Pyramida

Name
Pyramida

Designer
Frederic Boucher

Manufacturer & Availability
Produced by Frederic in 2012. May still be available in limited quantities. For anyone interested please PM me.

Type & Classification
Dexterity

You rarely find this sort of detailed instructions with a puzzle

Dimensions
8.5cm x 8.5cm x 2.7cm

Materials & Construction
Aluminium, glass, cherry wood, steel. Very well crafted and put together and Frederic has chosen glass instead of acrylic for the cover, which adds a touch of class to the puzzle.

Overview

It would be an understatement to say that Frederic Boucher is a versatile designer. While there are designers who focus and are good at one category of puzzles, burrs for example, Frederic has designed puzzles in several categories including burrs, packing, impossible objects and dexterity puzzles. 

This is my second dexterity puzzle from Frederic after his Manholes 55 the latter which was his IPP33 Puzzle Design Competition Entry.

The Pyramida has one simple task; Arrange the 10 marbles (4 green and 6 red) inside the box to form pyramids of different colour configurations. The puzzle comes with a total of 36 challenges. For 12 of the 36 challenges, 2 reds and a green are swapped with 2 yellows and a blue that comes extra with the puzzle. You will need to unscrew the glass cover to do this, but fear not; Frederic also supplies a screw driver and extra screws and printed instructions (although' in Japanese) for the task. What great attention to details!

Difficulty

While some of the 36 challenges look easier than the others, even the easier looking ones are not. It may look simple to swirl the marbles around inside the box to try to achieve the desired colour pyramid but believe me, it is anything but that. The marbles don't behave like you want them to. I only succeeded in getting a couple of the challenges right. The marbles are much more difficult to stay atop one another thank you think. A gentle touch is definitely an advantage for play here.

I can only imagine the ones involving the yellow and blue marbles are even more difficult given there are now 4 different colours inside the box.

Challenge #33 which I managed to solve

Summary

For anyone who enjoys dexterity puzzles, this one is a must-have. Not just a single challenge as in most of the dexterity puzzles out, but 36. And all in one very attractive and superb quality package.