8 Stars Labyrinth

Name
8 Stars Labyrinth

Designer
Robrecht Louage. The 8SL was also Robrecht's entry to the IPP35 Puzzle Design Competition.

Manufacturer & Availability
Manufactured and sold by Robrecht himself. He may still have some copies available. 

Type & Classification
Route finding/Maze

Dimensions
12cm x 8cm x 2.5cm

Materials & Construction
The puzzle is made of Trespa (a very strong and durable composite laminate made of resin reinforced by cellulose fibres generally used for interior table tops) with a translucent covering made of frosted acrylic. Construction, fit and finish is superb with very tight tolerances and everything accurately cut (especially the maze channels). A very high quality and solid puzzle.

Overview

Robrecht Louage is very well known for his "remove the coin" puzzles such as his 1 € Labyrinth and Remove The Yolk. And of course who can forget his IPP31 award winning 4 Steps Visible Lock. Then he has designed several of the more typical maze style puzzles like the Larva and La Cerradura Doble. 

The 8SL seems to be a bit of a departure from both of these styles. Instead what we have here is a puzzle which requires you to navigate a little ball bearing (7.5mm diameter) through a series of channels fraught with a number of traps and obstacles along the way. 

Object is to put the ball bearing in the hole "IN" and get the ball through the maze and its obstacles and then exit the hole marked "OUT". Take a look at the photo and you will know what I mean.

Difficulty Level
The 8SL is a bit beyond moderate difficulty. Quite a number of traps along the way. While some of the obstacles are visible through the translucent cover and its obvious what needs to be done, some are not and requires a bit of trial and error. And in some cases, dexterity is required. There are also four traps that are hidden from view (the blacked out areas on the cover) and these require some thinking as to how to pass the ball through them. 

I had previously designed a couple of puzzles involving moving ball bearings (see my BIC#1 and BIC#2) and so had some inkling of how the traps might work. But despite this, I still took nearly 45 minutes to solve the puzzle. Gabriel Fernandez took just 10 minutes! I guess I spent the most time on the bottom hidden maze. Its almost right next to the finish point but because its hidden and the ball is only visible through some of the holes at the bottom plate, I made a number of unsuccessful attempts before getting the ball back out to the top channel.

Summary

Overall a nice, fun and more than sufficiently challenging puzzle; not the most difficult by any means of course. And at times, you have to navigate blind. But a great concept in puzzle design, no less. What I like about the 8SL is that you get the "a-ha" moments as you successfully tackle each trap/obstacle. You can feel your progress and can take your time to finish the solve in stages.

Here's A Sharp Looking Puzzle!

If there was an award at IPP35 for an Exchange Puzzle with the most original design, I think it should go to David Litwin's "Straight Up".

The "Straight Up" looks just like a real traditional shaving razor and comes nicely packaged in an attractive box too. Its made of laser cut acrylic and David has chosen a pearlescent finish for the handle to give it an authentic look. Very nicely made indeed!

As you might guess, the object is to unfold the "razor" and expose the "blade". Not that simple, because the blade is restrained in its handle by a locking mechanism. To unlock the blade fully, you need to navigate a" maze" (forming the words IPP) cut into the blade. This took me a couple of minutes of trying before I got it out; because you can't really see clearly all that's happening within, although you know what's there and needs to be done.

Notice anything special about the maze?

To return the blade to its folded position, its the reverse but I found this step a tad harder even though now all is exposed and you can see how the blade is to be locked back into position and what goes where. A bit of dexterity here and there is also required.

Overall, not that difficult to solve with some trying, and certainly not as challenging as David's previous (IPP33) Exchange Puzzle, a packing puzzle called City Block. But very unusual, neat idea and a "sharp" looker!

Manholes 55

Name
Manholes 55

Designer
Frederic Boucher.

Manufacturer
Frederic Boucher. Only two copies of the puzzle were made by Frederic for the IPP33 Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition. One has been donated to the Lilly Library Jerry Slocum Mechanical Puzzle Collection. I have the other, hence none currently available; unless Frederic decides to make more.

Type & Classification
Dexterity

Dimensions
8.2cm (Length) x 8.2cm (Width) x 3.6cm (Height)

Materials & Construction
Wood, glass, aluminium, felt, brass, steel, coins. Very well constructed and put together. Despite repeated handling by more than 170 participants during the 3 days judging process at IPP33, the puzzle withstood whatever abuse and did not appear to show any signs of wear at all. Nice size and feels very hefty in the palm.

As you can see from the photos, the puzzle consists of a wooden box topped with a glass cover (which makes the puzzle more classy than if perspex had been used) held in place by aluminium plates. Within the box is a "street" with two manholes, covered by a 50 yen coin and a 5 yen coin (ie 50+5 = Manholes 55). Also inside the box are brass and steel ball bearings.

IPP
Apart from Manholes 55, Frederic's Elle interlocking puzzle was also a design entry for IPP33.

Overview
I came upon the Manholes 55 when I was playing with the various competition entries. What intrigued and drew my interest was this very nice looking box with an unusual combination of different materials used, including glass for the construction of the puzzle. The odd thing was that both Frederic and I attended IPP33; I played with his Manholes 55 and Elle and he tried his hand at my own competition entry Ball In Cylinder No1. Yet we did not meet each other in person the entire 3-4 days while we were both there! I still do not know what he looks like!

After I returned from IPP33, I emailed Frederic to ask if he could sell a copy to me. After a couple of emails, we eventually did an exchange; my new Ball In Cylinder No.2 for his Manholes 55. Frederic had also mentioned that he made the two Manholes 55s from left over parts from his Pyramida Puzzles; no wastage of anything here which has resulted in a beautiful and attractive puzzle.

There are 3 challenges to this puzzle:-

1. Hide each ball underneath the coin (manhole cover) of the same colour.
2. Place each ball on top of the coin (manhole cover) of the same colour.
3. Without spinning the puzzle, move the balls to the green areas on each side of the street.

Challenge 2 solution

Difficulty Level
Challenges 1 and 2 are not difficult. The manhole covers (coins) and ball bearings move into place nicely with the required dexterity. A gentle touch will aid more in the solving than hard shaking. Challenge 3 is the tough one. I tried for a rather long time but could not seem to get the balls onto the felt on opposite sides. I just can't seem to get one ball to stay put while trying to manipulate the second ball to the opposite felt. Frederic provided me with the 3 solutions; there is a certain technique to solve Challenge 3 which I will attempt to try.

Summary

A well made puzzle that is fun to play with, not only for adults but also for kids (I let a friend's 8 year old have a go at it and he got through Challenge 1 without any help). With its glass, metal and wood construction, the Manholes 55 also makes a really nice display item. And if there will only be two copies (or perhaps a few more in time to come?) well,... its certainly going to be a very rare collector's puzzle.

1 € Labyrinth Puzzle

Name
1 € Labyrinth Puzzle

Designer
Robrecht Louage.

Manufacturer
Robrecht Louage. Puzzle directly available from him via his email found on IPP32 site. Priced at 20€ but it's really only 19€ because you get 1€ back from the puzzle...if you manage to get it out that is.

Type & Classification
Maze; Route Finding.

Dimensions
18.6cm (Length) x 7cm (Width) x 1.5cm (Thick)

Materials & Construction
Trespa (a very strong and durable composite laminate made of resin reinforced by cellulose fibres generally used for interior table tops), transparent acrylic, steel ball bearing and screws. Like all of Robrecht's previous puzzles, quality, fit and finish here is very good. Looking through the clear acrylic panel, the maze inside appears to be very nicely and finely cut by laser. The choice of materials used is in my opinion very suitable for this type of puzzle; in terms of quality and durability versus affordability.

IPP
The 1€ Labyrinth Puzzle was a competition entry in the IPP32 Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition in Washington, USA, 9-12 August 2012. Robrecht's 4 Step Visible Lock won the Jury Grand Prize at IPP31 in Berlin the previous year.

Overview
This puzzle came to me courtesy of Robrecht and is his 4th puzzle in my collection. The other three are the 4 Steps Visible Lock, Remove The Yoke and La Cerradura Doble all which I have reviewed previously in this blog.

In some ways similar to the 4 Steps Visible Lock, the object is to extract the 1€ coin from puzzle. To achieve this, you have to move the acrylic panel left and right by navigating a ball bearing through a maze inside. I found the 1€ Labyrinth much harder and trickier to solve. It took me nearly an hour whereas the 4 Steps Visible Lock was solved under fifteen minutes. The added difficulty was the fact that the maze is only partially visible and sometimes you will lose sight of the ball bearing.

Difficulty Level
Challenging and tricky but not unduly difficult. Those who have solved the 4 Steps Visible Lock would probably find it easier as there is a similar step involved.

Summary
Overall, a puzzle that is fun to solve and one which can be solved repeatedly (and quickly) once you know the trick/mechanism involved. For a rather well made puzzle, it is also very reasonable priced and value for money. The puzzle will make a nice addition to any collection. But the 4 Steps Visible Lock still remains my top favourite of the four puzzles mentioned.

Ball In Cylinder Puzzle No.1

UPDATE  30 SEPT 2017 - Production of BIC#1 has ceased indefinitely. But Ball In Cylinder #2 is now AVAILABLE again! Please email me at smallpuzzlecollection@gmail.com to purchase.

Update 23 October 2017 - Dear Reader, please check out my new puzzle blog and e-store at http://mechanical-puzzles.com

Sometime last November, I decided to have a go at puzzle designing. While I wanted to see if I could actually come up with something that could remotely be considered a mechanical puzzle, this was also to determine if my design could actually be produced, and if so, whether it could be made out of metal.

There were three main hurdles I had to overcome:-

1. Come up with a functional mechanical puzzle design; one that actually works.
2. Source for aluminium and be able to buy it cheaply
3. Find a metal fabricator who could produce a single prototype at a reasonable cost

I already had in mind what sort of puzzle I wanted to design and with the help of MS PowerPoint (no CAD etc here) challenge No 1 was quite easily disposed off. Google proved to be very helpful and I readily located an aluminium supplier that was prepared to sell me a small quantity of rods and tubes of the required sizes cash and carry. It was finding a suitable fabricator that proved to be the most difficult of the three. While there are certainly no shortage of vendors, few if any were keen to do personal projects, instead preferring to do more profitable commercial work.

I asked and searched around quite a bit and nearly gave up this whole idea when by a stroke of luck, I was referred by an acquaintance to a small metal engineering business located only minutes away from my office. I was in luck. The proprietor, a kindly elderly gentleman, was willing to make a single unit prototype after looking at my design. It took a bit of effort to explain to him what mechanical puzzles were and what I was trying to achieve. He was rather amused and decided to go along with me. (The next time I visit him, I will remember to bring along Wil Strijbos' Lotus! I am sure this would definitely blow him away). And the price quoted was also pretty affordable. This gave me hope since making more units would lower the price.

To cut a long story short, my first puzzle produced was the RevoLUTION Ball Puzzle. I made only one copy. While the aluminium itself was easy to find, some of the parts that I needed were not, and our dear old metal fabricator (he is in his late 60s) was too busy to source them for me. I also felt the specifications needed changing, eg much larger ball bearing, less moving parts etc. Notwithstanding, I was satisfied with this first exercise of design and production. I had found a fabricator willing and capable of making metal puzzles. Apart from metal, my fabricator could also work with heavy plastic, nylon and ABS, but not wood.

During this time, I was also concurrently working on my second design, the Ball In Cylinder Puzzle (BIC). I wanted my second puzzle not only to provide a reasonable amount of challenge but also be aesthetically pleasing. Compare the BIC to the RevoLUTION Ball Puzzle physically and you will know what I mean. Inspiration was drawn from Wil Strijbos' metal puzzles and some others.

For my BIC to work properly, it had to be of a certain size. My reference point was the Revomaze and AlCyl, the latter reviewed in this blog. Anodising was expensive and out of the question, so I settled for a polished look instead. I had tried out the first and second prototypes on my friends (tho' unfortunately none were puzzlers) but the feedback was pretty positive.

Ball In Cylinder Puzzle Prototype No 1 on the right and No 2 on the left.
No 1 was a whopping 70% larger by volume than the No 2. Notice
also the missing etched lines at both ends of No2 which are found on the final design (top photo) 

After minor tweaks through three prototypes, I finally settled on my final design and took the plunge to order a batch of fifteen copies. The true test is really what the experts have to say....so I sent about half of these to experienced puzzlers and bloggers in the community (including Wil Strijbos) to see what they thought of my first production puzzle. Thankfully they reported positive and encouraging comments on their blogs and I got valuable feedback. I actually sold out the remaining half within a night, after Kevin's review was posted on his blog. Unfortunately I also had to put other prospective purchasers on a wait list.

My BIC is made entirely from 6061 aluminium (I don't know what these numbers mean but mountain bikes appear to use similar aluminium as well). It measures 7.5cm tall with a diameter of 4.44cm and feels weighty in the hand.

The object of the BIC is to remove the hidden ball bearing inside the cylinder. It is classified as a sequential movement puzzle. As the BIC is my own design, I am not sure how to grade it's difficulty. Allard in his blog review states the BIC "will provide a nice little challenge" while Kevin feels it has "just the right level of difficulty". For other reviews, please see Roxanne's blog post and Oli's comments on the Revomaze Forum.

In the meantime, I am onto my third puzzle design and this one will go for prototyping very soon. Will let everyone know once its ready.

Update: 29 January 2013

The prototype for the new Ball In Cylinder Puzzle No.2 has been fabricated and looks good. Now undergoing testing and tweaking the specifications to make sure it works properly as intended.

Update: 11 June 2013

Ball In Cylinder No.2 first four puzzles delivered. Now to check that each puzzle works properly. Once the rest of copies produced, will make available for sale via this site.