of clever rotations using the holes until there are just 2 pieces remaining. Those two pieces did look impossible to place inside but obviously that was going to be the main challenge that Volker had intended. Time to set to proper work...

At this point, I had my assembly order positions and then "just" had to work out how to get the first two pieces into position. I tried for days to get them inside and in position for the third piece to be placed but I just couldn't get them into place. I went back to the cuboid several times to see whether I had missed an alternative assembly or orientation but it was correct. There is plenty of room in the box but those two pieces need a very clever and very specific set of moves around each other to get them into place. After 3 days of trying, I finally packed them into place and after that the rest rotated into the correct placements fairly easily.

My Goodness! It's absolutely brilliant!

If you like Minima puzzles then you must buy this. If you like Latussek puzzles then you must by this. Hell, if you Like puzzles then you must buy this! It is up there with the best Minima puzzle designs by Frederic - it is a very suitable tribute. Thank you Volker.

Fatomino

Fatomino by Dr Volker Latussek

This gorgeous creation has been made by Pelikan using American Walnut and a rather fabulous Zebrano. As soon as I saw it I was immediately taken back to one a fabulous packing puzzle by Hajime Katsumoto in 2016, Penta in a box. 

In the original puzzle, the cavity of the box was a 3x3x3 cube and there were 5 planar pentominoes to be fitted inside allowing the lid to close over them. It looks pretty easy but there is a catch - the lid cannot close over any piece in the top row at the front and any piece in the lid cannot close over an adjacent piece that would end up behind it. This simple looking packing puzzle required quite a lot of thought. So what could Volker possibly do to improve on such a simple but fun design? Volker wrote his thoughts about it:

"It’s already been 10 years since Hajime Katsumoto caused a stir with his PENTA IN A BOX – a brilliant idea to pack five of the twelve flat Pentacubes into a 3x3x3 box with a clamshell lid. As I don’t collect puzzles myself, it wasn’t until years later, during a joint visit, that I was able to play with Götz Schwandtner’s copy at Bernhard Schweitzer’s house. The interplay between the Pentacubes and the clamshell lid feels really good. And the chosen mix of the five Pentacubes is truly something special. 

I’ve been experimenting for some time now with the FATs – the 15 Pentacubes, each of which is described by a 3x2x2 envelope. In doing so, I naturally also recalled PENTA IN A BOX; interestingly, I hastily dismissed it again because I concluded that there couldn’t be five FATs that could fit into a 3x3x3 box with a clamshell lid. Something very fundamental went wrong with this thought experiment. How foolish of me, considering that there are 262,344 cuboid arrangements. An obvious mistake. 

For with FATOMINO and its one of potentially 303 combinations of five FATs, it is even possible to achieve a filling with a unique solution. What’s more, I maintain that there is no other combination with a unique solution. In this sense, FATOMINO, modelled on PENTA IN A BOX, is unique. In fact, I would very much like it to stay that way."

I did ask Volker why he called the pieces "FATs" and apparently it originated from George Miller who described the pieces as being able to fit in a FAT cigar box. It is just a way to refer to the NON-planar pentominoes. The pieces are very interesting and very satisfying to play with:

A beautiful hinged box and 5 non-planar pentominoes

Recalling the problems that I had with the original puzzle, I knew what sort of arrangements I had to attempt to create:

Not going to work

The aim was to make 2 separate packings that can be folded onto each other with a hinged edge. This sounds very simple but it took me quite a while to realise that the intersection of the leading edges as the hinge closed was really causing a problem. I had to hunt for a very particular arrangement. It would be tempting to brute force this with Burrtools but it shouldn't be necessary. After a few failures, you should be able to think of the type of organisation that you need and then hunting for it is tough but fun.

Yet again, Volker produces a variation on an award winning puzzle and manages to make it even better than everything that has gone before. This is a MUST have puzzle as well! It is simply superb. If you enjoyed Penta in a box then you will adore this one.

Flummox

Flummox by Benjamin Heidt

This is the second burr in this summer release by Pelikan. Both of them have been sent out in an unsolved position and the aim is to created the solved shape before then completely disassembling and then reassembling it fully. Flummox is well named as it is VERY difficult and will really challenge even the best burrista's. It is a caged 6 piece burr with "extra constraining pieces" and a stick length of 8 voxels made from a very striking combination of Zebrano, Purpleheart and Maple. When it arrives, one of the burr sticks is protruding up out of the box and will not simply push back into place.

It took me a good ½ hour of fiddling about (there are quite a lot of possible moves of the other 5 pieces) before you can make enough space to sink the protruding stick back to flush with the cage.

After this, obviously, the challenge is to disassemble the burr completely into 6 sticks and a frame. This is not for a beginner to burrs. It really is a very complex disassembly and there are a LOT of well disguised moves including lateral as well as forward and backward moves. The disassembly level is 30.1.2.3.2.2. Whilst that doesn't look too bad and I would usually say that is an optimal number of moves for a satisfying burr but in this case, with a frame, and being very difficult to see inside, this is VERY difficult. It's very rewarding when the pieces start to come out but even after the removal of one or two of them, the remainder remain very difficult to remove. This will be impossible for most puzzlers to reassemble without resorting to Burrtools but creating that file will be an extra challenge for you.

That was a massive challenge!

Fudou

Fudou by Frederic Boucher

Yes, another incredibly tough challenge by Frederic Boucher. I had to ask Jakub what the aim was. The Bubinga pieces arrived all nicely packed in the tray and I wondered whether we had to create some sort of structure that would stand up. I should have realised that this had a much simpler premise - the aim is to pack all the pieces into the tray in such a way that none of them are able to slide around. The triangular notches cut into most of them will allow them to interlock at 45º angles to each other and will ensure that they can be placed against the wall of the tray to prevent sliding. i.e. pack them into the tray but not orthogonally - simple? Hell, no!

I am terrible at anti-slide puzzles. I have managed to find a few very interesting ways the pieces can interact. The aim seems to be to find which pieces will fit together so that their corners reach the sides of the tray and then won't move if others are matched up to do the same. There must be a logical way of thinking about these but I have no skills in this sort of puzzle. It is a fun thing to play with but for me, I have made almost no progress in the 2 weeks that I have been playing.

For you clever puzzle enthusiasts this should be a massive challenge. Anything from Frederic is going to be very rewarding.

Pelikan Waits For No Man!

Having returned from the IPP, sneaked my new puzzles in (in their rucksack) and secreted them around my study, I started to work my way through them. I thought I was doing pretty well and felt I might just manage to get a few blog posts in before anything else arrived (I might have a couple on the way). Just when I thought I was safe, Jakub contacted me to say that he was ready with the next batch of Pelikan wonder. My first thought was: "Hooray! More gorgeous beauty and fabulous, difficult challenges" This thought was rapidly followed by another: "She's going to kill me!" Luckily, this time, the box arrived, and it was smaller than the previous ones. She who must be feared thought there were fewer puzzles in there, but don't tell her...they have just been packed tighter. Gulp.

Matruschka

Matruschka by Benjamin Heidt

3 tiny pieces make a stand

There have been quite a few creations on this blog from Benjamin. He designs interlocking puzzles and burrs that are just the right difficulty level for most puzzlers, with some very interesting design features and a lovely sequence to explore. Many burrs are much too complex for most due to multiple long blind dead ends, or alternatively have too simple a sequence and no challenge. Benjamin always gets it right, and Matruschka is a beautiful example. This chunky puzzle is made from Wenge, Cherry and Acacia with a diminutive stand made from Merbau. Looking at it, I was slightly confused as there only appears to be Wenge and Cherry visible, but after a couple of moves, the reason for the name and the extra wood type becomes apparent. A matryoshka doll is the name for the Russian nested dolls, but here Benjamin and the Pelikan team have taken the idea and altered it a little bit to make a nested burr.

The initial exploration reveals quite a few possible moves, and I was worried about having lots of long blind ends to explore, memorise and discount on my way to the correct solution. You can be reassured that, as usual, Benjamin has got it just right. There are quite a few possible ways to start, but the sequences are short before they stop, and you are forced to look elsewhere. The tolerances of the burr manufacture are superb, with everything sliding beautifully. The correct sequence is very well hidden, but once found, you are quickly on your way to the disassembly, and more and more pieces can be removed after you look for the unlocking sequence. The burr within a burr is revealed nicely:

Acacia burr nested within the final 3 large burr sticks

Once the inner burr is released, it can also be disassembled into 6 very beautiful sticks and then the whole lot displayed. 

 

That's a LOT of burr sticks!

The reassembly would actually have been possible for me without the use of burrtools, as I had sequentially removed pieces and placed them in their correct order and orientation on a table. I think most puzzlers should also manage the reassembly if they are careful to do this. Unfortunately, a cat decided to run across my carefully arranged table and scatter the sticks widely. A few unsafe for blogging words were uttered, and Burrtools was going to be my next step.

Once you have done the reassembly that you found then it is time to do it all over again! The 3-piece stand that is interestingly burr shaped can actually be reassembled inside the 6 piece burr so we end up with a burr in a burr in a burr! This is simply amazing!!!

This is a wonderful challenge for all burr aficionados, just the right difficulty level! With an extra twist at the end.

Surround Wil

Surround Wil by Frederic Boucher

There seems to be no end to the puzzle design skills of Frederic Boucher - there are several of his designs in this upcoming Pelikan release. This delightful packing puzzle is fun and should be perfect for all puzzlers of all levels. The puzzle is made from Acacia and a very vibrant Purpleheart. It is quite reminiscent of some of the packing puzzles by Yuu Asaka. There are 4 longer pieces with curved ends, and half-circles cut out, plus 5 disks, all to be fitted into a tray that is too small to take the long pieces side-by-side. If you look at my photo, the top-most large piece is tilted as it doesn't fit in.

This inability to fit the pieces side by side is a big clue that you need to get inventive with how the big pieces can be organised. I found a lovely way to get them all in the tray, but then the half-circle cutouts had been filled, with no space left for the disks. Time to think© and get creative. There is a lovely Aha! moment in this one, and it is very satisfying to pack them all in. This will be coming to work with me to challenge my colleagues - it's perfect for casual puzzling..

T Time!

T Time! by Frederic Boucher

This wonderfully clever packing puzzle by Frederic had me fooled for most of the week. It looks like a simple tray packing puzzle, but there is MUCH more to it. There is a 5x5 space inside the tray and 5 T-shaped pieces to be fitted inside alongside a 2x2 smiley disc. That doesn't look too difficult until you realise that the tray is covered by an acrylic cover with a T-shaped hole in it, in one corner. This explains the nicely curved corners on the pieces - they need to be inserted and manipulated using the holes in the bottom of the tray, plus some use of gravity, until they are in position. There will obviously need to be some rotational moves as they cannot possibly be arranged in the same orientation as the hole in the lid. It doesn't take long to find at least one (if not a few) possible arrangements of the pieces in that 5x5 space, but then the fiddly task of actually getting them into place begins, and, OMG, it's difficult! I spent several days trying everything I could to pack them all in. Nothing would work, and I had to stop for a bit and think© again. 

Finally, after several days of work, I had a special thought (unusual for me!) and realised that there was something very unusual about the design. My jaw dropped when I finally succeeded - Frederic is a genius!

Convolution Cube

Convolution Cube by Stewart Coffin

Convolution ball

Over the 15 years of this website, I have reviewed several versions of the Convolution puzzle by the amazing Stewart Coffin. This incredible interlocking design is not solvable by Burrtools due to the requirement for a rotational move with one of the pieces (does that make it a TIC?). I have a version from Brian Menold and a fabulous spherical version from Pelikan.

I personally would say that a Convolution (as well as its associated cousins, Involute and Involution) should be part of every serious puzzler's collection. All 3 are essential. If you don't have this, then you owe it to yourself to buy a copy. The Pelikan team have done a wonderful job creating this out of multiple different beautifully vibrant woods and the fit is just perfect!

Only 7 pieces but great fun!

The next bunch of puzzles will be reviewed next week - they include more from Dr Volker Latussek, another from Benjamin Heidt and then yet another unusual puzzle from Frederic Boucher. Wish me luck solving them!

This Minima Is NOT Minimal

Minima Tokyo aka Jammed Coin - Tom and Team are BACK!

Minima Tokyo aka Jammed Coin from Frederic Boucher and Ars Aenigma

I'm back from the IPP recently held in Assisi, Italy and, as expected, promptly caught the lurgy in the airport and have been sneezing and spluttering for a few days. I'm rather sleep-deprived because Mrs S says it's like sleeping next to a swamp monster and she keeps punching me in the ribs to stop the awful gurgling and swallowing noises. Now, there's an image you didn't need! I had an incredible time catching up with old and new friends. Some of them I have communicated with for ages but never actually met. I did manage to buy one or two new toys and was delighted to be given a few as gifts as well. Mrs S asked whether I had many to bring back and I admitted to a few but didn't tell her how many for fear of murder. It is customary to take a photo of your haul before travelling home, and I managed to take this pic (only to realise that there are one or two more that were not included)

Don't tell her about this lot!

Today is a review of the Jammed Coin/Minima Tokyo that won a "top ten vote getter" award at the IPP.

When Tye offered Frederic Boucher's latest sequential discovery Minima puzzle up for sale last year (he had taken it to the Tokyo IPP), I jumped at the chance and received it in November. I hadn't actually realised that this had been produced by Tom Messina and his team at Ars Aenigma (they have begun producing again after their incredible mentor, Eric Fuller, died). I had actually been expecting this to be one of Tye's incredible creations like the Jammed Gem Again, but when it arrived I saw that it had been created from beautiful wood and was blown away by the quality. I still have Eric's Jammed Gem in my pile of puzzles to solve as I have not managed to even find the first move! All of these designs by Frederic are incredible challenges.

The Minima Tokyo/Jammed coin is a typical Minima puzzle having a 2x2x3 box with various openings and several pieces inside. But, different to usual, the aim is not to pack it, the aim is to remove the coin from where it is held captive, sandwiched inside a single cubie. Having admired it for a while, I set to trying to solve it before Xmas last year and delightedly performed the obvious first steps - unscrew the bold in one face which allows a domino piece to be removed. From this, a rod can be removed, and the remaining pieces now slide around inside the box.

First piece out and coin revealed

At this point you can properly admire the beautiful workmanship from Tom. The box is absolutely perfect, made from Walnut and Maple, and the internal pieces are a very vibrant Padauk. There remains three pieces captive inside, and they are able to slide about. One can even rotate. 

Here I got stuck! Just 3 moves in and I could get no further. I read Allard's review repeatedly in the hope that he might have given something away, but there's not even a vague clue there. After 5 months of attempting nothing new, I spoke to Allard about it at the last MPP and all he would say was that Tom was carrying on Eric's amazing tricks. Well that was singularly unhelpful. Every week or so I would pick it up from my desk and have another look. Nothing ever changed. I do know a few of Eric's tricks and tried to find something familiar inside the box, but nope, nothing, nada, nyet.

This puzzle was actually entered in the IPP design competition this year and was available for everyone to play with. The solution was there as well, but I was very careful not to look at it or to watch others solve it. At one point I did look up and saw someone with a LOT of pieces. This renewed my determination to solve the damned thing! It's such a shame that I'm rubbish at puzzles!

A few days ago, I restarted and did my usual few moves. At this point I got my torch and magnifying glass out and had a look at what I had. I did notice one anomaly that gave me a small clue of what might be needed. After a bit of fiddling in a way that I hadn't done before, I suddenly made a huge discovery. Another piece or two came out with a rather fancy move. YESSSSS! Except I was stuck again. But now I knew the kind of things that might be needed. The next move occurred in an unexpected direction to reveal the true woodworking mastery of Tom and team. Amazing! 

After those first well-hidden moves, the sequence continued with a series of tools and working out how to use them. The discoveries come quickly, and each step leads to another after a bit of thought. The Aha! moments are wonderful before the final tool is found to release the coin from its prison. Amazing!

Coin is now un-jammed.

I doubt whether these will be released again, so you should keep an eye on the various auction sites. Frederic has done it again, designing an incredible puzzle, and teaming up with Ars Aenigma is absolutely perfect - it's only fitting that Eric's protégés continue his legacy. Thank you, Tye for the opportunity. I hope that you enjoyed the gift puzzles that I sent back from IPP for you. 

Jammed Again - It's a Gem!

Jammed Gem Again 3D

Allard reviewed this last week which motivated me to get to it as well. Cutting to the end of his review - it's great and you should buy it! The preorder is currently sold out but maybe Tye will have pity on you and open it up again if more of you request it.

This is the 3rd in the Jammed series by Frederic Boucher (Jammed Gem, Jammed Gem Again and, earlier this year, Jammed Coin) and has been heavily influenced by the amazingly talented Josh Clouser. The original Jammed Gem (pictured left was made by the late and dearly missed Eric Fuller in collaboration with Frederic. I have owned this since it was released in 2022 and have singularly failed to solve it. I have obviously completely missed a crucial feature which was a common feature when Eric made a sequential discovery puzzle. I have literally gotten nowhere and actually ended up putting it away. I think I will now have to go back to it. 

Frederic wanted to make a sequel and did so in 2024 where it won a Jury Honourable Mention award in the design competition - it was called Jammed Gem "Again" and was beautifully made from wood. I am not sure who created that one but it was never made generally available for purchase. Just recently, Josh recreated it in PLA, and Tye Stahly (let's not forget Amanda Stahly) put it up for sale on his Nothingyetdesigns store. Whilst it is not as gorgeous as the wood version (I am always biased towards wood), it is still a very attractive puzzle and is very pleasant to look at and hold. I did say to Tye that it doesn't feel 3D printed - it has a lovely texture and feels much more solid than many 3D printed puzzles. There are also quite a lot of other parts inside including magnets and various other metal parts. 

It comes with some very "helpful" instructions. Allard posted my copy to me when I notified the MPP group that I had to work during the last puzzle party. It consists of one of Frederic's usual Minima style boxes (2x2x3 internal dimensions with holes in the sides  and some panels that won't move at all. After I admired it, I set to work and realised immediately that none of the interior shapes would move at all. I obviously needed to release something first. easier said that done! Playing with it quite quickly got me a couple of tools including a broken key chain. The first step in releasing the interior was quite quick after this discovery except it didn't release the interior. I had a hole I had something to put in the hole and nothing happened. Damn! I'm not very good at puzzles. 

I got stuck at this point for a day or so. There were a number of interesting features where magnets attached to metal but this didn't seem to do anything. Eventually I decided to use a torch (flashlight for the Yanks) and suddenly something was visible (had it always ben there? I had no idea but it wouldn't go away until a bit later it was missing. WTF! At this point I had a little thought© and noticed something special. Oooh, that's very clever! I was now able to do other stuff. 

Frederic has put some of his tricks from other puzzles into this and the sequence of discovering new parts, new shapes and new moves is a wonderful journey. It rapidly got so complex with a steadily enlarging pile of pieces and potential tools that I felt the sudden urge to take notes. Gradually, I made progress using various combinations of pieces and suddenly I found the first gem (very nicely hidden (or even "jammed") and then I got stuck again. I was stuck with one gem and no obvious progression for quite a while before contacting Tye to tell him of my progress and asking whether I had missed any pieces in my path. He acknowledged that everything had gone as planned and I needed to look at the puzzle properly to find the next step. Hmmmm!

I looked and looked to no avail until I looked in the right place. There was something very interesting inside but my goodness it was a long way out of reach. Time to think© again and create the biggest tool I had ever seen in an SD puzzle! Suddenly I had what was needed to complete the challenge. I had the inspiration, the second gem and my number (mine said "Test" rather than a number. Absolutely BRILLIANT! There are a LOT of parts in this - I laid them out for a photo and counted 16 pieces that had been removed from the box plus 3 that are captive inside it. It had taken me a  few days to complete. If you haven't pre-ordered it from Tye then you should have. Badger him to see whether there is any chance of extras.

The reset is easier than the solve but you still need to remember what you had done and what went where. This beautiful creation is a definite candidate for my top ten(ish) of 2026. I intend to take this to work and show it to some of my more mechanically minded colleagues. I am definitely going to have to go back to my copy of Jammed Gem and also my Jammed Coin. Frederic is just a genius!

Jammed Coin (wood version)

Zese Are Not For Ze Faint-Hearted

Minima-Ze Series by Frederic Boucher
Produced by Pelikan

Damn! I never thought I would say it, but I wish we hadn't had a sunny day yesterday! The UK has basically had rain almost every day for the whole year so far and it has been thoroughly miserable. But, you all know that us Brits love to discuss and complain about the weather. The garden has been growing wild due to all the rain and the rapid approach of spring. So yesterday, when the forecast was good, I was ousted from the house by "she who frightens even the Gods" and given instructions to tidy up the garden. After 6 hours, I was allowed back in the house and knew that pain was coming. I was not expecting it to be mental as well as physical pain. This morning I awoke with pain - everywhere. Absolutely everywhere. My fingers hurt, my thighs hurt, my shoulders hurt. I hate gardening! The garden looks great but I am in too much pain tp appreciate it! Little did I know that I would add brain pain would be rapidly added to the collection of aches.

I received a nice big box of puzzles from Jakub, Jaroslav and team on Monday and after unpacking, I had to put them away for a few days due to work. The presence of ball bearings bouncing around in an operating theatre is not a good idea so I daren't take them to work. I finally got to investigate on Friday and unfortunately wasn't allowed to play yesterday due to fear of reprisals if I didn't get into the garden. As a result today I have started work on the Minima-Ze series by Frederic Boucher.

These are an interesting variant of his Minima puzzles with a totally different aim.These are not packing puzzles...they should be classified as either Maze puzzles or sequential movement puzzles. The aim is to either remove the/one of the ball bearings that is trapped inside the usual 2x2x3 box or, in the case of Minima-Ze Rally, to run the ball bearing through the maze from entry in one side and and exit on the other.

These diminutive puzzles are perfectly pocket sized and can be carried about without worrying about losing a ball bearing. However once you have started you probably need to be careful because loss is a distinct possibility.

Minima-Ze 1

Minima-Ze (1)

Number one in the series has been made using Leopardwood for the box and Acacia for the pieces. A blue marble is visible in the hole in the top. There is another smaller white marble just visible to the right of it. The aim is to manipulate the pieces to allow the removal of the white ball bearing via the exit hole at the front. Should be easy? Hmm! maybe for you it might be but I struggled. There are two square holes to facilitate movement of the wooden blocks (none of which can be removed) and there is a slot in base which serves no there purpose other than too allow the puzzler to examine the shape of the pieces that are being slid around. After a few minutes of fiddling a couple of oddities can be discerned. It is obviously going to be key to work out what those "oddities" are there for. 

Being a bear of very little brains who was hurting all over, my thought capacity was at a rather low ebb. I am embarrassed to say that it took me well over an hour to realise what was required and actually carry out the required moves. A ball fell out much to the alarming interest of a cat. I retrieved it as quickly as I could before someone swallowed it.

I'm sure it shouldn't have taken me over an hour!

Returning it to the start was another challenge. I was able to place the balls back inside but the once I thought I had them back inside, I either couldn't slide the wooden blocks back inside or the balls were in the wrong order. Another 10 minutes required to get the dexterity to do what was needed. Lovely clever challenge and a nice warm-up for the others in the series.

Minima-Ze 2

Minima-Ze 2

This one is made by Pelikan using Mahogany for the box and Garapa for the blocks. Inside, there is a single ball bearing visible through a hole in the base. The aim here is to manipulate the pieces and navigate that ball bearing through the maze and out through one of the holes in the front. It's not clear at first how this is going to work nor which hole is the exit.

Rocking it back and forth reveals that internal pieces slide around and at one point one of the pieces covering a hole pokes out and has a drilled hole in it. Aha! This would imply that there is a moving path inside the pieces trapped inside and the aim is to work out where the holes are, how they can be manipulated into a pathway and then how to get the ball bearing through it. 

Simple? Ha! Many years ago, I spent months working through the variable mazes inside the Revomaze puzzles and it took me months and months to solve them. I hate to say it but this may happen to me again. So far I have worked out how some parts move but it's very difficult to understand what's happening inside as there is minimal visibility. I have spent a good ½ hour with the ball bearing lost inside somewhere with no idea where it went and absolutely no idea how to return back to the beginning. Shaking it about is no use here! Somehow I have got it back to the start with little idea how. This is a frightening little puzzle and will require a lot of thought in a silent room. I think listening as you go is going to be quite important here.

Minima-Ze 3

Minima-Ze 3

Number 3 in the series has a Limba box and Wenge pieces. It looks rather complex by the presence of a full circumferential belt of holes which are there to help you control the pieces by squeezing fingertips through to prevent parts from moving when you don't want them to. Again, the aim is to remove the silver ball bearing from the puzzle (it is visible through a very small hole in the back wall of the box). 

The clue to the presence of a drilled pathway comes when you manipulate the internal pieces to find that the single piece covering the square hole pokes out with a cavity in it, obviously to deliver the ball bearing to you. There is no other part of the internal maze visible inside and you are expected to build an internal visualisation of the maze by listening to the pieces move and using gravity to control the movement of pieces and ball whilst using your fingers to control which blocks can move.

For 2 hours today I have been playing with this and the ball was lost inside. I had no idea where it was and could not return it back to the beginning. Panic began to set in. Time to put it down and think©. That didn't work for me so I fiddled with it blindly and returned it to the beginning. After the palpitations had settled, I tried again and suddenly the ball was out. 

Solved it - not sure how!

Having taken the photo of it, I now have to return it to the beginning and I am not entirely sure how to go about it. I think I will need to draw a picture of the shapes and where I think the holes/paths might be. 

These are beautiful puzzles and terrific challenges. they are NOT for the faint-hearted! These will keep you challenged for quite some time, require a lot of thought and a very good 3D visuospatial ability to understand and solve.

Minima-Ze Rally

Pelikan version

Nothing yet designs version

I have not yet had time to play with this one. It was also available from Tye Stahly's Nothing Yet Designs store (almost everything seems to be available from him) and maybe if you badger him, it might be available again. I haven't gotten around to it yet but my backlog is out of control just now. I need a long holiday with no gardening to do or even to retire to catch up.

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What else will be available at the next update? I should have reviews ready for next week for you.

The secret of two friends - a design by the Pelikan team - beautifully made from Oak (here) or "sub-fossil" oak

Shrine by Lucie Pauwels - made from Bubinga and Acacia

Diasafe by Lucie Pauwels made from Wenge and Pink Oak

Thyor by Dr Volker Latussekmade from Padua, Maple and Wenge

Pelikan Begin 2026 With An Extravaganza

There are a LOT of fabulous puzzles here

On Monday, February 2nd, 2:00pm CET, Jakub and team will be releasing the first set of wonderful toys for 2026. This release has some truly incredible puzzles to keep you busy for a while. As always, they have been made from glorious woods with incredible precision. The choices of challenge are all superb,

Grid by Lucie Pauwels

Prison by Lucie Pauwels

Donjon by Lucie Pauwels

Yoga I by Benjamin Heidt

Conundrum by Benjamin Heidt

Minima-Flop by Dr. Volker Latussek

Minima XIII by Frederic Boucher

CUBI series by Frederic Boucher

I have had these puzzles for a couple of weeks and have been hard at work solving them so I can review them in time and help you make a choice. Whatever you choose, you cannot really go wrong here. 

Conundrum

Conundrum by Benjamin Heidt

Here we have another fascinating burr by Benjamin Heidt. The box from Pelikan says "mixed woods" but the pre-release gave more information - it has a beautiful set of dark woods (Bubinga, American Walnut, Purpleheart, Wenge and Padauk) arranged into a caged burr containing 4 sticks held vertically alongside each other in a frame. Initially it looks like the frame can split into several more pieces. As usual, Benjamin has created a fun logical sequence of moves that follow each other very nicely without leading you too far into long dark pathways. as you explore, these pieces dance around each other in a circle and go back and forth. After a decent sequence the dance stops dead and there seems to be no way forward and it looks like you need to go back and explore the side paths further. This won't get you anywhere so after a little while of returning all the way back to the beginning and trying alternative starts you realise that there must have been a hidden move at the end of that dance. There is a lovely Aha! moment when you find the cleverly hidden move and then suddenly the dance can continue to the removal of the first piece. The removal of the remaining pieces is now a nice logical sequence that you can work out by looking inside the space left after the initial removal. At level 21.3.3.2 this is a fabulous fun challenge with a lovely Aha! moment to keep any burr solver happy.

The reassembly would be impossible from scratch for all but the best burr solvers but having gone back and forth multiple times, I was able to put it back together straight away from memory with only a bit of experimentation. Fabulous!

Prison

Prison by Lucie Pauwels

There is something compulsive about the packing puzzle designs from Lucie Pauwels! This wonderful little challenge has been beautifully created by Pelikan with a wonderfully contrasting Bubinga frame (prison) and white Maple pieces. The prison consists of a simple 3x3x3 cube but is made much more complex by the addition of a single voxel hole in the floor and ceiling which also have to be filled - on top of that the openings to be fed through are partially obscured on all sides leaving a 2x3 gap on each face. The pieces are a variety of small simple shapes - there are 7 pieces in all to be placed in the prison. I thought initially that this should not be terribly difficult but the slightly limited entry and the need to fill ceiling and floor holes turns this into a proper challenge. Burrtools tells me that there are 151 possible assemblies and I struggled to find even one of them! I think it must have taken me a good 30-45 minutes to get my first one. Working outside the box as is traditional was not helpful as it is really hard to hold the pieces in place as you progressively add more of them. I was forced to work in the prison to use the prison bars to hold the pieces as I added extras. I frequently seemed to be making progress only to either have a final shape impossible to add into the puzzle due to blocking walls or the final gaps were split into several shapes. I had to use a bit of thought to work out an initial approach and then a lot of trial and error to get the first assembly. There is plenty of repeatability here to look for different assemblies.

Late update!!!!

Having posted this article, I was contacted by Lucie this morning to tell me that I had completely misunderstood the nature of the puzzle! Jakub and Simona don't give me the instructions. I had assumed that this was a packing puzzle but I can now tell you that the packing element is a secondary challenge (and not even the toughest challenge). It would appear that the top surface of the prison is held on with rather strong magnets and it can be lifted off to give very good access to the cavity of the prison. The true aim is to place all the inmates inside the prison and then replace the roof. This sounds easy and it really is BUT the pieces need to be placed in such a way that once the roof is back on, the pieces cannot slide out. Yes this is an anti-slide puzzle and looks like a very difficult one. I will need to go back to it soon.

Donjon

Donjon (delivery positions) by Lucie Pauwels

Donjon (or dungeon) is yet another very VERY difficult puzzle from the warped mind (we have one prison and one dungeon in this release!) of Lucie Pauwels.  Made from beautifully contrasting Ash and Wenge, the first challenge is to remove all the pieces from the transport positioning. This in itself was a major feat due to the very limited access! The aim is to place all the "prisoners" through the entry down below the surface into the dungeon and lock them in. The dungeon itself is just a 3x3x3 cube but the entry is ferociously blocked by a complex crowning door leaving only a 1x3 entry gap on each side. It is made even tougher by the fact that the entry gap is very narrow (smaller than a finger) - controlling the orientation of the pieces is going to require considerable dexterity. Having eventually taken all the pieces out, I was seriously worried about my ability to get enough back in even for storage, let alone solving it. I started assembling my 3x3x3 cube and quickly realised that could not be the sole aim - the presence of a 1x1x5 piece made me realise that the aim was to create a 3x3x3 shape filling the box and then lock them in with a crosspiece. The use of gravity to move pieces around inside adds to the fun - The Pelikan team have made the pieces with such precision that everything slides beautifully by tilting the box in whatever direction that you need.

There are 213 ways to use the pieces to make a cube so the use of the limited entry to narrow it down is crucial. There are 3 pieces with 90º corners in their shapes which very much constrain the orientation and movement once placed through the very limited entry hole. Finding the orientation of these and an order that they can be inserted without blocking each other is key to the solution here. This puzzle took me many hours and a little help from Burrtools as well. The end result is very satisfying - once the locking piece has been placed, the pieces are all locked inside. Inverting the puzzle will not let anything drop out. This is a huge challenge for any puzzler!

Grid

Grid by Lucie Pauwels

Grid is the third design by Lucie Pauwels in this release by Pelikan. It has complex pieces made from Wenge to be fitted into 5x5 grid constructed from an acrylic plate which has been beautifully frosted. We are accustomed to amazing wood from the Pelikan team but even their plastic work is perfect.

My initial approach was the usual random placement of pieces onto the grid which always progressed very nicely until I realised that I had isolated one small section of the grid and could not place a piece to fill it. Maybe starting with the more complex pieces would help? It did up to a point but then I always got trapped with a couple of pieces unplaceable. This was going to need planning - not only are there 3 complex pieces but there are also a couple of simpler pieces that have missing side voxels. My head was starting to hurt and I was on a deadline. I decided to use Burrtools to give me the position of just one piece and this was miraculous. After finding the position of just one of the complex pieces, the remainder of the assembly was wonderfully logical with literally only a few possible piece placements making the final assembly a lovely exploration. Maybe you talented puzzlers out there can solve it without help? If you can't, then making the BT file is fun and just makes the puzzle all the more satisfying.

Yoga 1

Yoga 1 by Benjamin Heidt

4 possible tetrominoes

This unbelievably complex design by Benjamin Heidt has been made by Pelikan to look incredibly beautiful using stunningly marked Leopardwood for the panels of the box and Garapa for the pieces as well as the corners of the box. Benjamin has picked 4 of the possible tetrominoes to be placed in the box which already has 4 voxels stuck in place inside and then deliberately not told us which tetrominoes he has chosen - he (and Pelikan) have obfuscated the puzzle even further by creating a hinge across each pair of dominoes and allowing the poor challenged puzzler to rotate the pieces into any of the 4 possible shapes. My goodness! This is hard enough if we were given all the correct pieces in the correct shapes to be inserted. By adding the hinges the puzzle has been made MUCH tougher! This is not for the faint-hearted.

Creating a Burrtools file for this puzzle is a challenge in itself - it will require you to know about how to use variable numbers of pieces (it is actually a great way to educate yourself into the more complex aspects of the program). Once this has been done it can be seen that there are 268 ways to insert these different combinations of these tetrominoes inside the box but only 1 is actually possible to create as a true solution. Amazingly it requires at least 1 of every type of tetromino (I'm not telling you how many of which ones). I have been working on this for many hours and have so far not managed to get anywhere at all. I suspect that I will need to go back to BT and find out how many of each piece type is required and try with that knowledge.

Minima 13

Minima XIII by Frederic Boucher

I have reviewed many Minima puzzles over the last few years. The original idea by Frederic Boucher was to fit various pieces into a 2x2x3 space through a limited opening and requiring various rotational moves which are facilitated by odd holes in the sides of the box. The series has been continued by him and also taken up by many of the best puzzle designers in the world - I have lots of them and love the variety of challenges. I now have several versions of the Minima 13 and reviewed it in June 2025 having taken 4 years to solve it. When I finally managed to review it last year, I said that this 13th challenge in the Minima series was the utter pinnacle of the series - it is quite literally the very best of them all. It takes the original premise to pack the pieces inside and adds extra stuff:

1. It is trivial to place all the pieces in the box without rotations but this is clearly not the solution because...
2. There is a single coloured voxel which must not be visible from the outside
3. Several of the pieces have been cut at odd angles to allow some rather fancy rotations.

This is a seriously tough challenge and the Aha! moments are multiple and difficult to find. I had almost no recollection of the last solve and it took me quite some time to get it again this time. The crucial moves are very well hidden.

If you own the rest of the Pelikan wooden Minima series then this is a MUST BUY. If you don't have a copy of the 13th challenge at all then this is a MUST BUY! The Minima 13 was one reason the whole series made it to my Top ten(ish) for 2025.

Minima Flop

Minima Flop by Dr Volker Latussek

Yes, we cannot have a Pelikan release without an incredible challenge from Dr Volker Latussek! This one takes the amazing Minima designs from Frederic Boucher and adds a certain Latussek flair to it. The Minima Flop has been gorgeously created using Purpleheart and Saman (also known as Monkeypod). It is simply stunning. The puzzle arrives in a specific transport configuration that Volker always designs and the initial challenge is to take the pieces out - this will give you at least an idea of the types of moves that are possible with this box and pieces. There are 4 cornered triominoes to fit into the usual 2x2x3 space. It looks like it should be a simple challenge - Volker has even given us 4 really quite large holes in 4 of the faces. One of those holes is huge but not big enough to place a piece inside on its side. Volker said this about the puzzle:

"Frederic Boucher said to me in the summer of 2024, asking if I would like to contribute a puzzle to his MINIMA SERIES. At the time, I was deeply immersed in working on my FLOP SERIES, so I suggested a MINIMA FLOP. I was confident that I would come up with something suitable despite the strict requirement of a 2x2x3 box. It quickly became clear to me that it had to be a four-piece puzzle consisting of identical pieces. The pieces could only be V-shaped. Now, the task remained of finding the right openings. And, to suit a FLOP, as many openings as possible with dimensions of 1.5x1. To my surprise, there were five of these openings, two of which I had to combine. This was the only way I could meet the requirements. MINIMA-FLOP is a nice experiment within MINIMA and FLOP. Frederic wrote to me that he had a lot of fun with it. I wish the same for you."

The name gives us a clue about part of the challenge - Minima Flop will have rotational moves like the other Flop puzzles multiple times during the solution. This gives the puzzler a few obvious things to try having some memory of what has been done before but there really isn't much space inside and as soon as one other piece has been placed, the flop move that you really want to try gets blocked almost immediately. This is time to think© and work out what is needed. The name and the simplicity of the pieces leads you astray and you need to discard your preconceptions and start from scratch. I spent a long time trying to do what I had learned in previous releases and failed before I was forced to think again. Unlike Frederic, Volker doesn't give you any useful bevels or angles on the pieces. There are no small holes in the box panels. It requires multiple rotational moves to get the pieces inside and the solution is just beautiful. 

The Cubi Series

Four amazing Cubi challenges by Frederic Boucher

There seems to be no end to Frederic Boucher's talents! Not only do we have the incredible Minima series, the Jammed series (two of which I still haven't managed to solve) as well as numerous tray packing puzzles, he also has created a series of cubic packing puzzles here that have an enormous challenge to them due to very irregularly shaped pieces, blocks attached to the inside of the boxes, as well as rotational moves. Effectively, these seem to be the combination of a Turning Interlocking Cube (TIC) at the same time as a packing puzzle. This series has been fabulously recreated by Pelikan using beautifully contrasting woods.

We have:

CUBI 12 - Ash and Wenge

CUBI 18 - Limba and American Walnut

CUBI 24 - Limba, American Walnut and Acacia

CUBI 25 - Mahogany and Zebrano

Cubi 12

Cubi 12 by Frederic Boucher

This initial slightly easier "taster" puzzle for the series consists of a box with a rotational symmetry to the interior. and four identical Wenge pieces made from 3 offset cubies. They need to be placed inside without anything protruding above the top surface (it will obviously not be completely filled when solved). I started with the 4 pieces and worked to create a cubic shape that would interlock enough to be reduced to a 3x3x3 cube. This part of the challenge was actually not that difficult. There are 58 ways to create a shape that fits in a 3x3x3 box but most of them are not symmetrical or pleasing to the eye. Searching through them to find something that would fit amongst the pieces stuck to the walls of the box was a fun exercise and quickly revealed a rather beautiful shape. Now time to place it inside the box. At this point I realised I had a problem. Burrtools will not solve this one - rotations are required. However, once I had realised this I quickly saw what was needed and managed my assembly. This is really very clever and definitely possible by any decent puzzler. I suspect the rest will be MUCH more difficult!

Cubi 18

Cubi 18 by Frederic Boucher

The second level of the Cubi series consists of 4 rather complex shapes created from cubes offset from each other. Two of them form rather fun looking staircase shapes around corners. I started initially looking at making a cube outside of the box but they were quite awkward to hold in place and I swapped quickly to trying to place the pieces into the box past the various obstructions attached to the walls. This was definitely the right approach as insertion of these large pieces takes a bit of thought and rotational ingenuity. Getting one in is easy but the second always seems to be blocked. I tried the second shape first and then the other was blocked. I was fixated on this for quite a while before exploring further. There is an alternative way to place one of them and it only got me even more confused until I went back to my initial thought. Trying the same thing again did not get me anywhere until I looked at the pieces properly. Whilst one is identical no matter which way it is inserted, the other can be reversed and whilst it looks similar now there is no blockage. My advice to you of to look at the pieces properly and experiment with everything that you can do. After inserting those, it only took a little further exploration to work out how to place the other two. The Aha! moment with this one is fabulous!

Cubi 25

Cubi 25 by Frederic Boucher

Whilst this is the 4th in the series if you take them in ascending numerical order, it probably should be the third that you try. Jakub and team have made this absolutely gorgeous from Zebrano with a Mahogany box. Again there are a number of pieces to place inside the box which has a couple of half-voxel pieces stuck to the walls. These half voxel interfere with your ability to place the in the box and also will form part of the eventual cube shape. To make it even more difficult this time, several of the pieces are made with half voxel lengths on one or more places. This will make it seriously tough to assemble the cube shape. After I failed for a while, I counted the total number of voxels on the pieces and there are 25 in all plus the 2 halves stuck on the walls (not much room to manoeuvre). I decide to try and make a cube shape outside the box with half voxel gaps in the crucial positions. I'm not very good at Soma cube puzzles and this is similar but much harder. It took me over an hour to find a cube shape - remember, the half voxel shapes make all the difference to your search. Having made my cube it was a lovely, much smaller, challenge to reassemble it in the box. Rotational moves and sliding is required. This is great fun and a wonderful next step up in difficulty!

Cubi 24

Cubi 24 by Frederic Boucher

The fourth (and final?) puzzle in this wonderful Cubi series is a really tough challenge! There are 3 beautiful grained woods. The box has a slightly limited entry due to the attachment of a 1x2x½ voxel piece across one corner. The pieces are rather complex with 2 ½ voxel pieces attached to each one. There is also a disk with smiley face on it to be added inside. This is another one where it would be best to assemble a cube outside the box and the work out how to get it inside. Burrtools won't help you as a rotation is required but it can help you search for cube assemblies. I needed this help and found 57 possible cube shapes but as soon as you adjust it to leave the 1x2x½ voxel gap, it is reduced to a single possible solution. In the interest of time, I used this to find the position of a single piece and then worked from there. It still took me quite long time to find a solution outside the box. Assembling it inside was a lovely sequence! I am sure that all you fabulous puzzlers will manage this without resorting to Burrtools.

This is an incredible release of brilliant puzzles to start off the year. There are challenges for all levels of puzzler. To me the absolute essentials are:

Minima XIII - if you have the others then this is a must buy - it's the best of the series.

Minima Flop - it's a Minima with the Latussek extra

The Cubi series - any will do but the set is incredible!