I got lost in the catacombs as well as the KCube!

Catacombs Plus

After last week's mammoth post (which did not seem to be particularly avidly received - do you all really dislike twisties so much?) which must have taken me a total of 8 hours to photograph and write, I am back to a much shorter one on a puzzle you will all appreciate.

The Chinese rings puzzle is a classic - it is one of the "must have" puzzles that all puzzlers should own - partly because it has been around for so more than 2000 years and also because it is such a nice fun one to solve! I have already written about the one I got from Livewire puzzles some time ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. But it only had 6 rings on it and really didn't take very long - let's say it was a beginner version. I also have a lovely heavy metal version which was sent to me by a very kind friend from the US. This version is made of steel by Tucker Jones and is called the Patience puzzle - it is absolutely stunning but not high enough level. I had seen on YouTube and also on Goetz' wonderfully informative site that there were variants that had more rings and hence, many more moves to solve.

I regularly browse through the Puzzle Master wire puzzle section to see if they have anything new for me and realised they had a Chinese ring puzzle so I ordered the Puzzle Master own brand version in my last order so that I could have a "grown up" version to try! The Catacombs plus is a beautifully made version with not just 1 or 2 extra rings - it has 10! For this reason it has been rated as a level 10 (Mind Boggling) on their difficulty scale and despite the fact that it is just based on a binary version of Gray code, it is a real challenge and certainly not something to do when you might be interrupted and sent off to do other chores. It arrived in Puzzle Master's standard clamshell packaging (albeit a much longer one than usual) and the only instructions are to remove the handle. It is beautifully made with really nice thick anodised wire, a good quality handle which makes holding it for prolonged periods much easier than the ones with wires only and, as you can see, has 10 rings on it! Dimensions are 3 x 20.5 cm.

No solution is given and hopefully you won't need one but if required the solution method for an easy version can be downloaded from here.

Six faces aren't tough enough? Try these, you minx!

That's a lot of dodecahedra! (25 in all)
Yes! The cubes really ARE dodecahedra.

I'm very late - because "She who MUST be obeyed" ordered me to spend the entire weekend and bank holiday doing DIY and gardening. Unfortunately I am quite good at DIY and so she keeps forcing me to do more. When I mentioned that I had a blogpost to write she gave me a really dirty look and I began to smell burning before suddenly realising that my forehead was on fire! She now can use the laser burning stare without me even being able to tell - no running and hiding until it's too late!

I think it might be time for another little attempt at encouraging you to have a go at twisty puzzles. I WILL keep trying you know! They are just so good that everyone should at least have a try and spend a while learning either the beginners solution or the Ultimate solution.

This is quite a long post (OK, it's a very long post) but I will show you lots of interesting possibilities with links to where you can get them. There is a whole new world out there for all puzzlers to try. In N America I would suggest using Puzzle Master, who have a really good stock of twisty puzzles and in Asia I have begun to use Cubezz.com - slightly more limited stock but amazing prices!

So having managed a cube (at least a 3x3 and maybe for the very adventurous the 4x4 too with all it's interesting little parities), what if you'd like to step it up a little? Add a little diversity of shape, give yourself some more movement, or even just vary the collection. After all, puzzlers are very interested in shapes and surely you cannot be satisfied until you have representatives of all the platonic solids!

All 5 platonic solids - all are face turning

In my "advice to beginners post" I suggest that the next steps after a simple cube is to move to different turning mechanisms or to move to shape modifications to skew your vision. But an alternative approach would be to move to one or all of the different shapes shown above. BUT if you would rather keep your path narrow or you have already done the cube and alternative mechanisms then how about falling down the deep spiral of doom into the dodecahedra? It's not just one puzzle for you - it's a whole family of them!

The Megaminx

Ah! This takes me back! It was amongst the first "different" twisties I bought several years ago. I still take it out to play even now. This is the very basic dodecahedral twisty and was designed many years ago by many people independently - Ben Halpern from USA, Boris Horvat from Yugoslavia, Barry Lockwood from UK and Miklós Kristóf  from Hungary, and Kersten Meier (Germany) sent plans in early 1981. I have heard that Dr Christoph Bandelow from Germany obtained  patents. The Hungarian version is notable as actually being in production. Shortly thereafter Uwe Meffert (one of the forefathers of twisty puzzling)  bought the rights to the Halpern and Meier design and marketed it as the Megaminx.

It has 12 face center pieces which are fixed, 20 corner pieces with 3 orientations, and 30 edge pieces with 2 orientations each! The theoretical maximum number of places is therefore 30! x 20! x 2³⁰ x 3²⁰ positions but not all can be reached because only even permutations of edges are possible (2), only even permutations of corners are possible (2), only an even number of flipped edges are possible (2) and the total twist of the corners is fixed (3)
This leaves:

positions

or
100,669,616,553,523,347,122,516,032,313,645,505,168,688,116,411,019,768,627,200,000,000,000
or
1.01 x 10⁶⁸ positions or 101 Unvigintillion/Undecillion.

Now hold on, hold on! Don't run away now! Thats all the maths I'll give! The numbers sound horrific but then they already do for the plain old Rubik cube and you know that the cube is easy. In fact the simple 3x3 face turning dodecahedron can be solved with EXACTLY the same method as the cube! Only a very minor alteration is needed for the megaminx. So it is really easy!! You can make it a bit tougher by giving the centre pieces an orientation - using Pochmann stickers for it from Oliver's stickers.

Still a megaminx - but now a "super" version

So having decided that you love the idea of 12 faces, where could you go next? Well the sky is the limit! The first thing most puzzlers look for is to buy bigger (or smaller puzzles) and I was no exception. Having mastered the 3x3 equivalent, I went for a 2x2 version (called the flowerminx or Kilominx) and originally designed by David Litwin from Twisty Puzzles and manufactured by Uwe Meffert. I also went for a 4x4 version known as the Master Kilominx by David Gugl and produced by MF8 which, like the 4x4 cube has a rather fun parity but also has a very interesting method of solving which does not produce parities and involves 2x2 block building.

2x2 - Flowerminx	4x4 - Master Kilominx
How much pain do you want?

This series continues with Gigaminx (5 layers), Teraminx (7 layers) and even Petaminx (9 layers), all mass produced and available now (if you really want the biggest twisty puzzle there is then get this one and the price from cubezz.com is amazing). If you are loaded down with an excess of cash or have a huge urge to collect a series, then a six layer (Elite kilominx) was designed by Grégoire Pfennig and made by Shapeways and may someday be available at auction. I don't have any of these as yet because I keep getting sidetracked by other toys! and to be honest they don't really add much to the challenge (just as a 7x7 cube is not really harder than a 5x5 once you know the basic process).

Cast W-U and an a-maze-ing update

Cast W-U

I try to show at least one cheaper puzzle for you at least every other week so that I don't exclude people who can't afford the bespoke toys. Puzzling is supposed to be an inclusive hobby in which all can join in. If you can't afford the expensive bespoke puzzles then do try to find and attend a local puzzle party if possible - you will make a lot of friends and get a chance to play with stuff that is either hard to find or out of your normal price range.

Whilst on the subject of puzzle parties - I hope that everyone attending the annual King's day puzzle party at Wil Strijbos' house have a great day - I hope one day to be able to join you.

Today I have already shown a beautiful Turning Interlocking Cube which is easily within most people's reach and now I will follow up with another 2 puzzles that you can afford. First up is the Cast W-U. I got this from Puzzle Master as part of my attempt to complete my Hanayama collection. I have a large number of them and this one had intrigued me for a while. It is rated as level 3 on the Hanayama 6 point scale and level 7 (Challenging) on Puzzle Master's own scale of 5 to 10. I actually disagree with these ratings and feel it should be at least one point lower on the scales. It is based on the classic Horseshoe puzzle which, let's face it, all puzzlers either own a copy of or have played with as a kid. I have 2 copies and, whilst it is no challenge to me, it is still fun to give to non-puzzlers as they remember that they've seen it but cannot remember what to do. Gabriel certainly seemed to enjoy it!

Again, beautifully packaged by Hanayama in their black box, it comes out as a lovely antiqued brass looking puzzle with dimensions 11.9 x 3.8 x 3.8cm. The W-U looks very similar to the original horseshoe puzzle but is made more complex by the fact that instead of 2 chain linked horseshoes there are 4 with pairs at 90º to each other and each pair is capped by a horse's head. The ring is another horseshoe made into a complete ring. No solution is provided and I very much doubt you will need one but it is available to download from here.

Interlocked Kube and one with wheels

Kubus

I am a huge fan of interlocking cubes (different to burrs but great fun and often very challenging) and during a discussion with my friend Bernhard (you really should visit his store) this design by Yavuz Demirhan was discussed. Bernhard got permission to make 2 copies and one quickly came to me for a few Euros. Made of Maple and Padauk a few movements ends up with it split into 2 mirror halves:

And the winner is.....

A very fancy bit of code - produces a winner

So 2 weeks ago I set a contest to win a Buzzle Ball. Entry to the contest required only that you make a comment under the blog post and follow up with an email using my Contact page to allow me to contact you again.

There were only a few entries. I had planned to use a rather complex system using an excel spreadsheet and a random number generator. A friend at work who is a bit of a whizz with Javascript gave me the following code which will take all the comments and exclude me and then randomly generate a winner.

function getCommentAuthors(from, selector){ var authorEls = from.querySelectorAll(selector), authorNames = []; [].forEach.call(authorEls, function(a){ authorNames.push(a.textContent); }); return authorNames.sort(); } var authors = getCommentAuthors(document.getElementById('comments'), 'cite.user:not(.blog-author) a'), randomisedAuthor = authors[Math.floor(Math.random() * authors.length)]; console.log(randomisedAuthor);

So a while ago I ran the code on that page using Chrome's javascript console and it produced the winner.

The winner is:

Michel van Ipenburg

Congratulations!
My commiserations to those who didn't win but the Buzzle ball will be available on-line soon.

An N-ary puzzle to N'd all other N-ary puzzles!

So exciting - N more N-ary puzzles!

Over the last 2 years I have developed a bit of an addiction to N-ary puzzles. Yes I know I have developed an addiction to ALL puzzles but I really am trying to narrow down my interests a little bit. I'm struggling but promise that I'm trying really hard. Certainly one group that I am particularly keen to get more of, is the group that are mathematically based - i.e. they are based on Gray binary code.

Ternary Burr

I have written about a few of them before - One of my all time favourites is the Hexadecimal puzzle which is still available and beautifully reproduced by Dave Janelle of Creative Crafthouse - I wrote about it here. It is particularly fun because it has several challenges to keep you going over a long time.  Here I wrote about the Binary burr, recreated by Eric Fuller from Bill Cutler's original design and along with Goh Pit Khiam's amazing Ternary burr which Eric also reproduced a few months later - these were also amongst my favourite N-ary puzzles, partly for the craftsmanship, but especially because they combined my love of burr puzzles with N-ary puzzles. So you see, I am particularly keen when one of these beautiful logical puzzles also combines aspects of another subtype too. I did mention a while ago that I had received another small [sic!] batch from Wil Strijbos - they were the latest designs from the amazing Jean Claude Constantin and I am really pleased to say that some of them are also available from Puzzle Master too.

Of course, some of the puzzles in this group are boxes, but many of my puzzle friends know that I don't collect boxes and so would never have one of the magnificent Kcubes in my collection! Would I? Of course not - I have 2 of them! ;-)
The KCubes MMMDXLVI box has such a small cavity that I decided that it wasn't a box and thus I was allowed to own one. It requires 3,546 moves and is made of Kingwood, Tulip wood, Mun Ebony, and brass inlay with Tulip wood. It usually takes me about 90 minutes to open it because I invariably get lost during the process. Mrs S has admitted that it (and it's smaller brother the K419) are so gorgeous that they can remain on show in our living room on the central coffee table.

I am not the only one to have a huge addiction to N-ary puzzles - my very good friends Michel and Goetz often communicate with me about these particular puzzles and I do get informed of new ones often before they hit the market and then we discuss them a little without giving too much away. For more information about this fascinating group, you really should visit Goetz' Compendium of N-ary puzzles - he has analysed many of them in great detail and also have a look at his treatise on the Kugellager puzzles here - these pages are a tremendous resource for us all.

Having received so many at once I did ask for advice about the order to start them in and I started working my way through them. The first one that I played with was probably the most attractive of all.

EZ Atom

EZ Atom

I'm afraid this will be a fairly quick blog post today - I've had very little time for puzzling recently due to my oldest boy cat becoming extremely ill a few days ago. His usual treatment hasn't helped and the inevitable is happening. This meant I could not attend the Midlands Puzzle Party as expected yesterday and certainly have had very little time and concentration for puzzles. Luckily he seems quietly content and he sat on my knee whilst I played with the EZ Atom and typed this post.

I am partial to all puzzles fairly indiscriminately but really luuurrve anything shiny. For that reason I own quite a lot of the lovely Hanayama puzzles but I'm always on the look out for others. I had seen this puzzle reviewed by Gabriel here and saw that it really was lovely - in fact I had seen that there were others in the EZ series so, of course, I had to try a few! This puzzle was designed by Doug Engel who has his own site called PuzzleAtomic - I've only just found this and may have to buy some of his toys soon - don't tell Mrs S!!! It was manufactured for Puzzle Master under their own puzzle label. They can be found in the "Other wire/metal" category - always worth a look for many hidden gems in there. It is shaped like an atom with a nucleus and 3 orbiting electrons in bronze, silver & gold and, like the scientists of the last century, the aim is to "split the atom" - hopefully as a level 6 (Tricky) on their scale of 5-10, it should be a tad easier - certainly easy enough to do with a cat lying on my lap and with no enormous release of energy! Gabriel thought it should be a level 7 and I think I probably agree.

It arrived in Puzzle Master's own packaging and looks great. The shiny metal is not quite as perfect as the photos show on the site but it certainly still looks very nice - it is a nice metal and a decent weight to it. Each electron orbit is 83mm across. The reviews on the page are mixed - I read them after I had solved it and agree up to a point - they are critical of the puzzle because a certain amount of force is required. However, if it was made in such a way that no force was required at all then it would just fall apart. I did not think the force required was excessive and it did not detract from my pleasure when I worked it out. No solution is supplied but you can download it from here if you need it.

Plastic puzzles can be fun too

Something old, something older and something brand new for you to win!

The Orb or Orb-it

Many of you will have noticed that I have a bit of an addiction!

"No!" I hear you cry, "never!"

It's funny how I hear so many voices!

Well I'm afraid to admit that it's true - I seem to have a bit of a wood habit. My study looks absolutely gorgeous because every wall is covered in wooden puzzles made by fantastic craftsmen. I have a single shelf devoted to Wil's glass and metal beauties and a half shelf devoted to Traiphum's hand made twisties. I do have quite a lot of mass produced twisties but not on show! Erm - "quite a lot" means 146 unique puzzles! I have been chastised for only writing about expensive puzzles and gently berated by a good friend for ignoring a whole group of puzzles that are absolutely fascinating and, by and large, very affordable. This group tend to be made of plastic and probably broadly fall into the puzzle classification as "Sequential movement" puzzles if one uses the Dalgetty-Hordern system, these can be sub-divided nicely if you use Rob's system - I have taken a screenshot of the relevant section.

From Rob's fabulous site

I had ignored this group for a long time but had gradually noticed that my good friends Michel and Goetz had frequently published about obtaining many new ones in this group and really enjoyed them. Another friend to whom I am most grateful has gifted me with several puzzles from this section over the last 2 years and every single one has proved to be a tremendous challenge and an awful lot of fun. Some have been so difficult that I have so far singularly failed to solve them despite many many hours of effort. The important thing about these is that they are often 30+ years old and consequently only available on Ebay or other auction sites. They also tend to be much cheaper than the newer puzzles and thus great value for money.

At the top of the post is a fantastic puzzle that was one of the first that I was given. It is The Orb (US name) or Orb-it (UK name) and was first patented in 1981 UK and 1982 US. It consists of 4 tracks - those at the poles containing 8 beads and those next to the equator contain 20. The puzzle is split from pole to pole and can be rotated on itself to move the tracks into different positions - one position creates a single huge spiralling track and another position creates 2 separate tracks rather like the lines on a tennis ball.

1 continuous track

Scrambled - looks awful

It is thus possible to scramble the beads up enormously - Jaap calculated the number of positions as:

which seems fairly horrific to me.
In terms of solving it - I would think that most puzzlers will work it out within a few hours or days and it is great fun to hand a scrambled one to your non-puzzling friends to watch the bewilderment on their faces. Now if you are a real connoisseur or sucker for punishment then you can buy a special version with more tracks in it from Shapeways. They were designed by Jason Smith aka Puzzle Forge and made truly stunning by having them electroplated!

Drool!

Livewire puzzles part 11 and helping a hero

Roller Coaster

Incredible! An 11th post devoted to just one puzzle type and manufacturer. In January I began to update my Livewire puzzles sojourn with a look at the most recent ones added to their site. I am very sad to see that they have discontinued several of my absolute favourites from my previous posts. They have a huge range and some are absolute blinders! Have a look here for some of the older puzzles.

So the next one in the series that I picked up was the Roller Coaster - this is the very latest addition to their catalogue and I was very lucky to be offered the chance to buy it before it actually came on the market. It has a striking similarity to the Ringleader that I reviewed last time, with the big beautiful spiral. This spiral really complicates the solving process and gives you the dreaded opportunity to not only tie the string in knots but also to have it wound around and around the spiral. Livewire have rated this one as "Very Difficult" and hell yeah! it certainly is.

Cast Cylinder

Hanayama Cast Cylinder

Not so long ago, I appeared to have finished all of my last hoard of Puzzle Master deliveries. Very quickly suffering from withdrawal symptoms, I decided that it was definitely time for some more - and spent a very happy half hour or so rampaging through their emporium of goodies for more toys to play with and of course even more to write about for you. I really do like to have a few mass-produced puzzles to write about to ensure that I am not only writing about things that are unobtainable for many of you.

What I try to do is make an occasional large order because Canadian post is sooooo expensive that I try to get the package weight to the point where it is worthwhile buying and before it doesn't get really exorbitant! So during the week, I received another big box of new goodies to keep me occupied.

One of the first that I grabbed to try was the Cast Cylinder from Hanayama - this was released in August 2013 and has been raved about by friends of mine and by other bloggers. It just took me a while to get around to adding it to my collection. However, the wait was definitely worth it - it is a really clever puzzle with some very interesting challenges. As usual, the packaging is delightful and everything nicely held in place - no chance of breakages or it solving itself in the box as has happened to me with other company's puzzles. The instructions on the box are simply to dismantle it and put it back together again. They are so confidant in the difficulty that they actually show the pieces on the box. Rated as a level 4/6 by Hanayama and 8 (Demanding) on the 5-10 point scale by Puzzle Master, it should be a nice challenge to most puzzlers. Having been designed by the very prolific Vesa Timonen who had designed the Cast Donuts (one of my absolute favourites), I had high hopes for this one.

It has been reviewed before by Jerry on his blog here, and by Gabriel here (both of them failed to manage the puzzle reassembly without help). The customer reviews on the product page have been very positive. No solution is given with it but if you need one then it can be downloaded from here although, to be honest, I'm not sure how much help it will be for the reassembly.

Out of the box - it is made of shiny chrome (really hard to photograph!) and I think would have been nicer as an anodised black but either way it's very enticing to pick up. It is 3.6cm diameter and 3.5 cm high - it is a nice solid feel in the hands