Lotus

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

The Lotus puzzle is the latest (and much awaited) new puzzle from Wil Strijbos. According to Wil, the Lotus is based on his earlier Yen Puzzle which he invented some twenty years ago. The Yen Puzzle was made of wood and the goal is to remove a Japanese yen coin with a nail running through it.

Forward twenty years to the present and the incarnation of the Yen Puzzle is the Lotus, made of precision machined aluminium and anodised blue. The object of the lotus has not changed; instead of removing a Yen coin, now its an aluminium circular disc instead, with a rod running through the centre.

Yen Puzzle; photo courtesy of Wil Strijbos

The Lotus measures 11cm x 5.4cm x 1.9cm. Very weighty and solid, there is no feeling of any hollow inside. The puzzle looks like it has been milled from a solid block of aluminium. The entire puzzle is made up of two main portions dovetail joined together.

Construction and quality is of the usual excellent Wil Strijbos standard. With the anodising in blue, the Lotus is the epitome of a fine and premium quality metal puzzle. Etched onto the the puzzle on one side you will notice the word "Lotus" and Wil's signature; the latter which now appears to be a hallmark on most of Wil's anodised metal puzzles, for example the First Box, New Aluminium Dovetail and  Cube Dovetails.

It took me about half an hour of fiddling and pondering before I figured out the solution to removing the disc. Very clever trick indeed! But one cannot help but wonder if there is anything more than this, given the physical appearance and rather elaborate construction of the puzzle.

Wil had mentioned in his newsletter that the Lotus holds other secrets not found in the original Yen Puzzle. However he also requested a "gag order" from us puzzle bloggers not to reveal the extra surprises so that "other solvers will be happy with the AHA moments when they find the secret(s) by themselves".

I shall not say any more lest I give anything away that will spoil someone else's fun with the Lotus. I am not even going to mention what sort of genre this puzzle belongs to (...so don't bother looking at the blog tags). But let me just say this...this is one of the best, most interesting and fun puzzles I have come across. And believe me, even though it may be pretty expensive, it is worth every cent, not just because of its quality, but more importantly, for the puzzling experience.

My advice to all readers is this - until you can explain why the puzzle is named "Lotus", you have not FULLY SOLVED the puzzle. Have Fun!

But if you are seriously stuck as a number of puzzlers have been, you're most welcome to PM me via my blog email and I will be more than happy to take you through the steps to reach the end. Trust me, its pretty complicated.

And finally, here's wishing all readers A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!