Coke Bottle #1

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

I was never really into impossible objects, usually just treating them as more of items for viewing amusement. But after solving Wil Strijbos' IPP32 Exchange Puzzle, I found that I actually enjoyed playing with the puzzle very much. Hence I decided to put in an order for three of Wil's Coke Bottle puzzles. The first one reviewed here is the Coke Bottle #1. There are, it appears a total of ten Coke bottle puzzles in the whole series according to Allard.

Like most of Wil's bottle puzzles, this one consist of a standard 250ml empty Coke bottle, within which sits a red plastic rod. The end at the bottom of the bottle has a screw and bolt through it; this prevents the rod from being removed through the narrow mouth of the bottle. Inside the bottle is also a large steel ball bearing. The object here of course is to extract the ball bearing, which is blocked from coming out of the bottle by the rod.

The whole bottle set-up looks rather simple, but I had read the prior reviews of Oli and Kevin and it appeared that this bottle puzzle was going to be anything but easy. It took me the better part of a whole evening before I managed to figure out the four steps needed to get the ball bearing out. The solution (while on hindsight seems simple) is nonetheless tricky and quite unexpected.

As with such puzzles, a fair amount of dexterity is also required, apart from just analysing how the puzzle could be solved.  I found re-assembly of the puzzle to be just as hard if not harder than the solving but managed to return the bottle to its original state after some time. As I understand, this is one of Wil's easier bottle puzzles, so I expect to have a much harder time with my other two Coke bottles. So stay tuned!