Antislide Tetramino

Name
Antislide Tetramino

Designer
Vladimir Krasnoukhov, Russia. The AT-Puzzle was also Vladimir's IPP35 Exchange Puzzle. For some of his other very nice puzzle designs, click here and here.

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

Type & Classification
2D Packing

Dimensions
13.5cm x 7.5cm x 0.6cm

Materials & Construction
Laser cut acrylic used throughout. 3mm thickness for the pieces and the tray. Excellent quality and Vladimir went one step further by providing a red piece-holder so that all the pieces are are nicely held together when not in play.

Overview
This is not just your usual packing puzzle, but one with an added task; to pack all the 5 tetramino (each piece is 4 units) pieces into the tray in such a fashion that none of the pieces can slide (or move) in any direction. As a pure packing puzzle, this would have been a no-brainer, but with the anti-slide requirement, the AT-Puzzle becomes a very difficult puzzle indeed!

I took the better part of a day and still couldn't figure out the solution and decided to email fellow puzzle collector George Bell (who had solved it a while back) for a clue. But before he replied, something clicked in my brain and I tried arranging the pieces in a new way...and there, within seconds...I had solved it! I usually don't spend so much time on any one puzzle, but this one just drew me in and I went on and on playing with it, refusing to give up. I wish I could do the same for burrs.

Difficulty Level

Very difficult! thinking outside the norm is required no less. If you wish to see the solution, please click here - Password - antislide.

Summary

The AT-Puzzle is absolutely fantastic. It is also George Bell's favourite. So innocuously simple looking yet extremely challenging for a 5-piece puzzle. One of those puzzles that once you pick it up and know what you have to do, you simply can't put it down.