Black Hole Burr

I like the Black Hole Burr ("BHB") because its one of the few interlocking burrs that I can actually solve without Burr Tools or other aids. Plus the fact it has only 3 board pieces and a black "block". Not as intimidating as one might imagine.

The BHB was Rosemary Howbrigg's IPP34 Exchange Puzzle. It was designed by Junichi Yananose and produced by Brian Young of the new revamped Mr Puzzle. The three board pieces are made of laser cut acrylic and the block is wood painted black. Quality of construction fit and finish is excellent and everything fits and slides nicely.

At first glance, it doesn't look too difficult, after all, its only three pieces. But believe me, its more difficult than it looks. Its not too hard to get the three acrylic pieces together without the block and that is what I tried to do first, so as to get a feel of the orientation of the pieces and how they interact with each other and how the block might fit into the centre. Once I had figured this out, I then sorted out the fit of the block.

Having solved the BHB, while its not as difficult as I had expected, its no walk in the park either, at least not for me. And take a hint here; Burr Tools won't work for this puzzle (So you probably know what's involved).

Its a tricky puzzle made more challenging by the fact that the pieces are transparent acrylic, making it harder to see the outlines of the pieces and where they join/intersect etc. My less than perfect eyesight, especially at night doesn't help either.

Overall a well made burr puzzle that provides a nice challenge that does not overly frustrate; the type that one would classify as having "just the right amount of difficulty for an exchange puzzle".

Available from Mr Puzzle for AU$30/-. 

LL Puzzle

I got this beautiful 8 piece packing puzzle from the good folks at Torito during the IPP33 Puzzle Party in Japan two years ago.

The packaging is mainly in Japanese so I can't tell what the name of the puzzle is nor its designer. However a couple of puzzlers have since informed me after seeing this post that it is the LL Puzzle designed by Nob Yoshigahara.

This is a very nicely made puzzle. Again, not sure what the type of woods were used. [Edit: The wood for the box is very likely Cupressaceae, which is the type of wood used for traditional sake cups; thanks to Satomi Beattie for this information]. But the puzzle emanates a very nice fragrant and pleasantly pungent woody smell. The finishing is very good. The puzzle costs 1,944Y, slightly over US$16/-, inexpensive for such high quality. Unfortunately Torito does not ship internationally, so you will need someone who lives in Japan to get it for you. If not, UK based CU-Japan may be able to get the puzzle for you.

Object is to unpack and repack the 8 pieces into the box frame. While it is probably not that difficult to design a 3D packing puzzle using pieces of all different shapes and sizes, I think its a real challenge to design the pieces all to have a certain theme, certain number of units, congruent shapes etc. In this case, each of the pieces consists of two different coloured "L" shaped pieces joined together with each "L" consisting of 3 units. Each of the 8 pieces are 3D hexaminoes (ie 6 units) with different orientations.

To unpack is pretty simple. But to repack after scrambling the pieces is very tough. The bi-coloured pieces add to the confusion as well, since there is no symmetry to the external colours of the puzzle in the solved state. Normally in situations like these, I photo-document the moves just in case I get stuck. Burr Tools of course would also help. With the aid of my photos, I managed to get everything back into the box after trying for quite a long time without them.

If you are into packing puzzles, this is a neat one to own and superb value for money. And the nice smell comes free with it!

Coin Puzzles by MINE

I got these puzzles recently from Japanese puzzle designer, Mineyuki Oyematsu, or MINE as he known in the puzzling community. MINE runs a website where he sells a range of mechanical puzzles. The site is all in Japanese and the Coin puzzles don't appear to be listed on the site. But you can contact MINE directly via his international mail order link which is in English. 

Each of the puzzles have got rather cute names such as "Hard-Boiled Coin", Hole Vacancy Coin and "Remove A! Coin (^^)". There is also a fourth heart-shaped version called "Lucky Sixpence" which I now regret not getting. 

The object of each of the coin puzzles is, yes.... to remove the coin. All three puzzles are made of precision laser cut acrylic and the puzzles are made by layers stacked and screwed together. Quality of manufacture is excellent with nicely etched wordings.

In terms of difficulty, Hard-Boiled and Hole Vacancy are not difficult and I solved both quite quickly. Notwithstanding, both puzzles are rather tricky and may throw some puzzlers off for a bit because their mechanisms are well hidden.  

However I had some trouble with Remove A! Coin. Took me quite a while to figure out the mechanism and even then, after a few tries, I am still not exactly sure how the puzzle works. Of the three, this last one is the most tricky and difficult. I checked with MINE and he confirmed indeed the puzzle had a few tricks not found in the previous two. 

Very nicely made and pocket-able puzzles worth getting, and value for money too; their prices ranging from 1,700Y (US$14) to 2,100Y (US$16).

Lion Claw

This weekend was filled with family and other commitments so I decided that my puzzle for a Sunday evening should be something I can solve easily (and without Burr Tools). 

My choice was Yavuz Demirhan's Lion Claw, a relatively easy but great looking Level 5.2.2 interlocking burr. My copy was made from Canarywood by Brian Menold and it came courtesy of Brian when I ordered from him Jos Bergmans' Garmbaad. The pieces of this particular copy were apparently a tad too "loose" and hence did not pass the QC for sale on his website. But for Singapore weather, it was just fine; the high humidity made the puzzle pleasantly snug fitting but smooth sliding!

This is a relatively large puzzle and felt great in the hands. The object is to disassemble the 4 pieces. Not difficult (excellent for a non-burrist like me) and I got them apart in a jiffy. Putting it together required a bit of experimentation, but it was back to the solved state quite quickly, and I managed without any aids. 

Lion Claw with all 4 of its pieces congruent is a great novice's or beginner's burr (the sort of burr that I like). Also built thick and tough like a tank, so no fear of abuse.

Garmbaad

Until I got my hands on the Garmbaad, I have never played with a Jos Bergmans designed puzzle. I saw it on Brian Menold's site WoodWonders and immediately liked the shape of it (was never too fond of cubes).

You could probably call Jos Bergmans the "King Of Rotations". Of his 58 puzzle designs uploaded to PuzzleWillBePlayed, 33 of them require rotations to solve! Now its one thing to design a high level interlocking burr or puzzle with an astronomical number of moves but I think its just as great a feat or more to design one which requires rotation of pieces. Especially one with multiple rotations needed!

The Garmbaad is a very well made puzzle comprising a good choice of exotic woods, namely, Purpleheart, Redheart, Yellowheart, Paduak and Maple. Great colour contrast here. Fit and finish is very good with all the pieces sliding smoothly. In fact, since Brian has gone into full time puzzle making and other related stuff, he has been churning out superb quality puzzles from time to time and we are likely to see some new offerings on his site end of February (which is tomorrow!).

I am not sure what "Garmbaad" means and a Google search didn't turn up anything either. If anyone knows, please drop me a note. From a puzzling perspective, the Garmbaad is not too difficult with a level 1.2.3.8. solution. The first several moves are not hard to find, but the rotations involving the last two pieces are very tricky indeed. There are multiple rotations involved here not just on one but all three axes. Done correctly and you will be able to slide the two remaining pieces apart nicely. Very unusual moves!

Putting the pieces back to the solved state requires everything to be done in reverse. Again the rotations to get the two relevant pieces back into their correct positions may prove to be of some challenge. I got the orientation of the pieces wrong and had to re-try a couple of times.    

Overall a great puzzle, not only in terms of quality and build, but the puzzling is also fun. Its quite amazing the design, as you watch the pieces slide this way and that into each other and lock into place. And certainly not a puzzle that would overly frustrate..

Cast Square

Update 24 October 2017 - Dear Reader, please check out my new puzzle blog and e-store at http://mechanical-puzzles.com

The start of the week is usually not a good time for puzzling, when the grind of the work week gets underway. Thus I would normally try to find a not too difficult puzzle to play with, so that my chances of solving it within the same evening are very much higher, and I would not feel like crap going into Tuesday. After looking around a bit, I settled on the Hanayama Cast Square which is rated 4 out of 6 stars for difficulty. I couldn't find a Hanayama less than 4 stars.

The Cast Square is the creation of Vesa Timonen, who has designed many of the Cast puzzles available on the market today including the Cast Loop, Cast Cylinder and Cast Donuts. This puzzle came to the market in 2010. It comes in a shiny brass and chrome finish; I would have personally preferred a matt finishing instead.

The object is to separate the 4 odd-shaped curved pieces, all which look rather identical. The 4 pieces can be expanded and pulled apart but up to a point and thereafter, all further movement is restricted. The 4 pieces can be "easily" taken apart but there is a trick to it. You need to spread the pieces apart to a certain point where you can then "release" the square into two halves, absolutely no force needed. I discovered the solution more by accident than anything else; well at least I got it solved! 

The solution is actually very elegant as I later discovered and rather easily repeatable. But there is a particular sequence of moves and a technique to it as well. If you look at the pieces carefully (after you have gotten it apart), you will understand why. Putting the Square back together required some fiddling but also quite manageable. 

A nice pocket-able puzzle which you can pull out to show friends, and amaze them how quickly you can take it apart when they get stuck.

Autobahnkreuz

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

Its been a while since I last played with a Yavuz Demirhan design. So Autobahnkreuz was the puzzle of the day. Yavuz, as most puzzlers would know, hails from Turkey and currently has one of the most number of designs (409 as of this post) uploaded to PuzzleWillBePlayed. To say he is a very prolific designer would really be an understatement!

I got the Autobahnkreuz (which by the way in German means "motorway interchange") from the Pelikan Workshop, the guys from the Czech Republic who have been regularly bringing to the market wooden puzzles of outstanding quality. And did I mention that they are also value for money too?

The Autobahnkruez is no exception and my copy is excellently made with nice tolerances. Snug enough for the pieces to hold them themselves together but smooth enough to slide. This is one puzzle you don't want to be too "loose fit".

The puzzle is what is known as a board burr, meaning all the pieces are flat 2D. There are 8 board pieces in total, all of which are congruent, ie all the same shape. I was inspired by Yavuz's design here, which led to my (very) amateur design efforts resulting in the CrossRoads, a smaller 8 piece board burr design. Without Yavuz's design prowess, I only managed to get an interlocking design (level 12) by using all different shaped pieces. None of the elegance of Yavuz's 8 congruent shapes.

Autobahnkreuz is a rather difficult puzzle, not just in terms of the dismantling; which I managed to do so after a fair bit of trial and error. But the re-assembly is tough, unless you have a solid memory and remember all the steps in reverse. 

You will notice that the 8 pieces comprise of 4 pairs of 4 different woods (arcasia, maple, wenge and paduak). Firstly to put together the pieces to the solved shape is difficult enough (level 9.5.3.4.2.2.2). But you also need to get all the pieces to form a symmetrical colour pattern. Not to mention you have to grapple with up to 8 pieces at the same time. Thankfully Burr Tools was on hand. Instead of configuring BT for 8 congruent pieces (resulting in one unique solution with one single colour puzzle), I specified BT to have 4 different pairs with 4 different colours. Hence, you will end up with 648 assemblies of which one solution will give you the right colour co-ordination. On my BT file, its solution #76.

Burr lovers will like this one. Very challenging! Well made, nice big and heavy with a great colour scheme!

Hexangular Jam

This Valentine's Day weekend I was playing with another of Hirokazu Iwasawa's (Iwahiro) Jam puzzles. This time the Hexangular Jam. A gift from a puzzling friend who lives in Japan. I really like this Jam puzzle series; they look so deceptively simple with pieces cut into simple shapes, yet its anything but simple. However, its not so frustratingly difficult either. Even if you are new to Jam puzzles, with a bit of persistence, you will eventually be able to solve them.

Start Position

My copy is the original MDF version (a number of later copies are made of acrylic or plastic and some of the versions make use of CD cases). Although made of MDF, the construction fit and finish is very good with Iwahiro's signature burnt into the wood.

Like the previous two Jam puzzles reviewed earlier, the Rightangular Jam and Rectangular Jam, the Hexangular Jam involves getting the yellow hex shaped piece out through the slit at the front side of the tray. However, blocking its exit are three other similar hex shaped pieces.

Puzzlers familiar with the Jam puzzle series would know that there is a "trick" to all the Jam puzzles which provides a very elegant solution. No different here. Don't know the trick and you can end up taking an hour (or more) instead of a few minutes.

Pink Ivory Ring

This beautiful puzzle was designed by Ken Irvine and made by Tom Lensch. It's called the Pink Ivory Ring; because one of the three woods used is Pink Ivory, for the square ring. The other two are Aspen and Cocobolo. 

Construction fit and finish is top notch and the Pink Ivory Ring feels very big and weighty in the hands. The photos don't do justice to the puzzle; on my copy, the Pink Ivory really makes the ring look pretty in pink.

This is a seven piece interlocking puzzle with the ring as the center piece restraining two congruent sets of pieces; the two aspen (white) and four Cocobolo. Object is to dissemble the puzzle.

It is not very difficult by any means but it could be tricky for some. Burr Tools won't help you here so you can probably guess what sort of moves this puzzle requires. It has a level 7 solution (ie 7 moves to remove the first piece) and a total of 23 moves to completely take apart the puzzle. Once the first two pieces are out, that's where the puzzle gets a bit tricky. The four pieces don't just come out like the first two did. They only come out after some rather nifty maneuvering within the ring itself. 

Because there are only six pieces and the four dark pieces are the same shape, it is not too difficult to remember the sequence of moves to reassemble the puzzle. Re-solvable without too much trouble, once you have figured out the solution of course.

Overall a fun puzzle with not only an elegant appearance but also an elegant solution. Together with great craftsmanship, definitely a must have for collectors. (May still be) available from Tom Lensch.

The Dot Box

This strange and baffling puzzle came to me courtesy of James Dalgety during the IPP34 Puzzle Exchange in London last year. James owns the largest known collection of puzzles in the world!

I had played with the Dot Box on and off for several weeks now and was only just able to solve it this evening. That being said, it was solved more through trial and error with hints from James' webpage dedicated to the Dot Box (Warning; spoilers therein)

The Dot Box consists of a pentagonal box which sits into a base (called a plinth). The puzzle is 3D printed in ABS resin by Simon Bexfield and Steve Nicolls, the duo from Threedy 3D Printers. Quality is very good for a 3D creation and everything fits well together. 

There are four challenges indicated on the puzzle:-

1. Open the box
2. Close the box
3. Understand it
4. Explain it.

My early attempts without resorting to the hints was to try to decipher the rattling noises inside the box. Couldn't really tell what was going on inside but the plinth and box were attracted to each other so I knew that there had to be some magnet(s) inside. 

For the weeks that followed, I tried various means of opening but nothing work. All along I thought the magnets had something to do with the solve and tried to interact the plinth and the box but this was not to be the case. Eventually I went to the website for clues.

I somehow finally managed to solve challenge #1 (through my own unorthodox method), #2 and #3 (after looking at the hints and after the puzzle was opened). And well, sort of #4, although I still can't quite figure out the scientific basis of the solution. The "trick" used in the Dot Box is the first time I have come across. And I can't really explain it or understand fully how it works. 

James mentions on his site that the full solution (and explanation) will only appear when the IPP34 booklet is out, which is probably the end of this year or early next year, so I guess I will have to wait until then. 

For those that have solved or not solved the Dot Box, please feel free to leave your comments!

6 Ticks

6 Ticks is probably one of the nicest looking acrylic tray packing puzzles around.

Unsolved position

This was Andreas Rover's IPP34 Exchange Puzzle in London last year. In case you don't know who Andreas Rover is, well, he's the guy who created and gave us that wonderful savior called Burr Tools, without which, burr puzzles would have, in many cases, been a nightmare and cause endless misery and frustration.

Now back to 6 Ticks. The tray comprises of three layers of acrylic and one of them is a very nice frosted light turquoise colour. The six pieces are black double layered to distinguish one side from the other. Very well made!

The object of this packing puzzle is to get the six ticks to cover and line the entire inner edge of the tray, leaving no gaps that can be seen. The rule is that all the pieces must be of the same side up (one of the sides have small triangles cut into them). There are two solutions to this puzzle. 

For an exchange puzzle, the level of difficulty is just right. Not hard, but not a walk in the park either. Burr Tools (I think) may be used to help solve this puzzle. However the requirement that each solution requires all pieces to face up the same way is likely to pose a challenge within Burr Tools, although it would seem that specifying the surfaces with two different colors may help. I am not sure about this. If any reader can offer any insight into this, please feel free to comment.

Convolution's Cousin

Convolution's Cousin ("CC") designed by Stewart Coffin, was Dave Rossetti's IPP34 Exchange Puzzle. It's the "cousin" because it looks and behaves very similar to Coffin's Convolution. Except that this cousin is the smaller cousin, has only five pieces versus Convolution's seven. While I don't have a copy of the Convolution, I do have the Convolution Ball, which is spherical shaped and based on the former's cube design.

The CC is made from African Mahogany. Dave made the puzzle himself under the mentor-ship of Tom Lensch. The mentoring appears to have paid off as the CC is very well constructed with high quality fit and finish. In fact the fit is so good that the join lines of the separate pieces are very well hidden and pretty difficult to find.

This is an interlocking puzzle and the object is to disassemble and re-assemble the pieces. First task of course is to find the "locking" piece that keeps the rest together. Not too difficult as I pushed and prodded and after a short while, figured out how to move the first piece. Once the first piece is sorted out, its a matter of finding which piece comes next and so on. Despite the snug fit, all the pieces slide smoothly and no force is required. 

The dis-assembly takes 6 steps and there are two ways to take the puzzle apart; so it would not really count as a sequential movement puzzle. A bit of rotation is also involved in the process. While dis-assembly is not hard, the re-assembly is, especially if you forget the order and orientation of the pieces and how they interact with each other. It can then pose a huge challenge to get it back to the solved state. That's why its always advisable to document the steps with photos as you play.

The Rose Pennyhedron

Stephen Chin from Australia had named his IPP34 Exchange Puzzle the "Rose Pennyhedron", probably because it sounds better and also easier to pronounced than its scientific designation ie "Rhombic Dodecahedron". What a mouthful!

What is an "RD"? Well, you can check out its meaning here. You're not alone if you don't understand the explanation, I don't either.

The RD comprises three pieces, each of which is made up of several other triangular-shaped pieces glued together. The woods appear to be Maple and Cherry. Overall the construction fit and finish is very good and the tolerances are very tight. So tight at first that that I had to leave it in my dry-box for a couple of days to make sure the puzzle was dehumidified.

The object of the RD is to "open" it...separate the pieces. As I mentioned, the tolerances are very tight so it took me a while to find the join lines separating the three individual pieces; no easy task mind you.

Once I got past this bit, it was a matter of pressing and pulling to see how the three pieces would separate themselves. This is a co-ordinate motion puzzle and for most co-ordinate motion puzzles, generally no force is required, but for the RD, I did find that I needed to apply a tad more strength to split the pieces. When it opens, the puzzle does look like a flower opening, hence the name."Rose". But I am not sure what the "penny" refers to tho'.

While the pieces appear to be identical, I found that if I did not fit the pieces together as per their original positions relative to each other, the fit was not perfect and I could feel this in the join lines. Took me several tries before I got it right and the whole puzzle became smooth to the touch.   

[Edit 26 Jan 2015: Lionel Depeux has written to me about the name Pennyhedron (Thank you Lionel). Here are his comments below-

I believe there’s no hidden meaning to be found in the name: ‘Pennyhedron’ was the name for the original puzzle of that kind (designed and made Stewart Coffin), which was only a 2-piece puzzle.

As to where the original name came from, you’ll find an explanation on Eric Fuller’s website:

http://www.cubicdissection.com/html/purchase/discont/pennyhedron.html ]

Rik's Tea Box Mod - T42

Rik's Tea Box was Rik Van Grol's IPP34 Exchange Puzzle in London last August.

Designed and made by Rik himself, the puzzle consists of a box containing 10 real tea bags; two varieties, English Breakfast and Earl Grey (hence T-42). The object of course is to "open the box and enjoy a cup of tea".

The name of the puzzle would suggest that the box is a real tea box. It certainly looks real enough since the tea bags all fit rather nicely inside. Made of wood, it has a real glass top which allows you to look inside. 

As in most puzzle/trick opening boxes, the usual approach is to try to examine the outside of the box for clues but Rik's box didn't seem to shed any. I even tried to see if the metal latch and hinges yielded any luck, but none whatsoever. The usual trial and error prevails. Something kept the glass lid locked in its place. The accompanying instructions did contain a hint of sorts but it made no sense to me at the beginning (not until I finally opened the box later).

Nothing apart from the tea bags could be seen inside the box either...until I gave the box a shake and then I detected something inside which sort of gave me a vague clue as to how I might open the box. Let me state here that no force whatsoever is needed to solve this box. This box is a real tea box, and was not built to withstand the normal wear and tear associated with puzzling!

I have kept the lid closed so as not to expose the locking mechanism

After this, within a jiffy I discovered the solution and was able to open the lid. Not a difficult puzzle by any means but the locking mechanism is pretty tricky. I was then able to see how Rik had "modded" the box to retrofit a locking mechanism for the glass lid.

As long as you keep the locking mechanism unlocked, Rik's Tea Box is actually very useful for storing tea bags. But even if its locked, its pretty easy to open the box (once you know the moves). Now here's a puzzle which serves another purpose!

It's Decemburr (and my 250th Post!)

I wish it was still December (with Christmas and the New Year) but unfortunately it ain't! 

But this is my 250th post, since I started this blog three and half years ago; how time has flown!

But my puzzle of choice over the weekend was Decemburr by Goh Pit Khiam. Designed over 15 years ago in 1999, it was the highest level solution burr (level 13 at that time) for a 12 piece burr configuration. The highest known solution level then for any burr puzzle was believed to be level 18, which was from the Lovely 18-piece Burr, designed by Bruce Love. 

Goh named his burr Decemburr because it has 12 pieces and was designed sometime during December 1999. Mind you, the design was done solely by hand, not aided by any computer software. At that time Andreas Rover also hadn't come up with Burr Tools yet, so Goh used Bill Cutler's GENDA ("GENeral DisAssembly") programme to check his design to confirm a unique solution. Really quite a feat in those days!

My Decemburr came to me as a gift from Goh at the our first meeting several years back, after I found out he was a fellow Singaporean living just 14km away from me. It has been in my puzzle cupboard all this while. My copy was made by Mr Puzzle of Australia. Its from Mr Puzzle's higher end Craftsman range and constructed from Queensland Blackbean wood. Quality and finish is very good with nice detailing of the edges. And the pieces all slide smoothly (after a couple of days in my dehumidifying box).

The Decemburr has a total of 23 moves to fully disassemble and 13 to remove the first piece. The starting was straight forward enough and I got the first piece to move, then slowly the other pieces on the sides were also able to move which allowed the movement of their intersecting pieces. There appeared to be a sort of sequence to it but up to a certain point..and then I was stuck, nothing else seemed able to move. But after a bit more experimentation I finally was able to extract the first piece. In fact once the first piece was out, the rest was pretty straightforward. 

However once the 12 pieces were all strewn over my table, that was it...I was totally lost, not knowing even where to start. Anyway I was very pleased just to have disassembled it, as with most of my other burr puzzles. I contacted Goh and he kindly sent over Burr Tools which saved the day. following the Burr Tool steps, I managed to get everything back into place again.

The Decemburr is rated 10/10 for difficulty by Mr Puzzle because its very difficult to put back together unless the correct sequential 13 steps (in reverse order) are taken. It has 5485 false solutions! It is considered by many to be a classic and a must-have for collectors. Unfortunately, its not commercially available at the moment and perhaps the only route to acquiring one is via auction

Secret Box

This Secret Box puzzle was a gift from Otis Cheng during IPP34 in London (thank you Otis). Otis is from Hong Kong and an avid twisties collector.

The box is made of wood and produced by Mi-Toys. The designer is unknown (perhaps someone in-house from Mi-toys). Externally its a regular looking rectangular box with a lid but has two knobs on top. Quality is decent; I would say above average, considering this is a mass produced product. 

The object is to open the lid. Like most trick opening/puzzle boxes, the Secret Box requires a number of steps in the right sequence.It takes roughly five steps to fully remove the lid.

Not a very difficult puzzle so I am not sure why its been rated 4 out of 5 stars (graded as "Unbelievable") although the mechanism is pretty well disguised. A fun solve, nonetheless.

The box is functional and can actually store a number of small items. You will also notice it has two slits, one on either side of the box and this makes the Secret Box suitable as a piggy bank. The box would make a very good reasonably priced gift for someone or a novice puzzler. 

Slide Blocked Sliding Block

The Slide Blocked Sliding Block puzzle ("SBSB") was designed by Bill Cutler in 1986 and won the Grand Prize at the 1988 Hikimi Wooden Puzzle Competition. 

Start Position

The original design is not the "two arrows" layout you see in these photos although the solving principle is the same.

The "two arrows" version here is from Tom Lensch. The puzzle is made of Walnut for the frame while the pieces are Maple, Bubinga, Indian Rosewood and Yellowheart. Very well constructed with a nice fit and finish. The SBSB is also not to be confused with Goh Pit Khiam's Arrow Blocks puzzle which tho' the latter has a similar external appearance to the SBSB, the solution and method of solving is totally different (and a lot more difficult). 

The SBSB is a sliding block puzzle. Object is to slide the 5 pieces around to form a "complete arrow" on the left side, after removal of the Yellowheart start piece (which happens to be the only piece that can be removed from the frame). 

But the SBSB has a "trick" to it....the pieces have been constructed in such a way that certain movements are restricted (hence "slide blocked"); making it much harder than it looks. A normal 5 piece sliding block puzzle would have been a pretty easy solve. But here, the SBSB requires a minimum of 41 moves to complete.

Solved Position

Notwithstanding the restriction of movements of the pieces, the SBSB, while challenging is still quite manageable as it consists of only 5 pieces moving in rectilinear fashion. But I did find myself hitting some dead ends here and there along the way and backtracking before getting the arrows to their correct positions. With some persistence, one can eventually get to the end point, but probably taking more than 41 moves. To complete the solution, the goal is to get back to the original start position. Unless your memory is superb, you'll probably have to go through some trial and error to get it solved.

The SBSB is a different take on the traditional sliding block puzzle. And with the arrows design, it also displays very well. Available from Tom Lensch for US$125. [Edit 12 Jan 2015 - Someone has written to me to say that Tom does not have any more available]

Popplock T9

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

The T9 from Rainer Popp came out sometime in the middle of last year. At a behemoth 11.5cm x 7cm x 2.4cm and weighing in at 1.052kg, this is one of the largest locks in the Popplock collection. 

For previous reviews of Popplocks from T2 to T8, please click below:-
1. T2
2. T3
3. T4
4. T5
5. T6
6. T7
7. T8

Rainer manufactures and produces by hand a new model Popplock every year. I have had this lock since last August and its been in storage until several days ago. There have been two reviews of the T9 so far, from Allard and Kevin and both bloggers have sung high praises of the T9. Even though I only managed to solve mine with the help of the instruction manual, I have to agree with the two gents. It is really quite magnificent from a puzzling perspective.

There is really nothing more to be said about the T9's quality and finish. A real piece of superb craftsmanship with fine detailing. Damn expensive I might add. The body is made from a block of solid brass and the shackle is stainless steel.  At first glance, it looks like a large garden variety padlock with an ordinary looking key...except the front of the T9 has, in addition to the a key hole, a circular looking dial with rivets on the front, three of them imbued with red paint.

To solve the T9, there are basically three main stages, each with a number of steps. In most sequential discovery puzzles, the first step is usually easier (not easy) than the rest, but in the case of the T9, I was actually stumped right from stage one. Took me a while to figure out what needed to be done. Yes, the key can go inside the hole and turn round and round, but that's all to it, nothing more. With my small victory at stage one, I moved on to stage two. I had a good idea what was going on and even made progress (mind you all the while not being able to see what's happening inside the lock). However, I never made it completely past stage two. Here is where I was stuck for good and finally resorted to the instructions.

Stage three is even harder than stage two. And as Kevin mentioned in his post, you need good lighting. I would also add a good eye and make sure you have your reading glasses on too for this stage. I recommend playing under white or tungsten lighting if possible. The crucial steps in stage three are so very subtle and the mechanism so well hidden (that's provided if you can reach this point) that I don't think I would have figured them out without the instructions. With the last move, the shackle suddenly springs springs open...and there you go, the T9 is solved! Resetting the T9 is surprisingly easy, given the many steps previously....just turn the key!

Once you know the moves, sequence and what to look out for, repeat solving is quite manageable and can be done reasonably quickly, within a couple of minutes even.

With the exception of the T7 and T8, Rainer Popp has made a return to the traditional Popplock style of puzzle locks with the T9. Those who have played with the earlier versions from T2 to T6 would know what I mean. Puzzle/trick locks don't show up very often, in fact since the T8 in 2013, the only other metal puzzle lock at this level of quality and manufacture that came to the market is the Swing Lock from Splinter Justus (which I do not own). 

Very difficult yes, but overall the T9 is an excellent puzzle lock with multiple stages and steps to keep one well occupied with progress and a-ha moments along the way. Expensive also yes, but lots of puzzling value for money. The workings of the lock (from the internal diagrams in the manual) have to be seen to be believed.

As far as I can tell, unfortunately there are no T9s available commercially at the moment as all appear to have gone to private hands. Not surprising, since Rainer produces very limited units for each new model, just anywhere between fifty to less than a hundred.

[Edit 8 January 2015 - I have just been informed by Wil Strijbos that he still has one last copy of the T9 available for sale at 380 euros. If anyone is keen, please PM me via my blog email and I will put you in touch with Wil]

Karakuri Christmas Present #4 - Confetto Box 2

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

A Very Happy New Year everyone! 

Here's my first post for 2015...on my fourth and last Karakuri Christmas present which I received a couple of weeks back last Christmas.

This puzzle box was designed and made by Hiroshi Iwahara from the Karakuri Creation Group. 

This box is made (most likely) from Walnut with a different (unidentifiable) wood for the internals. There are also a number of steel parts (rods) inside the puzzle. Nothing more to add about its quality and construction other than its excellently made with very tight tolerances throughout. Everything moves and slides smoothly as intended.

This first three presents (see my last three blog posts) were very easy to solve, including #2 the "New Parcel Cube" from Akio Kamei, which was the hardest of the three. The Confetto Box here surpasses the previous three in terms of difficulty. In fact when I first played with it for the first few minutes...I said to myself...hmm, this one looks like a tough one!

The goal of this puzzle is to slide the side panels of the box (partially) open, as shown in the photo. To do this, the first moving panel needs to be found, which I did, after a bit of pushing here and there on all the sides. Thereafter I slowly discovered the rest, but not without some experimentation (and difficulty) especially for the first couple of panels.

In a way its similar to a traditional multiple-moves Japanese puzzle box. However, Iwahara's box is different in that there is greater (and more subtle) "interaction" between the panels, facilitated by the internal mechanism, which makes this puzzle not that easy. It takes a bit to understand how the puzzle is suppose to work. I am still not too sure how the internal mechanism functions (although I have a vague idea) as only a glimmer of the insides is visible. Peeking in, all I can tell is that it looks pretty intricate. 

And unlike the more typical traditional box, there is also no internal space or cavity (for storage of small items) to be found as none of the panels on the Confetto box can slide more than a quarter open. It would appear the box was intended solely as a puzzle. Well, unless I am way off tangent here, the solved state of the puzzle is the one as shown in the photo above. 

If anyone who owns this box knows otherwise and has managed to go beyond this stage, please PM me.

[Edit 1st Jan 2015 - Apparently what I have solved above is only half the solution to the Confetto Box 2. Peter Hajek had emailed me after reading my post to say he had reached the stage I was at and that he believed there was a hidden compartment in the Box. A short while later, he emailed again to let me know he had solved the Box fully. He very kindly gave me some instructions and following them, I also managed to solve it. 

The Confetto Box 2 is much more difficult than anticipated and is definitely the hardest of my four presents. Just look at the intricate and complicated internals and you can see the work and craftsmanship that went into the puzzle. A really great puzzle box. For the price, also a lot of puzzling and value for money]