Lock 250 / Schloss 250

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

Name
Lock 250 / Schloss 250

Designer
Jean-Claude Constantin, one of the most prolific puzzle designers around. Too see his work, click here.

Manufacturer
Jean Claude Constantin. Available from Mr Puzzle of Australia, Sloyd of Finland and PuzzleMaster of Canada. My copy (together with some other puzzles) came from Sloyd, great service and very reasonable shipping rates.

Type & Classification
Puzzle lock. But also a puzzle within the category of "n-ary" puzzles. For more on "n-ary" puzzles, you can read puzzle collector Goetz Schwandtner's article here. For a super humongous lock that requires over 340 million moves, you can read Allard's post about the Generation Lock. 

Dimensions
9.9cm (Width) x 14.7cm (Height) and 3.2cm (Depth). A relatively large puzzle.

Materials & Construction
Plywood layers laser cut and glued together, with external veneer. Steel screws and sliders. Construction fit and finish is very good overall. However, the sliders don't slide as smoothly as they should when the internal wooden plates have moved into certain positions. Some moves ok, some not. Slight jamming occasionally, but nothing serious.

Overview
Not the usual trick lock in the traditional sense but rather a "n-ary" puzzle shaped like a giant pad-lock.

Object is to open the shackle and to do this, all the 4 sliders must be moved left and right to end up all on the left side. It takes 250 moves to open and hence a further 250 to close. Does take a while to just open the lock. The bottom slider is the main one that facilitates the moving of the other 3 sliders above it.

If you get the moves correct, its more an exercise in repetitive moves which eventually leads to the release of the shackle. But wrong moves can set you back a bit and you have to repeat any number of steps from 2 to 20.

I made some wrong moves and took longer than really necessary to solve this one.

Difficulty Level

Not difficult once you get going and discover the pattern of how the sliders operate, although the repetition may cause some very tired fingers. But the anticipation of solving does build up gradually as you see the topmost slider moving slowly towards the left, which signals the end is (finally) near.

Summary
The Lock 250 is a nice and different take on both the trick/puzzle lock as well as the n-ary puzzle. Great concept except my own copy has been let down a bit by the execution; ie the less than efficient sliding mechanism which make for some rather tiring (and frustrating) puzzling.

Snakes In A Plane, Swiss Cube & Puzzle Jam

I acquired these three puzzles during last year's IPP33 Puzzle Party in Tokyo, Japan. The Puzzle Party typically takes place on the last day of the IPP and here is where puzzlers, collectors, retailers and craftsmen sell (or fob off) their collection (or unwanted puzzles) to the IPP attendees. Its like a flea market, but more up-scale and takes place in a hotel ball room.

Generally considered one of the key highlights of IPP, here is where one can possibly get some puzzle gems, be it brand new, pre-loved or rare hard to find ones, tho' the last are usually snapped up in  jiffy. A number of Exchange Puzzles (past, present and spare ones) are also usually available for sale and this is great for attendees who do not participate in the Exchange.

Snakes In A Plane
This one reminds me of a thriller action movie of similar name that appeared in cinemas a number of years back. Unlike the movie, no one dies from snakes here (not playing with this puzzle anyway). Snakes In A Plane was Bob Hearn's exchange puzzle during IPP28 in Prague in 2008. This acrylic and plastic puzzle was designed and made by Oskar van Deventer.

The object is to "twist" the "red" spiral snake out of the frame by removing the other snakes in its path. In reality its a twist (no pun intended) on the traditional sliding style block puzzle. Not too difficult and provides great fun. Very flat and portable too. At 10.2cm x 8.4cm, its easily pocket-able for a (plane) trip. I think here is a good example of employing a traditional idea to devise a unique looking and cool puzzle. Click here for a video showing the puzzle in action.

Swiss Cube
Designed by Jung von Kanel in 2005, this is an interlocking puzzle. But instead of the usual wood typically used, it is made entirely from acrylic/plexi-glass. Red and white combination with cross(s) to resemble the Swiss flag. Very well made and tho' acrylic, the puzzle feels very solid. Not large, measuring about 5cm cube. I can't remember who I bought this puzzle from but it was the only piece on the table.

The cube is hollow inside and the object is to remove and fit back the 3 white removable notched burrs (two horizontal and one vertical). There are both an easy and hard challenges designed for this puzzle.

A sequence for removal and reassembly has to be followed and you need to get the orientation of the cube correct to avoid confusion. I used  the etched wordings on the front of the cube for reference.

Not too difficult by any means, even for the hard challenge. With some manipulation of the pieces trial and error or otherwise, quite a manageable puzzle. 

Puzzle Jam
Designed and handmade by Yoshiaki Hirano, this puzzle (jam) jar is an "Impossible Object" and was Yoshiaki-san's Exchange Puzzle at IPP33. 

The jar contains two Hanayama Cast puzzles (Cast Spiral and Cast Loop) and a burgundy coloured origami rose. Its easy to remove the paper rose but it would take (a lot) of figuring out how to disassemble and remove both the Spiral and Loop, since it is impossible for them to pass through the mouth of the jar. I didn't attempt to solve this one; its difficult as it is already to solve the cast puzzles on their own outside of any jar!

The puzzle comes in a very cute hand decorated/written cardboard box with a caricature of Yoshiaki-san pasted on the front...yes, he actually does look a lot like his cartoon picture! 

Along with the Puzzle Jam, I also bought from Yoshiaki-san another impossible jar with a golf ball inside! To see some impossible objects made from Hanayama Cast puzzles, click here and scroll down.

The Circle

Name
The Circle

Designer
Shane Hales, United Kingdom

Manufacturer
Shane Hales. Shane made only 4 copies. Mine is #003. #001 and #002 went to puzzle bloggers Kevin Sadler and Allard Walker respectively while the last one was kept by Shane himself. 

Type & Classification
Sequential movement; take-apart

Dimensions
9.2cm (diameter) x 6.5cm (Height).

Materials & Construction
The puzzle is made from Oak while the the square "knob" at the top is Ebony.

The Circle has a handmade (as in hand-tooled) Etsy-ish kind of look as opposed to the precision machine-cut Eric Fuller or Pelikan manufactured puzzles. This does not mean lower quality, in fact quite the contrary; as Shane had deliberately made the two dovetails with a looser fit so that the puzzle can be (slightly) more easily solved. As to why this was done, well, you can read more from Allard's and Kevin's write-ups about the Circle. 

Overview

I got to know Shane just over a year ago in February 2013. He is a reader of my blog and also a friend of Kevin's. The two gents had been talking about my BIC#1 which I had released in late 2012 (and Kevin had been amongst the first to try out my humble first production puzzle design). 

Anyhow, Shane got in touch with me about buying a copy of my BIC#1 and in the course of email exchanges, that's where I learnt that he was also in the midst of designing his first puzzle "The Block", which he later produced only a few copies. Over the course of the year we continued to keep in touch via email and last year, he acquired my special edition copper BIC#2, one of only 4 copies which I had produced.

Limited Edition #003/4

Several weeks ago, Shane asked me if I would like to receive from him as a gift the #003 copy of the Circle. Of course I would! I was elated. Not only was I getting one of only 4 copies made, but as a gift as well. A true gift giver, he even refused to accept my offer to pay for shipping from the UK to Singapore. Thank you very much Shane!

About 10 days later, a large box duly arrived at my home. When I first took the puzzle out and examined it, I could hear quite a bit of rattling inside the puzzle. If I had not read Allard's review, I would have assumed the puzzle had been damaged during shipment. It did sound like there were broken bits inside (as if a whole bunch of parts and screws had come apart).

The object of course was to separate the Circle into two halves. My experience with take apart dovetails were limited to Wil Strijbos's aluminium dovetails and the Wunder Puzzle. While challenging in their own way, these did not take very long for me to solve. All within minutes rather than hours. Kevin had commented he took a really long time and Allard took about half an hour. Considering both of them are hardcore puzzlers, I knew the Circle would probably take me no less than the time required by Allard, at the very best.

What was puzzling were the rattling noises! I couldn't figure out how the dovetails were kept together when there was all this ruckus going on inside (well I mean, loose parts can't possibly keep two halves interlocked tightly together, right?)

Anyway for the next two nights, I spent a couple of hours each playing with the Circle, pushing and tugging at the two halves here and there, and even shaking the puzzle (gently) tho' the instructions did say no force was required! No luck at all.

Thereafter I had to stop for about 5 days as I went on a family vacation. I brought the Circle with me but didn't spend any time it. I wasn't too keen to take it out of my suitcase just in case my 3.5 year old son wanted to have a bash at it :-)...he may just end up bashing it (and here there is no possibility of a replacement from Shane). When I got back from my holiday, I decided to dedicate some time to the Circle. With full focus and concentration, I embarked on the Circle again.

I continued with my investigative trial/error and random approach towards the puzzle. The 2 dovetail halves are locked together by 3 mechanisms, 1 primary and 2 secondary. The secondary mechanisms were easily discovered early on during play and these are the more common (and usual) methods deployed to keep two parts of a puzzle together. I knew they could not be the ones keeping the Circle together.

Anyway, I continue with what I was doing and after a fair amount of time, all of a sudden the two dovetails came apart a bit. Not the least solved yet... but here I had a partial view of the insides and immediately knew what was causing the rattling. More importantly, I now had an idea of how the puzzle worked and what I needed to do. I had stumbled upon and solved the first stage. But the puzzle was only about a fifth open. As I continued my (correct) approach, eventually my theory proved right and the two dovetails slid apart nicely.

First off, the internal mechanism keeping the dovetails together is not technically that complicated. In fact the mechanism/trick is rather simple, tho' unusual. The way Shane has employed the use of if is (in my opinion) very clever, and of course totally unexpected. The solution is not difficult to execute once you know it, just that it does take time to complete the steps, quite a number I might add. A gentle hand is required throughout. 

Reassembly involves the steps in reverse order, a bit of gentle twisting and everything is back to its original state.

The Circle even came with its own plastic display stand

Difficulty Level

As one cannot see (but only hear) what is going on inside the Circle, it is very difficult at the beginning, but with some persistence (and without the use of force), the first stage can eventually be reached. Once here, if you can understand the principle of how the puzzle works (yes, there are some physics involved), the next few stages which open the puzzle is very manageable.

Summary
The Circle is by far the most challenging (and hardest) dovetail interlocking puzzle I have come across so far. Marvellous use of an unusual and interesting mechanism/trick, which requires a bit of patience and effort to solve. A really great puzzle and both Allard and Kevin have asked a very reluctant Shane to enter the Circle for the IPP34 Puzzle Design Competition; I fully agree and concur!

From Russia With Love

A couple of readers had emailed me to ask if I could feature interesting puzzles from other genres instead of the usual wooden interlocking ones (which were the content for my last 6 posts). Ok, point noted.....guess there are many puzzlers out there that are not die-hard fans of wooden burrs and the like...

Starting from this post and at frequent intervals, I shall endeavour to do just that. The 3 puzzles featured below came to me courtesy of Russian puzzle designer Vladimir Krasnoukhov whom I had the pleasure of meeting at IPP33 in Japan last year. In fact during the judging process, I was struggling  with his design entry; the Tri-Symmetrics interlocking puzzle and he (sitting next to me and me not knowing him) had kindly showed me the correct moves. Little did I know then that he was in fact the puzzle's designer!

Vladimir, together with his compatriot Irina Novichkova run a puzzle website: http://www.planetagolovolomok.ru/. The site is in Russian but Google Translate will do the job to convert it to reasonably readable English.

Childish Cubes

I am not sure what is the Russian name for this packing puzzle but translated, it does have a rather strange name "Childish Cubes". 

This is a traditional 9 piece 3D packing puzzle and the object is the pack all the pieces flush with the box. The 9 pieces comprise 4 different shapes mainly rectangles with 3 congruent pairs. 

The pieces together with the box are made of a variety of different woods which lend some contrasting colours to the puzzle. One of the woods I think is Purple Heart. Overall the puzzle is very well made and pieces are nicely cut. 

The box even has some nice detailing like stepped and bevelled edges at the top. Not a large puzzle by any means measuring just 7.5cm x 6cm x 4cm but large enough to handle comfortably.

Suffice to say, there is nothing "childish" with this puzzle. With its block shapes, it may not look that tough from the outside but this puzzle still packs (no pun intended) quite a punch. Fun to solve but won't frustrate you to wits end.  At 224 Roubles, its a little more than US$6/-, representing excellent value for money (NB: the website version looks different from my own copy).

Black Square

The Black Square (on the website is "Black Square 2") is an acrylic 2D packing puzzle and the object is to fit the black piece from the top right corner into the square frame together with the other 4 yellow pieces. Size is about 12.3cm x 9.3cm.

While only 4 rectangular trapezoid pieces inside the frame and the blank spaces seem to be in abundance, this one proved to be deceptively difficult. 

I struggled with it for a good part of the afternoon but still got nowhere. I emailed fellow puzzle blogger Roxanne Wong (who had solved the Black Square within minutes), for assistance. 

Within a jiffy she replied with a hint (what would we do without smartphones?). With her hint I took a little while more and eventually figured it out. Very difficult! Rated 7/7 by Vladimir.

Proton

This last one is a sliding puzzle comprising 8 pieces filling a 11.3cm x 9.3cm tray. 

There are 5 different challenges to this puzzle, each progressing in difficulty.  The easiest is 23 moves to shift the rocket pieces one step right. The hardest (116 moves) is where the rocket ends up on the extreme right side of the tray. In between there are 63, 76 and 107 move challenges. 

Challenge #1: 23 moves to shift the rocket to the right one step

I am lousy with sliding puzzles but got through challenge #1 fairly easily. I stopped here without trying the next step up. Great for sliding puzzle lovers but unfortunately this one doesn't appear to be listed on Vladimir's website.

Well that's all folks for this post....more to come the next time!

Box Packing

Name
Box Packing

Designer
William Hu. To see his designs click here.

Manufacturer
Pelikan. 

Type & Classification
Interlocking, sequential movement

Dimensions
8.0cm (Length) x 8.0cm (Width) and 7.0cm (Height). 

Materials & Construction
A combination of 3 solid hardwoods. The box frame is Cherry while the pieces are Wenge. Nice contrast of colours here. Top-notch construction and finish as always.

The pieces are glued together to form their irregular shapes. Do be careful since they are thinner than usual (at just 1.0cm sq) and rather delicate, which makes them susceptible to cracking or breaking if there is undue use of force during play. I did experience a fair amount of flex while pushing and pulling the pieces.

Overview

This rather nice and different looking interlocking puzzle is my first from designer William Hu

The object is to remove the 4 pieces and reassemble them within the open top/bottom box frame. It looks unusual because the 4 pieces besides interlocking themselves inside the box also "claw" the external surfaces of the box.

As you start puzzling, you will find the pieces have to move in sequence in order to progress. Removing the first piece while seemingly complicated is actually manageable. For me it was a matter of experimenting with each of the pieces to see how they interacted with each other and the frame. I didn't take that long to extract the first piece but I remember it took quite a number of moves. Once you have the second piece out, the remaining two come out easily.   

Like a number of interlocking puzzles, reassembly poses the harder challenge. However, with such puzzles, I try to document each step with photos just in case I lose my way. True enough during reassembly I did. Got confused with the orientation of the pieces mid way through. For Box Packing, I could not have remembered the correct steps and moves if not for the photos, which guided me in the reverse order of "packing" back together everything.

Difficulty Level

This is a level 8.4.3.1 puzzle requiring 8 moves to remove the first piece and 4 to remove the second and so on. Relatively easier (not easy) to disassemble but challenging to put back. But once you memorise the steps and where each piece's position is, in relation to the others, may not be too difficult to repeat solve, and thankfully there are no more than 4 pieces to deal with.

Summary
Aside from being a challenging puzzle, the Box Packing stands out from the atypical cuboid shapes that adorn many interlocking puzzles. Very nice for display and excellent value for money too. I just wish the puzzle had been made dimensionally larger to be more sturdy. 

Involute

Name
Involute

Designer
Stewart Coffin. Check out his over 250+ designs here.

Manufacturer
Brian Menold. Online retail shop Wood Wonders.  My copy priced at US$26 (unavailable). But available in Red Oak for US$22.

Type & Classification
Interlocking, sequential movement

Dimensions
6.7cm (Length) x 6.7cm (Width) x 6.7cm (Height).

Materials & Construction
The 8 pieces of the puzzle which interlock to form the cube is made of Tasmanian Rose Myrtle with the corners made from Rosewood. Construction fit and finish is very good; solid quality and value for US$26.

Overview
This is my third puzzle from Brian after Twin Pentominoes and Stacks Of Sticks both reviewed earlier in this blog. I had received this from him a while back but only got around to it this week.

This one is a real beast! Looks innocuous; just like any other 4x4x4 cube out there but a nightmare to solve, especially the re-assembly. Although only 4x4x4, it comprises 8 pieces all of irregular and non-identical shapes.

Initially I didn't think it would be that difficult; especially after I got the 1st piece out (easy) and even the 2nd and 3rd piece was removed pretty quickly with the right moves...thereafter I was stuck. I had dried the puzzle in my dry box to make sure there was no tightness due to wood expansion (and its a really good thing I did, because this puzzle probably cannot be solved if the pieces fit too snugly). 

Although I am generally lousy at interlocking burrs, I have enough experience to know that some interlocking burr pieces don't disengage in the way one would normally expect them to. So I tried a different angle...and yes, my alternate approach did work and I managed to free up pieces #4 and #5. The rest came out pretty easily thereafter. Here is where the intimidation started!

But I made one serious misstep. I forgot to document my steps with photos which I usually do, especially with burrs. After all the pieces had come apart and I had photographed them for this blog post, I started to reassemble them. Horrors! I had forgotten the orientation of the pieces and sequence. I spent a long while trying to fit the pieces together but nothing worked. General confusion pervaded.

I activated Burr Tools. While the programme did not reveal a solution (because you can't use Burr Tools on this particular type of puzzle), the final assembly of the Involute (combined with my photo of the disassembled pieces) gave me clues as to where the different pieces were positioned, relative to one other. (Those who know how to use Burr Tools would know what I mean). Aided by this, I was able to slowly piece everything back to together. Whew!

Difficulty Level
Extremely difficult; particularly the re-assembly. And Burr Tools doesn't work here either, except perhaps for the way I have described above.

Summary
For anyone who enjoys a really difficult challenge with interlocking burrs, this one is a must- have. Just remember to document your steps as you play to save you a ton of headache and frustration later. A real gem from Stewart Coffin. And for the price paid, excellent value for money too!

Owl

Name
Owl. No prizes for guessing why its called what its called!

Designer
Stephan Baumegger. You can check out his own and other puzzle designs on his Facebook page. Nice collection with photos.

Manufacturer
Stephan Baumegger. The Owl is available for 40 euros. His puzzles range from 40 euros to around 120 euros depending on the complexity.

Type & Classification
Interlocking, sequential movement

Dimensions
7.9cm (Length) x 5cm (Width) and 5cm (Height).  

Materials & Construction
Stephan crafts his puzzles from a variety of exotic hardwoods. My copy of the Owl consist of Wenge for the outer frame, Elm for the inner frame and Tiger Wood for the pieces

Overall, very well constructed with nice bevelling on the edges, although the inner frame and a couple of the pieces had a few small rough edges here and there. But all the pieces fit perfectly and slide smoothly against each other. I did not have to place in my camera dry box to de-humidify.

Overview

This is my first puzzle from Austrian puzzle designer and maker, Stephan Baumegger. I had learnt about Stephan from Saul Symonds puzzle blog. After checking out his Facebook page, I promptly shot an email asking Stephan about the availability of his puzzles and pricing. I thought the Owl looked really cute and ordered one. A week later, the Owl flew into my home.

The Owl consist of 5 pieces; an outer rectangular frame, a rather unusual and uncommon smaller inner frame and 3 loose pieces. The inner frame can slide left to right, limited by the interlocking of itself with the outer frame and the 3 irregular notched pieces.

Two frames to house the 3 pieces

As in most interlocking puzzles, removing the first piece from the Owl consists of a combination of moves of the other pieces as well and in sequence. In the case of the Owl, to extract the first piece is in my opinion the most difficult. Took me a good 30 minutes to do this. You move the pieces as well as the inner frame to create an exit for the first piece. Thereafter, the other two were relatively easier.

I took pains to remember the steps and practised removing and putting back each piece individually so that I would have an easier time later with the reassembly. True enough after I had done this several times, I could repeat solving without a cinch.

Difficulty Level

The Owl is a level 7.4.5 puzzle with a unique solution. 7 moves to remove the first piece. While challenging, I didn't find it too difficult. The putting back together I feel is easier than the taking apart for this puzzle.

Summary
Interesting design, sufficiently challenging and overall a fun puzzle. Nice looking too (like an Owl), especially with the contrasting woods used. And did I mention, Stephan can also make your puzzle in your choice of woods.

All Tetra Stick

Name
All Tetra Stick. 

Designer
Osanori Yamamoto. For Osanori's other designs, click here.

The square block at the top left corner of the opening is fixed

Manufacturer
Pelikan. Available via email from Puzzlewood of Germany and PuzzleMaster of Canada.

Type & Classification
3D Packing, sequential movement

Dimensions
4cm (Length) x 4cm (Width) and 12cm (Height).  

Materials & Construction
The Tetra Stick comes in 3 wood options. In all 3, the pieces are Maple but there is a choice of materials for the box; Walnut, Bubinga or Zebrano. My copy in the photo is Bubinga.

Very well constructed with excellent finishing throughout. All the pieces fit perfectly and slide smoothly within the box.

Overview

I suppose the puzzle is called Tetra Stick because well, firstly it looks like a stubby stick or sorts. Secondly, the way the pieces "fall" into the box (and you need to slide them some sideways we well) as you pack them in resembles the computer game Tetris. Thirdly, because each of the 8 pieces are formed out of 4 connected squares (ie tetrominoes), the "tetro" bit forms part of the name since the game Tetris also comprises of falling 2D tetrominoes!

The Tetra Stick is a really nice departure from the ubiquitous square or cube shape of many wooden interlocking or packing puzzles. Very nice shape I must say which I like a lot!

The puzzle comes solved so you basically "pour" the pieces out and re-pack them in. All the 8 tetromino pieces are non-identical.

Removing the pieces is very easy, just pour them out! Re-packing is more challenging. While you can group the pieces together outside the box and get it into the shape that will eventually fit the box, you must take into account the box having an obstruction at its opening; ie a square cube that is affixed to one of the corners. 

This effectively means that you can only solve the repacking part by inserting one piece at a time and orientating the pieces in a way that will fit through the opening. You can't just plonk in the whole lot together. This requires planning of the sequence of the insertions. Once a piece is inside, you may also have to manoeuvre it by sliding it into the correct position or allow for other pieces to fit in thereafter. Gravity does the job and as you let go each piece at the opening, it slides into the box almost like in slow motion.

Difficulty Level

Challenging but by no means very difficult. Once you can sort out the shape the pieces need to form in order to fit inside the box, the rest is a matter of getting them in one by one in the correct manner though the partially obstructed opening. Or course the initial attempt to get the pieces into the right shape may already prove very challenging for some.

Summary
Very nice looking and well-made packing puzzle. 3 different choice of wood combinations. Looks different from the norm. Definitely worth getting!

Triaxe

Name
Triaxe

Designer
Stephane Chomine. A prolific designer, Stephane has to-date 457 designs, click here to see them.

Manufacturer
Eric Fuller. From his website, 40 copies were made priced at US$73/-. Currently all sold out. 

Type & Classification
Interlocking, sequential movement

Dimensions
6.7cm (Length) x 6.7cm (Width) and 6.7cm (Height). 

Materials & Construction
The cage is Quilted Maple and the pieces Bloodwood. Nice colour contrast. Workmanship is top-notch and fit and finish is excellent. Surprisingly, my copy has not really been affected by the high humidity and despite not being in my camera dry-box, the movements are still smooth and easy. 

A word of caution; the edges and corners of the cage are all straight, sharp and precise. One careless drop on a hard or rough surface is almost guaranteed a ding, dent or worse, crack on the cage and Eric will have to make you another one. Handle the puzzle over thick carpet or on your bed.

Overview

The Triaxe consists of a cage within which are three different shaped pieces interlocked together. The object of course is to disassemble and fit the pieces back into the cage again. Unlike the HALT reviewed earlier (another of Staphane Chomine's designs), this one is far far more difficult. I took a good half hour or more to remove the first of the three pieces. Thereafter the other two were pretty easy. Mainly through trial and error rather than a systematic or logical sequence.

However, when it came to putting back everything, I was stuck, really stuck. I had lost track of the orientation of the pieces relative to the frame somewhere during disassembly. I found myself the next couple of hours trying to manipulate the pieces to fit each other, without any success. Every time, the last piece was always kept out of the cage somehow and couldn't find its way inside. 

In the end I gave up and resorted to Burr Tools. Only with the help of the programme did I manage to fit the pieces back together. No way I could have succeeded without the aid of this life-saving and "frustration alleviating" software.  

Difficulty Level

Extremely difficult! Especially during re-assembly. This is a level 24.3 one-solution only puzzle requiring 24 moves to remove the first piece from the cage!

Summary
There are interlocking burrs that look intimidating but in fact are really quite manageable. The Triaxe not only looks intimidating, it IS intimidating!  As Eric mentioned on his site..."with only three pieces it's not impossible, but this is definitely an advanced puzzle. Lots of movement and lots of dead ends. Lucky for you I'm shipping it assembled!" 

Its a good thing he did; otherwise I would have had no chance even to take it apart without external help!

Orsi

Name
Orsi (Tamas named the puzzle Orsi after one of his family members)

Designer
Tamas Vanyo. To see his designs click here.

Manufacturer
Pelikan. Online sellers PuzzleMaster of Canada are retailing them at CA$49.99 while Mr Puzzle of Australia for A$55.00

Type & Classification
Interlocking, sequential movement

Dimensions
8.3cm (Length) x 8.3cm (Width) and 6.0cm (Height). Nice beefy size for the hands.

Materials & Construction
A combination of 2 solid hardwoods. The frame is Bubinga and the pieces are Maple. As usual, excellent construction, fit and  finishing throughout. All the pieces are very precisely cut and fit just nicely. Not too snug and movement is smooth.

Overview

This is my second puzzle from Tamas, the first one being Noncsi reviewed a while back.

I must say when I first handled and looked at the Orsi, I thought I would be in for a long haul. It looked like a really complicated interlocking burr. 

The Orsi consist of a box frame without top and bottom and surrounding the 4 sides are rectangular cut-outs. Nestled within the frame are 6 congruent "U" shaped pieces which interlock together. 

I started with the usual pushing and pulling and generally trying to feel my way around the puzzle. Some pushing downwards and two of the pieces came out, one after the other. The next challenge was to get the remaining 4 out and this time, some pulling in the opposite direction did the trick. The next 2 pieces slid. The final 2 were easy. Re-assembly was the reverse and because all 6 pieces were the same, this made it easier. No Burr Tools required here; what a relief! Even the photos which I usually take to document my steps were not needed.

As I am usually lousy with interlocking burrs, I was actually pretty surprised at myself for solving the Orsi in a relatively quick time, within minutes rather than hours/days. As fellow puzzle blogger Kevin Sadler has remarked, you have not solved it until you can repeat your performance twice in succession, to show the solving was not a fluke.

I disassembled the Orsi and put it back together again, not twice but trice!

Difficulty Level

This is a level 7.3.3.2.3 puzzle requiring 7 moves to remove the first piece and a 3 to remove the second and so on. Personally I found it easy-moderate in difficulty, certainly easier than the Noncsi. So will not pose too much of a challenge for experienced burr puzzlers.

Summary
Again, one of those interlocking burrs that look rather intimidating at first glance, but actually very doable. Play with it slowly and deliberately and you will discover that the interlocking mechanism/process is actually not as complicated as it seems, but consists of some repeated steps which are easy to remember. I like this one; provides a feel good factor - I managed to solve it without any frustration!

T4-II (Tea For 2)

Name
T4-II (Tea For 2)

Designer
Mineyuki Uyematsu who has done over 70 designs to-date.

Manufacturer
Mineyuki Uyematsu. Mineyuki sells the T4-II and other puzzles on his website but is currently sold out. The site is in Japanese so Google translate would help.

Type & Classification
3D Packing

Dimensions
7.6cm (Length) x 7.6cm (Width) x 3cm (Height)

Materials & Construction
A combination of several exotic hardwoods; the box frame is made of what looks like Walnut. Cover is frosted acrylic. Very well made and the pieces have nice bevelled edges throughout.

IPP
T4-II is Mineyuki's entry for the 2013 Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition at IPP33 in Tokyo, Japan this year. 

Overview

I first handled this rather nice looking puzzle at IPP33 during the two days judging process of the design entries but didn't get anywhere with it. When it came to the day of the Puzzle Party, Mineyuki had a number of copies for sale and I duly bought one.

T4-II is a 3D packing puzzle and the object is to fit the 4 pieces into the box. Simple it seems when you first look at the 4 identical T-shaped pieces and try to figure out the layout it would take within the box (not hard this latter part). Except that you have to get them through an odd-shaped looking cut-out on the acrylic cover that seals the box. Even this part seems manageable until you discover that always the last piece can't seem to go in.

The cover makes the puzzle tricky and a bit of thinking outside the box (no pun intended) is required here. Not the usual method of trial and error here; which I normally first adopt, but to no avail of course.

I studied the cut-out in greater detail and tried various movements and orientations with the pieces. Suddenly something clicked and I was on my way to packing all 4 pieces in nicely.

Difficulty Level

Challenging but not too difficult. There is one first important step that will lead the solving process and once you discover this step, the rest becomes obvious. Like I mentioned above, you need to depart from the typical approach here.

Summary
For those who like packing puzzles, this is a good one to acquire. Fun and with an unexpected (but rather rewarding) solution.