Showing posts with label trespa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label trespa. Show all posts
Wednesday, 11 April 2018
Concentric Arc
You would have probably guessed that this is another Robrecht Louage design. The Concentric Arc, exchanged by David Pullen at IPP37 in Paris last year.
Sunday, 3 April 2016
Ladybird
Name
Ladybird
Designer
Robrecht Louage. Designed in 2014. For his other puzzles including his IPP31 award winning 4 Steps Visible Lock, click here.
Manufacturer & Availability
Produced in collaboration with collector Michel Van Ipenburg. There may still be some copies available from either gentlemen. PM me if you are keen to get a copy.
Type & Classification
Sequential movement; route finding.
Dimensions
16cm (incl the antennae) x 11.5cm x 1.5cm
Materials & Construction
Acrylic, tespa, steel screws and a 1 Euro coin. Construction fit and finish is excellent and all the parts move smoothly with no jamming.
Overview
Robrecht is very well know for his "remove-the-coin" maze puzzles. And the best part is when you buy one of his puzzles, you get a 1 Euro discount!
Unlike his other trapped coin puzzles, the Ladybird ups the ante in terms of sophistication of design and aesthetics. This time Robrecht encapsulates his puzzle within a ladybird design.
Another main difference is that the Ladybird allows for some visibility of the maze route, hence you can see and feel your own progress. However, the Ladybird is no easier because the puzzle involves a double layer maze.
The goal is to navigate two pins (connected to the two antennae) along both maze channels, by manipulating the two maze plates either clockwise or the opposite. Upon successful completion, you are rewarded with the 1 Euro coin that leaves through the circular cut-out on the top cover.
Difficulty
Moderate difficulty but tricky at times. The starting steps gives you a feel of what you need to do. I found that somewhere about a fifth along the way, If you do not get both pins in their right respective positions within the maze channels, you will find yourself stuck much later on and this would require an almost full backtrack. If you are lucky and get it right near the beginning, navigation becomes quite a breeze for a majority of the way. It took me a couple of attempts and one or two backtracks to finally extract the coin.
Overall a fun puzzle and one of those that once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down until the coin comes out. Done correctly, it doesn't take too long to solve and reset. A really beautiful and interesting looking puzzle.
Ladybird
Robrecht Louage. Designed in 2014. For his other puzzles including his IPP31 award winning 4 Steps Visible Lock, click here.
Produced in collaboration with collector Michel Van Ipenburg. There may still be some copies available from either gentlemen. PM me if you are keen to get a copy.
Sequential movement; route finding.
Dimensions
16cm (incl the antennae) x 11.5cm x 1.5cm
Materials & Construction
Acrylic, tespa, steel screws and a 1 Euro coin. Construction fit and finish is excellent and all the parts move smoothly with no jamming.
Robrecht is very well know for his "remove-the-coin" maze puzzles. And the best part is when you buy one of his puzzles, you get a 1 Euro discount!
Unlike his other trapped coin puzzles, the Ladybird ups the ante in terms of sophistication of design and aesthetics. This time Robrecht encapsulates his puzzle within a ladybird design.
Another main difference is that the Ladybird allows for some visibility of the maze route, hence you can see and feel your own progress. However, the Ladybird is no easier because the puzzle involves a double layer maze.
The goal is to navigate two pins (connected to the two antennae) along both maze channels, by manipulating the two maze plates either clockwise or the opposite. Upon successful completion, you are rewarded with the 1 Euro coin that leaves through the circular cut-out on the top cover.
Difficulty
Moderate difficulty but tricky at times. The starting steps gives you a feel of what you need to do. I found that somewhere about a fifth along the way, If you do not get both pins in their right respective positions within the maze channels, you will find yourself stuck much later on and this would require an almost full backtrack. If you are lucky and get it right near the beginning, navigation becomes quite a breeze for a majority of the way. It took me a couple of attempts and one or two backtracks to finally extract the coin.
Overall a fun puzzle and one of those that once you pick it up, you won't want to put it down until the coin comes out. Done correctly, it doesn't take too long to solve and reset. A really beautiful and interesting looking puzzle.
Monday, 25 January 2016
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
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.
8 Stars Labyrinth
Robrecht Louage. The 8SL was also Robrecht's entry to the IPP35 Puzzle Design Competition.
Manufactured and sold by Robrecht himself. He may still have some copies available.
Route finding/Maze
Dimensions
12cm x 8cm x 2.5cm
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.
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.
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.
Saturday, 6 September 2014
Larva
The Larva (and Ladybird which featured at IPP34 in London this August) are the latest designs from Belgian designer Robrecht Louage.
Robrecht is very well known in the puzzling community for his "remove-the-coin" and hidden maze/route finding puzzles.
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Amongst his designs are the La Cerradura Doble, 1 Euro Labyrinth, Remove The Yolk and Escape From Alcatraz. Robrecht's most famous design; the 4 Steps Visible Lock was also the winner of the Grand Jury prize at the IPP31 Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition in Berlin in 2011.
Object is to remove a Euro 50 cent coin through a cut-out in the upper cover. While the previous remove-the-coin puzzles involved a hidden maze, the Larva's consist of navigating two metal sliders through two visible and movable maze plates. The Larva appears to be a new design take.....a "cross" between the La Cerradura Doble and 1 Euro Labyrinth.
The puzzle is made of Trespa and acrylic and is very well made. Everything is precisely machined cut to very tight tolerances and fit and finish is excellent. The Larva name and worm etchings add to the fine detailing.
From a puzzling standpoint, it is not an overly difficult puzzle for more experienced puzzlers, especially those who have played with Robrecht's previous works. But it is no walk in the park either. One of the challenges is to figure out how the two maze plates interact with each other and which direction either is suppose to go in order for the coin to be freed.
Personally I found it a bit more difficult than La Cerradura Doble. However because you can see what you are doing and can chart your progress as you go along, you feel the urge to continue to the end and not put it down; just the sort of puzzle to occupy you for a good half to one hour on a lazy Saturday afternoon, with an end in sight and not too much stress. The Larva is fun and very manageable.
For those of you who may not be aware, the Larva and Ladybird puzzles is a collaboration between Robrecht and puzzle collector Michel van Ipenburg. If anyone is interested in acquiring any one of these puzzles, please PM me via my blog email and I will link you up with the aforementioned gentlemen.
Robrecht is very well known in the puzzling community for his "remove-the-coin" and hidden maze/route finding puzzles.
Amongst his designs are the La Cerradura Doble, 1 Euro Labyrinth, Remove The Yolk and Escape From Alcatraz. Robrecht's most famous design; the 4 Steps Visible Lock was also the winner of the Grand Jury prize at the IPP31 Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition in Berlin in 2011.
Object is to remove a Euro 50 cent coin through a cut-out in the upper cover. While the previous remove-the-coin puzzles involved a hidden maze, the Larva's consist of navigating two metal sliders through two visible and movable maze plates. The Larva appears to be a new design take.....a "cross" between the La Cerradura Doble and 1 Euro Labyrinth.
The puzzle is made of Trespa and acrylic and is very well made. Everything is precisely machined cut to very tight tolerances and fit and finish is excellent. The Larva name and worm etchings add to the fine detailing.
From a puzzling standpoint, it is not an overly difficult puzzle for more experienced puzzlers, especially those who have played with Robrecht's previous works. But it is no walk in the park either. One of the challenges is to figure out how the two maze plates interact with each other and which direction either is suppose to go in order for the coin to be freed.
Personally I found it a bit more difficult than La Cerradura Doble. However because you can see what you are doing and can chart your progress as you go along, you feel the urge to continue to the end and not put it down; just the sort of puzzle to occupy you for a good half to one hour on a lazy Saturday afternoon, with an end in sight and not too much stress. The Larva is fun and very manageable.
For those of you who may not be aware, the Larva and Ladybird puzzles is a collaboration between Robrecht and puzzle collector Michel van Ipenburg. If anyone is interested in acquiring any one of these puzzles, please PM me via my blog email and I will link you up with the aforementioned gentlemen.
Wednesday, 6 February 2013
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.
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.
Thursday, 8 September 2011
4 Steps Visible Lock
The 4 Steps Visible Lock ("4SVL") designed and made by Robrecht Louage won the Jury Grand Prize in the 2011 IPP Competition held in Berlin during the month of August. After seeing his puzzle on the IPP 2011 entries list with the different combination of materials used in its construction, I knew I just had to get one. Fortunately Robrecht's email was listed and I promptly emailed him to buy a copy of his prize winning entry. A week later, the puzzle arrived at my doorstep.
The 4SVL is about 5in x 2 1/2in x 7/8in. The puzzle is made up of a rectangular block of Trespa (a very strong and durable composite laminate made of resin reinforced by cellulose fibres generally used for interior table tops). Within the block, a number of channels have been cut which resemble a maze. Screwed onto and covering the top of the block is a sheet of acyrlic (perspex) and sandwiched in between the trespa block and acrylic cover, there is a thicker center slab also made of acrylic which slides. Within the internals of the puzzle, one can see two large ball bearings, two smaller ball bearings and a 1 Euro coin (hence the name "visible lock"). Construction and quality of the 4SVL is very good indeed and the puzzle feels really solid and heavy in the hand. Some have remarked that the 4SVL bears some resemblance to one or two of the Roger puzzles and while I have never seen an actual Roger puzzle before except those in photos, I would tend to agree.
The object of the puzzle is of course to remove the 1 Euro coin out of the block, by moving the center acrylic slab towards the left so that the coin and be extracted from a hole in the top cover. Here is where the "lock" part comes in; the center acrylic slab is "locked in" by the ball bearings and can only move sideways within certain limits. The way to solve the puzzle is to use (some) dexterity to manipulate the ball bearings around the maze to "unlock" the center acrylic slab and allow it to slide towards the left, so that the coin matches up with the hole on top. But wait! It's not just the ball bearings that have to be dealt with; there are a couple of other necessary challenges as well.
I am not sure if I just happened to be lucky that day, but I managed to solve the 4SVL pretty quickly (I guess its faster when you can see exactly what is going on). As I repeated the solution, I realised that indeed 4 steps are needed to remove the coin. Step 1 may pose a challenge for some (but I think experienced puzzlers would know how to overcome this step quite easily) but Steps 2 and 3 are quite manageable. It is Step 4 that is a surprise and probably the one that would stump people. However, once you have solved it once, the 4SVL is pretty easy to solve repeatedly.
I think Robrecht Louage has designed a very nice and well made puzzle and while not very difficult in terms of puzzling, it nevertheless poses a fair challenge. I would dare say that the 4SVL epitomises the term "mechanical puzzle" and justifiably deserves it's IPP award. Definitely worth acquiring for keeps.
The object of the puzzle is of course to remove the 1 Euro coin out of the block, by moving the center acrylic slab towards the left so that the coin and be extracted from a hole in the top cover. Here is where the "lock" part comes in; the center acrylic slab is "locked in" by the ball bearings and can only move sideways within certain limits. The way to solve the puzzle is to use (some) dexterity to manipulate the ball bearings around the maze to "unlock" the center acrylic slab and allow it to slide towards the left, so that the coin matches up with the hole on top. But wait! It's not just the ball bearings that have to be dealt with; there are a couple of other necessary challenges as well.
I think Robrecht Louage has designed a very nice and well made puzzle and while not very difficult in terms of puzzling, it nevertheless poses a fair challenge. I would dare say that the 4SVL epitomises the term "mechanical puzzle" and justifiably deserves it's IPP award. Definitely worth acquiring for keeps.
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