Thank heavens for Jakub and Jaroslav and team! I have received quite a few
fabulous puzzles over the last few weeks and thought that I had lost my mojo
(yet again!). I had not managed to solve very much at all and for some of the
recent arrivals, I had not even managed to find the first move! I must be really
dim! Then along comes Jakub with a beautiful package of 6 lovely puzzles giving
me at least a hope of solving a few of them. I cannot do it all in a week and so
have split the reviews over this week and next.
In the picture above starting at back left:
Lapsus 2 by Alfons Eyckmans
Kamelle by Volker Latussek
Petit Sucrier by Volker Latussek
3 Candles by Osanori Yamamoto
Commotion by Tyler Hudson
Brick Wall by Lucie Pauwels
Jakub has been slightly worried about the fact that some of the creations
are not selling as well as he would hope and wondered why. Whilst I adore
burrs, I am aware that many puzzlers don't love them and prefer a different
challenge. The puzzles in this release are a bit different from the usual
and hopefully will be of interest to all you addicts out there. There is one
burr but even this is different to the usual.
Tyler has been quietly working in the background designing very interesting
puzzles. They have tended to be various burrs or maze type interlocking puzzles
and all have been really good. Certainly they have been good enough for the guys
at Pelikan to mass produce and they have always sold out. This one is something
totally new and an absolute delight. When it arrived, I took all 5 pieces out of
the tray and wondered what I was supposed to do with it. I had to ask Jakub for
instructions and Tyler also chipped in to tell me. My initial photo had been
with the pieces removed and I had no idea how they had been arranged.
I was instructed to reassemble it in the above conformation (Tray made from
Garapa, 4 flower petals made from Wenge and leaves made from Padauk - it is
really quite vibrant). There is a small gap in the tray at the top left and an
obstruction to right. The aim is to slide the pieces around in the tray ending
with the removal of the red leaves through that gap.
I tend not to be a huge fan of the usual run-of-the-mill sliding piece puzzles
because they end up being a huge amount of toil and trial and error. I usually
solve them but in many times the number of moves that is the optimal. This
creation by Tyler is totally different to these classic sliders. There is not
a set move number to aim for - the challenge is being able to remove the piece
at all! The movements can get really very restricted due to the size and shape
of the pieces and some of the moves are coordinate motion (something I have
not seen in one of these before) and a fair number of rotational moves
involving one or more pieces simultaneously.
This was the first puzzle from the batch that I started with and really
struggled for quite some time as it locked up again and again. Each time I
backtracked and tried something different and found a new path opening up and
sometimes being able to take it further. It took me 2 days of real concerted
effort to find what I needed and removed the piece. This is an absolutely
wonderful new take on a classic genre and is a significant challenge. Well
worth buying when it goes on sale.
Osanori-san features very heavily in this blog! He is an incredible designer -
so much so that Pelikan use one of his creations in almost every single
release. He specialises in packing puzzles with limited entry boxes but has
designed in many other categories. This one is something rather special and
fun. It is absolutely perfect for a puzzler of any level. I guess that I could
now be considered an experienced puzzler (even if I am not very good at them)
and this challenge really enticed me and I found it to be great fun.
Jakub and team have made the 6 pieces in this puzzle from a lovely rich and
deeply grained Merbau with a single block of Maple. Initially, I thought this
was a version of the Soma cube but the pieces are larger and there appear to
be 28 voxels in total (one more than in the Soma cube's 3x3x3 requirement). I
again, had to ask for instructions and was told that these pieces can be
assembled into a cube with a single voxel protrusion and the aim was to do
this with the protrusion being the white Maple cubie - the flame of the
candle. There are 3 challenges for this puzzle: that flame can be in one of
three different positions - centre, edge, corner.
I am not particularly good at assembling shapes from polyominoes - the Soma
cube still is difficult for me despite having many solutions and I have so far
completely failed to solve the Sisu puzzle from the last release (it is still
in stock
if you want a challenge). This challenge really gripped me - the premise is so
simple and there is a major clue to start off with knowing the position of the
flame. It is still a fabulous challenge which took me several hours before I
had found all 3 solutions.
3 possible solutions
This, again, was so different to Osanori-san's other challenges and so
accessible that it is a no-brainer purchase. Perfect to challenge yourself as a
puzzle addict or to challenge e the significant others in your life.
Brick Wall
Puzzle face
Storage tray face
I have been watching Lucie Pauwels' designs with great interest over the
years. She seems to create them in her head using simple home-made blocks
and always manages to produce puzzles that are very different to those of
the other designers out there today. There does not seem to be a computer used in the design process and this means that the puzzles that she creates are human solvable and require proper thought and logic to do so.
The Brick wall is a chunky puzzle (20.5x15x3cm) made from a gorgeous vibrant Bubinga
and Maple. The reverse side of the puzzle is a tray which holds the pieces (Maple) which are to be the grout in the tiled wall. There are 11 differently shaped pieces of grout which need to be assembled inside the wall. The premise is very simple but the actual solution is not. I started as I always do with a random insertion of pieces in positions that looked good. With Lucie's puzzles, this approach really doesn't tend to work well and it ended for me several times with an almost, but not good enough assembly:
Despite the fact that this looks like an impossible trial and error challenge, believe me, it is not. Like most of Lucie's puzzles, this is a test of logic which you will really enjoy once you have decided to go that path. It will also look absolutely gorgeous on display.
That is it for this week - hopefully I can solve the other 3 for next weekend. There is a very challenging puzzle from Alfons Eyckmans and also something ferociously tough from Dr Volker Latussek. I know they are tough because it took me ½ an hour just to remove the pieces from the delivery configuration in the boxes!
The upcoming puzzles will probably go on sale after 16th June.
After my last post (about Christoph Lohe's marvellous design, Neighburr) I
received an email from both Laszlo Molnar and Goetz Schwandtner with the very
sad news that Christoph had sadly passed away at the end of January this year.
It would appear that his family had not had contact with him for a few
days and contacted the police and he was found in his flat. It has been judged
to be natural causes. As many of us puzzlers are getting older this sort of
thing should not come as a shock but he was only 65 years old. I guess that with
what I do for a living, I should not be that surprised.
He was a significant scientist having received a MSc in Experimental
Physics from the Technology University Aachen in 1989 and a PhD in 1993. He
worked as a Product manager Ferrofluidics, Nuertingen, Germany, 1996-2000.
Project manager Aixtron AG, Aachen, since 2001. As a scientist of note he had
been listed as a noteworthy physicist by Marquis Who's Who.
I considered Christoph a friend. We had never met and I was not constantly in
touch with him but we exchanged emails every few months to discuss puzzles and
his wonderful designs. You can still buy some of them from
PuzzleMaster here or print them yourself from
Thingiverse here.
His amazing skill as a designer is shown by the fact that I have
reviewed 20 of his wonderful designs
here on my little section of t'internet. I thought that it would be a nice
think to look back at a few of my absolute favourite of his designs.
Collaboration with the TICMaster, Andrew Crowell
Cyburr and Chamburr from Pelikan
Climburr from Matt Nedeljko
When the first 2 came out from Pelikan, I wondered whether these two masters
of puzzle design had created a completely new type of puzzle and
raved about them. They made my top 10(ish) in
2021. The Climburr was felt to be too difficult to produce in wood by Jakub and
it was only when Matt Nedeljkogot the courage to attempt them did we get to
attempt the final one in the series. Spoiler alert -
it was fabulous and made the top ten in the
next year.
Christoph had a bit of a thing about locks and keys but not in the classical
sense. He designed burrs in that shape. The fun thing is that rather than make
simple 6 piece burrs where the pieces interact in the 3 axes, Christoph made the
burrs with a frame to restrict movement and a key and shackle (and pieces) to
lock up in at least 2 of the axes. The one amazing thing about all of
Christoph's designs is that they are not terribly high level but are always
challenging and fun without being too arduous. I absolutely adored these. The
fact that even the late Eric Fuller thought well enough of these to make one of
them, does show how good they were.
Framed Burrs
I adore a burr that has just the standard 6 pieces but is constrained in its
movement and interaction by the presence of a frame. It makes them so much
more interesting.
Neighburr by Brian Menold
Bouquet
Castle
Timburr
Again, we have puzzles that are so good that both Jakub and Brian Menold
decided they were worth putting the effort into manufacturing in reasonable
numbers. They all had something special and were all great fun without being
too difficult.
Unconventional packing puzzles
Whenever I think of this particular type of challenge the names that always
spring to mind are the incredible Alexander Magyarics and Osanori Yamamoto.
But they were not alone, Christoph also had a fascination with these and
designed some amazing puzzles:
Liliput
Trenta
Box with 2 balls
Kamelle Box
This is only a few of his great contributions to the puzzling world as well as to my collection but they include my favourites.
Do you have any favourites that you think should be given special mention? If so then please leave a comment below.
Rest in peace Christoph - I was proud to call you a friend.
Hello again everyone! I'm a bit behind with my puzzling this week - it's been a
bit hectic and I have had to do extra work to cover sickness and other "stuff"
at work. I was hoping to have all the reviews for the latest offering from
Jakub, Jaroslav and team all done in a week but I will have to split it up into
two posts. We have some terrific challenges on offer here:
From the back left:
Euclid for Bernhard by Dr Volker Latussek
Stefka-flop from Dr Volker Latussek
SISU by Benjamin Heidt
YLEM by Benjamin Heidt
Airlock by Pit Khiam Goh
Xmas Stocking by Osanori Yamamoto
These should be going on sale on April 15th hopefully. I can review four of
them today and plan to have the rest of the reviews up next weekend. Here we
go...
Airlock
Airlock by Pit Khiam Goh
Pit is an incredible designer - I have seen his puzzles do very well in the
design competitions and I have a good few of his designs in my collection
which have
appeared in this blog. This one is wonderful as well because of a series of really nice Aha!
moments.
I had been certain that I had seen this somewhere before but a search of the
internet only found a few pictures that did not ring any bells. It is a tray
packing puzzle with a restricted entry hole. It has been beautifully made by
the Pelikan team from Wenge, Purpleheart, Mahogany, Maple and Limba with an
acrylic grille over the top. The delivery placement is useful to keep the
pieces together and shows that certain moves will be required. removing the
pieces reveals that all the pieces will need rotation and that 2 of the
pieces are really quite restricted in how they move and can be placed.
An odd time of the year to have this one brought out but delightful
nonetheless. I would suggest that you all buy this as either a belated
Christmas present to yourselves or as an advance one for December for the
significant other puzzler in your life. Hopefully you can stash it away for
long enough and still remember where you put it. It is a rather pocketable
size - perfect for your own Xmas stocking. As delivered there are 3 little
feet inside the stocking already and 2 outside. Time to work out how to get them all inside.
This is the second time the Benjamin has appeared here and the second Pelikan release that includes his designs. There is something very clever about his designs which are delightful to see on display and also brilliant to explore and solve. This stunnning creation in Acacia and Purpleheart appeared to me initially to be "just" an 18 piece burr but with an odd configuration of the pieces leaving a hole in each of the 6 faces. But...this is not "just" another 18 piece burr - it can quickly be seen that it is a 19 piece burr (something I have never seen before) and it requires a fair bit of exploration to work through.
These high piece number puzzles always frighten me because they often either have an incredibly complex/high level disassembly or after a couple of pieces are removed, can become very unstable and collapse on you. I can reassure you that this wonderful burr has a fantastic and almost logical unlocking mechanism which is an absolute delight to work through. There are a few moves available at first and the easy ones don't appear to lead anywhere. After some exploration and a nice Aha! moment, a new move becomes available which is very helpful in revealing the beginning of a locking sequence. The disassembly is a wonderful and very achievable level 19.2.2.3.2.3.2.2.1.1.2.1.1.1.1.1.2. giving a total of 46 moves to take it completely apart.
19 pieces - beautifully made by Pelikan!
This monster was beautifully stable right down to the last few pieces. I very much doubt that many people can assemble this from scratch but a few of you will be able to. Some may be able to remember what you did and be able to backtrack. I, on the other hand, barely remember my own name and therefore had to resort to Burrtools for the reassembly. Entering the pieces into that wonderful program and then adding the colour restrictions for the assembly was also great fun and a nice part of the challenge. The assembly required quite a bit of dexterity initially but was a delightful part of the challenge. If you like complex burrs but are frightened of too high a level then this is perfect.
I hope to finish the rest of the puzzles this week and get my reviews up for you next weekend.
Keep an eye out for these - they are fabulous for all levels of puzzler.
At the beginning of the week before last I took delivery of a VERY large
box from Jakub and Jaroslav containing 7 puzzles and a request to have reviews
as quickly as possible. I am just human and with my simple brain cannot possibly
solve all of these in that short time (especially when you realise that there
are hundreds of challenges here and some are really very difficult indeed.
Here we have:
Back row:
Matchbox Playground - an extension of Oskar's
original design by Péter Gál
Middle row:
Filling V by Dr Volker Latussek
Flummox by Benjamin Heidt
Appletree by Benjamin Heidt
Front Row:
Parallel Burr Cube #2 by Osanori Yamamoto
Rattle Twist Duo by Osanori Yamamoto
MRI by Benjamin Heidt
My picture does not do justice to the beauty and quality of them all (for
that, you should wait for the official photos from
Ivan Danik
which appear on the Pelikan site.
Pelikan 2024 Feb
Stunning series this time with what looks like one of the most gorgeous puzzle
sets I’ve ever seen.
Filling V
Fillin V by Volker Latussek
Sent with just the triomino left out
Dr Latussek returns to challenge us with another of his wonderful packing
puzzles that look much easier than they actually are. This one made of ?????
comprises 6 L tetrominoes plus an L Triomino giving us the required 27 voxels
to make up a solid cube. I could instantly see that there were several ways to
make the cube and each of these could be attempted in several orientations
with respect to the box. This box has a nice large slotted entry hole which
looks like it shouldn’t be much of a hindrance to inserting the pieces. Dr
Latussek said this:
"While working on the FLOP series, I had some fun working with completely
filled boxes. I ‘d already done some preliminary work using L-shaped
tetracubes, so it made sense to me to work on Lazlo Molnar and Alexander
Magyarics’ six Ls puzzles and to combine them with the V-shaped tricube to
make one of the 65 possible cubes and then put them in a box with only one
opening. Of course, I started with my usual CASINO box, only to learn that
this recipe doesn’t produce a sufficiently challenging puzzle, and neither
does a FLOP box. Actually, I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. Given
the filling of a cube-shaped box, the actual design task was to find the
correct, single, continuous opening.
Despite the numerous specifications, FILLING V is a challenging puzzle
whose solution still surprises me. But there will never be a FILLING I."
I placed my last piece in the box with a huge grin on my face! This is, on the
face of it, a much simpler puzzle than the Flop series but I think is better
for it. The best description is “elegant” - it’s almost as elegant as the
classic Casino which won so many accolades.
It’s an essential purchase!
Flummox
Flummox by Benjamin Heidt
This beautiful and rather diminutive creation was designed by a new name on the
scene, Benjamin Heidt. If this is a typical example of puzzles from him then I
hope that Jakub and Jaroslav make more. It is a fabulous variant on the classic
6 piece burr with length of 6 voxels (pieces made from a vibrant Purpleheart).
The addition of little additional pieces (made from Maple) added onto the sides
of the burr sticks which interfere with the the usual movement of the pieces and
make the solution much more interesting.
The solution level is: 13.4.2.3 which is just right for all but the most
masochistic of burr solvers and is delightful to explore. From the start
position there are 4 or 5 possible moves and then further exploration after
some of them. This took me about an hour to solve using my usual to and fro
method which also meant that I could reassemble it from memory. The really
good solvers will disassemble it relatively quickly and then have a really
nice challenge assembling from scratch.
Beautifully made pieces
Appletree
Appletree by Benjamin Heidt
Here we have another very interesting design by Benjamin Heidt. It is a
beautifully burr made in the shape of an Apple tree complete with apples amongst
the foliage. It has been stunningly created using American Walnut, Acacia with
Padauk apples.
This takes a bit of fiddling and exploration in every direction to find the
first piece to move and after this, if you’re anything like me, it’s followed
by an “Oh my God!!!” moment as all of a sudden a whole LOT of pieces move in
various directions. Slight panic ensued and I quickly decided to return to the
beginning and discovered that it wouldn’t go - aaargh! It took a frantic few
minutes to sort of scrunch it back together and breathe a sigh of relief. I
had to gird myself before trying again. This is fun! For me it’s a puzzle
version of a rollercoaster.
Having done that several times and worked out how it locked and unlocked, I
proceeded to explore and quickly found that several pieces were removable. I
kept them in a place where I could tell the position and orientation. After
removing 4 or 5 the trunk fell off and it sort of scrunched up again. I was
lost! Despite this, the puzzle remained pretty stable even if everything was
jiggly. I actually struggled to remove the remaining pieces, they did not just
fall apart. Over the next 20 minutes I gradually disassembled it piece by
piece and, oh boy, there are a lot of pieces.
Appletree pieces
After all of that, I had not even done the main challenge! This is not a
stunningly designed sequential disassembly puzzle as I alluded to above…it is
actually an assembly puzzle - the tree, as received, is in a "transport
configuration" - the actual aim of the puzzle is to assemble the tree again but
with 4 red apples on each side of the tree. There is no way that I was going to
reassemble the transport solution without assistance let alone the main
challenge and so I am off to Burrtools for a happy time sketching pieces out.
Great fun!
Rattle Twist Duo
Rattle Twist Duo by Osanori Yamamoto
My friend's version
This beautiful interlocking puzzle designed by Osanori Yamamoto is made from
Maple (pieces) with 2 different frames: one Jatoba and the other Zebrano. This
one was so good that it was made for me by my greatly missed friend and mentor
Tsy Hung Chein (aka
Felix). Felix had one of the best eyes for a fabulous puzzle and if he took the time
to make a copy and send it to me then you can be assured that there is something
special about it. I had absolutely adored the copy sent to me - and I am
delighted that many others will now get to experience a puzzle that looks simple
but has significant challenge to it.
Osanori-san’s documentation that he sent to Jakub said that the 2 interlocking
pieces should be sent out locked on one frame with the aim being to remove
them and place them on the other and then return it to the start position.
Like many of his creations, rotations are both possible and required. For a
puzzle with only 2 pieces to be fitted on a relatively simple frame, this
should not be so difficult. Despite having done it before, it took me a good
hour to disassemble one and assemble the other.
Then going back the other way after a delay to allow forgetting was just as much
of a challenge.
Parallel Burr Cube #2
Parallel Burr Cube #2 by Osanori Yamamoto
Another challenge by Osanori-san, this consists of a Frame made from Bubinga and
a set of 6 board burr pieces made from Limba. It is strikingly beautiful.
Initially I thought that this was just a framed 6 board burr but it’s not quite
this. The boards are held apart from each other by the frame making sure they
interact loosely with each other being trapped by just the end-plates of each
board. At the beginning there are several possible moves but the paths are
mostly dead-ended after just 1 or 2 moves. This means no huge long fruitless
pathways to explore. It requires a search for something that goes somewhere and
for me, took quite a while to find the required move that opened up the puzzle
for further exploration. The first piece can be removed quite quickly after just
6 moves which then allows you to peek inside and gain some more understanding of
the interaction of the pieces. Having removed the first piece, it does not seem
to get any simpler and the puzzle transforms into almost a disentanglement
puzzle - it is like unravelling a knot inside a box whilst you can only see a
small section of the knot at a time. It is at times frustrating, sometimes
fiddly as the boards can catch on the edges as there is a little wiggle room,
but is always an enjoyable exploration. The move count is not particularly high
but it is still fun to explore and work out at each stage how to make room for
the next piece to slide.
You can see how the pieces are locked in place
Having dismantled the puzzle over about an hour or more, I had kept the pieces
in order of their removal and remembered which position they had come from. All
with the aim of facilitating reassembly without resorting to Burrtools. I was
feeling quite proud of myself as I inserted the first three and then for some
reason the fourth one just couldn’t be inserted. What was I doing wrong? A
careful look at the shapes of the pieces revealed that the second piece had been
inserted upside down followed by the third correctly and this couldn’t leave
room to insert the next. OK, having realised this, take it apart again…except I
couldn’t dismantle it! Aargh! Minor panic ensues and I have to work out
all over again how to undo the interior disentanglement puzzle I had created for
myself. After a frantic 10 minutes, I had all the pieces and admonished myself
for being an eeejit and not keeping track of piece orientation as well as order.
After this it went back together nice and smoothly. This puzzle is wonderful -
it looks great, is sort of a burr and disentanglement puzzle at the same time
and, if you are good enough, it can be a really tough assembly puzzle as well.
MRI
MRI by Benjamin Heidt
This new rather quirky and very attractive puzzle design by Benjamin Heidt is a
new type of puzzle for Pelikan and I am not certain how to categorise it.
Apparently Benjamin is a technician who works on MRI machines in hospitals. He
must be very used to working with magnets and there are several of them inside
this puzzle. It looks just like an MRI scanner complete with a patient (he has
hair and a nose!) on the scanning platform inside the magnet. The aim is to
remove the patient from the scanner by unlocking the hidden interior mechanism.
One thing Benjamin should know is that you must NEVER bring another
ferrous metal object inside the Faraday cage walls of an MRI room because it
will turn into a missile if released in the room (believe me, I have seen it
with an old Molybdenum steel oxygen cylinder - it moves very fast and does a
LOT of damage!) but here he has disobeyed all the rules. The puzzle has a
magnetic ball bearing on the floor held by a magnet embedded inside it and
obviously this magnetic bearing is used to somehow unlock the patient from the
scanner and remove him.
I do not know how many steps is required because I have so far not managed to
do much more than make interesting clicking noises as I move the bearing over
the surface. I am making things happen inside but so far I have made no
progress with the release - my patient may well starve to death in the MRI! I
may be reduced to having to take it to work and asking a kind radiographer to
take an Xray of it for me.
This is certainly something interesting which we have never seen before from
the Pelikan workshop. Well worth adding to your collection for the quirkiness
and the considerable puzzling challenge.
Matchbox Playground
Matchbox Playground - an extension of Oskar's idea by Péter Gál
This rather large puzzle set must be one of the most beautiful puzzle sets
that I have ever seen! It is simply stunning and an amazing scope of work by
the designer and by the craftsmen. It is the result of an epic amount of work
by the incredible puzzle designer, Péter Gál.
The box opens like a matchbox There are puzzle sheets and an
explainer inside
Cubic dissection version
I have quite a few burr sets and this one ranks up there alongside the very
best of them and will take pride of place in my collection. It is not a burr
set but a set of increasingly difficult assembly puzzles based on the
wonderful and clever Oskar’s Matchboxes puzzle that has been produced by
several craftsmen over the years as well as 3D printed. Oskar's original
puzzle had 5 pieces and I found that one pretty challenging. Later the idea
was extended by Alexander Kapkan with
6 pieces and again by Onno Hein with 6 pieces in a different configuration.
Over more than a year Péter had performed an exhaustive computational
analysis. A smaller version of this had been released in the
IPP design competition
in 2016. Péter's analysis was restricted to a 3x2x1 matchbox with the matches
attached at the gridlines giving 14 possible match/matchbox pairs. This puzzle
set is contained in a gorgeous box shaped and sliding open like a matchbox
itself to reveal the full set of 14 possible pieces and an envelope with an
explanation and puzzle challenges ranging from using just 4 pieces up to the
maximum of 13.
Just look at the presentation here - it is amazing!
There are effectively hundreds of challenges here as each one has multiple
solutions to find. The individual boxes are stunningly made out of Maple,
Wenge and Jatoba and the case made from Maple, Wenge and Oak.
This picture will be essential if I am going to put them back!
When I took a few out to admire them, I realised straight away that I would
need a photo of how they were arranged in the box! If you do just tip them out
then an additional challenge for you will be to pack them back in again - I
was not brave enough to do that! The challenges are really fun to do and
require considerable thought. The cards show just the required pieces and not
the eventual shape that you need to use. This means that simple entry into
Burrtools is not possible. I have managed the first couple of challenges and
really look forward to spending real time with this set. This is absolutely
fabulous! I have put 3 of my solutions to the first challenge behind a spoiler
button - if you plan to buy the set then don't look at it:
Should you buy this set? Hell yes! It's stunningly gorgeous, a whole lot of
puzzling challenges. I absolutely love puzzles that come with a booklet of
challenges e.g. the
Peanut puzzle, the
cubic Mazeburr,
Rhombic Mazeburr
and
Split Mazeburr and this new one from Pelikan is just amazing!
