Accordion 3.5

This one came from my last batch of puzzles from Eric Fuller. Designed by William Hu, the Accordion 3.5 sports a very nice colour contrast through the use of White Oak and Chakte Viga (hmm...never heard of this exotic wood). 

Built to very tight tolerances with very fine sharp edges, the quality and construction is excellent throughout. Careful handling is needed for this one.

Only 4 irregular shaped pieces, this is a level 9.3 interlocking burr. In terms of difficulty, not difficult, especially if you are familiar with some of William Hu's other puzzles such as the Ring Lock. You will probably figure out quite quickly how and what needs to be done. For the uninitiated, may pose a serious challenge tho'

Caramel Box

Caramel Box is the IPP34 design competition entry from Yasuhiro Hashimoto and Mineyuki Uyematsu (MINE). It also came in top 10 for most votes garnered for the Puzzlers' Award.

While I am not too familiar with Hashimoto-san, I enjoy MINE's designs and have a couple of his puzzles including the T4-II and T4-III. His packing puzzles usually do not have a lot of pieces (no more than 4), but yet provides a nice (and not overly difficult) challenge that is just right. Caramel Box is one such puzzle, although it did stump me a fair bit longer than the previous two.

There are two challenges here... to get two sets of various irregular shaped pieces flat into the metal box. Usually not a problem since its only a 3x3x2 but in this case the opening of the box has an obstruction in one corner, making the solve more difficult than one might imagine.

Packing the pieces would require you to figure out the shape the pieces must form to fit inside the box...pretty straight forward, although the wrong shape would mean getting stuck along the way. And then figuring out how to insert the pieces into the box...which is not so straight forward. I found the second challenge easier than the first, which is a bit odd since the first is usually the easier of the two.

Quality and build is excellent. The two sets of wood pieces are made from Teak and Poa Rosa respectively and the box is thick walled steel. A really solid mix of metal and wood.

Overall a really nice puzzle of high quality. I believe there are still some copies available for sale. You can purchase the Caramel Box and other puzzles via MINE's website. Yes, he does ship overseas.

Pharmacy

This interlocking puzzle is aptly named, and you can see why. Designed by Tamas Vanyo, one of several "new wave" designers that is pushing the boundaries of interlocking puzzle designs with shapes and styles that go beyond the traditional looking burr. I have several of his designs, including the Noncsi, Orsi and Pentomino Maze.

Tamas is very prolific and he designs an average 3-5 puzzles a month, which he shares on Facebook before they are eventually uploaded to www.puzzlewillbeplayed.com. 

A rookie wood-worker, the Pharmacy was hand-made by him out of Pear and Beech woods. I had seen his design on Facebook and requested a copy. While overall build and quality cannot be compared to the finishing and precision of professional puzzle craftsmen, my copy turned out to be reasonably well made, coming from an amateur. It even has oil coating to preserve the woods, although this is not apparent externally.

What is rather unusual about this design is that there is an internal plate (shaped like a "cross") which "floats" inside the box frame. Both the plate and frame have irregular cut-outs. The plate cannot be removed and extraction/assembly of the pieces require interaction with both the box frame and the plate which slides within. 

On paper, the Pharmacy is a 31-move level 13 puzzle (ie 13 steps to remove the 1st piece), certainly not the most difficult burr around in theory. But the asymmetrical nature of the cut-outs and sliding plate make the puzzle harder than it appears. Unless the burr pieces are in the correct orientation when going back into the frame, there'll be some dead ends. I managed to get the pieces out but got stuck hopeless during the assembly. With the plate "locked" inside the frame, I was also at a loss at how to generate a burr tools file. I consulted designer Goh Pit Khiam who duly obliged with the solution and thereafter got the pieces back where they belong.

The Pharmacy sports a rather unique and different design and shape. It'll be nice if one of the regular puzzle makers can pick up on this one and produce copies for sale. If so, my only recommendation is to have the internal plate fabricated out of acrylic which not only adds to durability and integrity of the plate/frame combo, but also lends a nice contrast to the wood pieces and frame.

Hanayama Cast Galaxy

A puzzle designer's dream....enter a puzzle design competition, win a prize and a major puzzle manufacturer picks up your winning design and mass produces it...leading to fame and fortune! 

In recent years, a number of designers have had their IPP award winning designs produced by Hanayama. They include Vesa Timonen (Cast Loop), Dmitry Pevnitskiy & Kirill Grebnev (Cast Harmony), JinHoo Ahn (Cast G&G) and Kyoo Wong (Cast U&U). But Bram Cohen has had not one but two of his designs turned into commercial puzzles (Cast Rattle, Cast Galaxy)

Released in July this year, the Galaxy is the latest cast puzzle from Hanayama. As of the date of this blog post, the Galaxy is also the best selling cast puzzle domestically in Japan (loads of royalties for Bram, congrats!).

I bought my copy from Torito who had set up shop during IPP34 in London this past August. The Galaxy can also be purchased from PuzzleMaster and Ebay.

The Galaxy is fabricated out of steel (I think). Consisting of 4 interlocking pieces, the object is to separate them. Fit and finishing is overall good and in this instance, I actually like the shiny surface. 

Hanayama has rated it 3 stars for difficulty level, but I think it deserves perhaps a 3.5. Solving requires you to twist and turn the pieces in various directions; for most part you'll hit a dead end and be confused. But get them (just) right in the correct position and they can thereafter be disentangled. Some co-ordinate motion is required. Virtually no chance of accidental solving. 

Both the taking apart and re-assembly is more than fairly challenging. The putting back together is I feel more difficult and you have to make sure you set up the pieces correctly. However, once you get the hang of it, its quite manageable to repeat solve. Overall a nice looking, compact and fun puzzle; one of the best ones so far from Hanayama that I have come across.

Naked Secret Box "RED"

The Naked Secret Box "RED" is Meiko Kimura's IPP34 Exchange Puzzle. Meiko is the owner of Japanese online puzzle retailer Torito.

One look at the puzzle and you can probably guess why its called what it is. There is also a "BLUE" version (somewhat physically similar to the "RED") which was her puzzle design competition entry.

The puzzle was designed by Akio Yamamoto and made entirely out of acrylic. Object is to remove the lid and take apart the box entirely into the 6 pieces. Imagine it a 6 piece board burr interlocked, with very widely spaced apart pieces. Build and construction is excellent and pieces are all precisely laser cut.

Solving is not difficult but there is a sequence of movements to follow. The pieces also must be in the correct orientation for it to fit together properly.

From the practical standpoint, you could put some keepsakes inside. Non-puzzlers would probably take quite some time to get it open without resorting to brute force or breaking the box.

The "BLUE" version is available from Torito for around US$27/-. Not expensive considering the high quality, but unfortunately Torito does not ship internationally any more. Anyone wanting a copy would have to get someone they know in Japan to buy it for them, or perhaps use a commercial drop shipping service.

Heavy Metal From IPP34

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

These two puzzles came from IPP34. The Cast Metal Puzzle (cube) was Markku Vesala's Exchange Puzzle while the Brass Ball was purchased from Dmitry Pevnitskiy during the Puzzle Party.

The Brass Ball is a co-ordinate motion puzzle. Relatively easy to take apart (with some pressing and tugging here and there) but a real bummer to reassemble. 

Somehow every time I think I have all the pieces in position ready to slide back together, something will be stuck, not to mention its really difficult to operate all the 4 pieces at the same time. When Dmitry demonstrated the Brass Ball to me at IPP, he could put it back together in a matter of seconds!

I am still struggling with this one and it remains on my table in 4 separate pieces. If anyone has the solution to this, please help, thanks.

Edit: 7.5 hours later, I played with the Brass Ball again and after a while of fiddling, got it assembled.

The Cast Metal Puzzle #81/125 on the other hand is easier. Comprising 6 pieces of tetraminoes and pentaminoes, the pieces are "interlocked" together by a magnetic ball bearing in the centre. 

Nice concept, very well made and high quality. Being cast iron, its also very heavy in the hand for such a small puzzle measuring only 3cm square.

RetroFit

RetroFit is one of several puzzles which I acquired recently from Eric Fuller's latest puzzle offering. 

The name given is appropriate for this puzzle; "Retro" - it was designed 4 years ago by Singaporean designer Goh Pit Khiam in 2010 and "Fit" - object is to fit the 5 identical polyominoes (in this case, nonominoes- made up of 9 units), flush into the box frame which is partially covered by a "floating" acrylic sheet.

This version from Eric is made of Rosewood, Ipe, Walnut, Bubinga, Paduak for the pieces and  Maple for the box frame. Construction and finish is excellent as always. An earlier version made of laser cut Walnut exists also for this design, which was Walt Hoppe's IPP31 Exchange Puzzle in Berlin reviewed by Allard in his blog.

This packing puzzle is IMHO just nice; not too many pieces, fun and the right difficulty level; ie enough challenge to hold your continual interest but not overly difficult. However you do need to think a bit outside the box (or frame) to figure this one out and the solution, when you discover it, would surprise you.

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. 

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.

Broken Bricks

Broken Bricks is a nice and fun packing puzzle and this copy also happened to be the last one owned by Russian puzzle designer and maker, Vladimir Krasnoukhov. I bought it from him during the IPP34 Puzzle Party.

 

Measuring about 7.5cm square and 4.5cm tall, this is surprisingly a seriously heavy puzzle, with a very thick-walled box frame and six pieces made from a combination of Wenge, Bubinga, Paduak and Buche woods. Overall pretty decent construction, fit and finish throughout.

The box has curved edges and and detailing on the sides and the contrasting coloured pieces have diagonal cuts on each of them. 2 solutions exist for this puzzle which is of fairly moderate difficulty. 

For other puzzles from Vladimir, click here.

Aroma

This puzzle came to me courtesy of Hirokazu Iwasawa ("Iwahiro") and is called Aroma. 

Iwahiro has a number of well known puzzle designs to his name including two IPP awarding winning ones; the  "ODD Puzzle" and Square In The Bag.

 I obtained this during the IPP34 puzzle party and I should have asked him why it bears such an unusual name, but I didn't.

Aroma was Iwahiro's IPP30 Exchange Puzzle. Made of a very hard and solid type of plastic, and I mean this one is really very very solid, the puzzle is sized around 7.7cm x 6.7cm x 2.3cm. Fit and finish is very good. Tight tolerances.

It is a co-ordinate motion puzzle and the object is to fit the 3 identical pieces flush (sideways) into the hexagonal frame. I played with the puzzle while on the flight back to Singapore after IPP34 in London. I thought it would take me longer to figure this one out but several minutes was all I needed. Not difficult but a nice fun solve.

IPP34 - Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition

All IPPs, since 2001 have featured a puzzle design competition, the aim which is "to promote and recognize innovative new designs of mechanical puzzles"

This year's IPP34 in London saw a total of 63 entries from puzzle designers around the world. Unlike the other "main" events of IPP, ie the Puzzle Exchange and Puzzle Party, anyone (subject to some guidelines) can submit a design (up to a maximum of 2) for the competition, regardless of whether he is an IPP attendee or not. 

Of these 63 entries, 8 were also Exchange puzzles. I wonder why there are not more Exchange Puzzle participants who submit their puzzle designs for the competition (at least for those who are using their own original, and not adopting someone else's design)? Especially since exchange puzzles must not have been made public or commercially available, versus competition designs, which must not have been in the public domain for more than 2 years preceding the competition.

Of the handful of awards given out, the Puzzlers' Award is the only one selected by IPP attendees who have a chance over the few days of the event to review and judge the designs. The rest are decided by a panel of judges.

For photos and descriptions of the 63 design entries this year and the award winners, click here.

Below are photos of attendees reviewing the various designs. Solutions accompany the designs, so puzzlers won't get stuck. 

Winners are announced during the Awards Dinner on the third evening.

My 7 seconds of fame during the Awards Dinner

My selfie with Kyoo Wong (left) who won the Jury's Grand Prize for his Cast U&U design

IPP34 Puzzle Party

Puzzle Party

The second "main" event of IPP - The Puzzle Party. Here is where attendees of IPP display their wares for sale on rented tables.

Puzzles for sale typically fall into the following categories:-

1. Leftover (or extra) exchange puzzles - great for exchange assistants who were "so close yet so far" from the 99 exchanged ones.

2. Leftover exchange puzzles from previous IPPs, some going back several or more years....hmm, you wonder why?

3. Collectors' pre-loved or unwanted puzzles.

4. Puzzles from commercial puzzle retailers. Great bargains here sometimes as they are usually a bit cheaper during IPP and you don't have to pay shipping.

5. Old, current and new puzzles from puzzle designers and craftsmen

6. Copies of the design competition puzzles

Like the Puzzle Exchange the day before, the Puzzle Party can be even more chaotic. Long queues form outside the event room while the sellers are setting up inside. The doors open at 9am sharp and everyone frenziedly rushes in to scan the room for that elusive one (or few) only available, hard to find puzzle(s). Really they are looking out more for seller than the puzzle itself. Over the course of the previous two days, news from the grapevine would have circulated about who is selling and selling what. 

The Party is like a high end flea market with puzzles strewn all over the tables. Sellers are making their sales pitches and buyers are touching and feeling everything in sight and asking lots of questions. There is polite and gentle shoving and pushing here and there as everyone jostles within the narrow aisles. Everybody is eager to cover as much ground as possible within the first half hour, which is the most crucial to securing a desired or prized puzzle.

Money change hands every second and the major currencies of US$, GBP and Euros are all gladly accepted. If you run out of cash don't worry, you can always borrow money from someone. Puzzlers are more than happy to lend to another puzzler in dire need (as I experienced at last year's IPP33 in Japan).

The excitement runs from morning to early afternoon. At 3pm, selling officially stops. The dust settles and the last sale is transacted. Most leave the room exhausted but happy with their day's haul. But some with crestfallen faces, regretting their paralysis by analysis!

Here are some shots of the Puzzle Party.

Tom Lensch

Perry McDaniel (the most well-dressed seller at the Puzzle Party)
selling his food themed Bon Bon puzzles

Henry Strout

Frans de Vreugd

Bernhard Schweitzer

Hendrik Haak (in lime t-shirt holding note pad)

Ms Kimura from online puzzle retailer Torito, Japan

Peter Hajek

Peter Schnurzel

John Hache (left)

Mr & Mrs Koshi Arai

Neil Hutchinson, Chris Pursell & Louis Coolen

Walt Hoppe & Iwahiro Iwasawa

Brian & Sue Young

Floor Puzzles