For lovers of interlocking puzzles (and those of you who missed out on my Dirty Dozen), there is a Kickstarter project ongoing now which features two of my designs, the Dirty Dozen and L(8)tice. The third design Slideways, comes from Ray Stanton. All the puzzles are made of heavy aluminium and anodised in attractive orange, blue and magenta. Lovely to look at and challenging to solve.

I had produced a couple of dozen (no pun intended) copies of Dirty Dozen in stainless steel previously for sale in small batches and these were always sold out the moment I listed them on my e-shop here. Same for the L(8)tice which was manufactured in acrylic.

Here’s the link to the Kickstarter page. 

All three puzzles are very affordable, considering they are all produced in anodised aluminium. The Slideways is $20, while both the Dirty Dozen and L(8)tice are going for $25 each. If you buy all three puzzles, there is a package price of $66. Shipping and handling not included.

Both the above designs and their piece shapes are also featured on Puzzlewillbeplayed.com

http://puzzlewillbeplayed.com/CombCross/DirtyDozen.JL/

http://puzzlewillbeplayed.com/CombCross/Leighttice/

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A while back, I had designed a 3D Skull using Burr Tools. I planned to use this design but there was only one (major) problem; I could only fabricate the steel pieces by laser cutting. Which meant that I could only cut on flat sheets of steel, not in 3D shapes like those done by CNC machining. Given this limitation, I had to re-design my Skull entirely.

After a week or so of designing on and off, my ninth revision resulted in my “final” design. With the help of my friend and fellow puzzler Rex Perez who created the design in DWG format, I was ready to have Skull fabricated. The plan was to use 5mm thick 304 stainless steel like the Dirty Dozen. Completed and assembled, the puzzle would measure about 55mm x 35mm x 30mm. I took the opportunity to try out two other metal cutting vendors instead of the one who did the cutting for my Dirty Dozen. Files were emailed and payments made. A week later I received 25 loose pieces from each of the vendors.

The 3-unit locking piece that goes right through and into the top of the skull

Skull with shaky bones

The first prototype from Vendor A was a dismal “failure”. The tolerance was so tight that the pieces could not fit at all. I could use a small file to sand down the pieces, but too much work. Wasted effort and money. The second Vendor B’s work is what you see here. All 25 pieces fit nicely, but with a bit too much free play between the pieces. A lot of shaking and rattling! Rex commented that the power output of the laser may have been too high. Thus “burning” away too much metal, making the notches and grooves bigger than intended. But at least when assembled, a semblance of a skull comes into play. You can recognize that the puzzle is a skull afterall. Another saving grace is that with the little 3-unit locking piece in place, none of the pieces will fall apart even when shaken hard.

As of this post, I have just finished design revision #14. A much improved design with re-shaping almost every piece. In fact its now been reduced to 24 pieces only. See the screen shot of the Burr Tools file shown here. In theory at least, the whole puzzle is better reinforced and supported and should not shake and rattle so much if the tolerances are improved. I will go for a second prototype. Have to explain to the fabricator how the pieces are supposed to work (they have no idea what the pieces are for!). Hope this one will turn out better.

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I think a wooden puzzle coming from Wil Strijbos would be usually somewhat of a surprise. Most puzzlers know Wil Strijbos as a designer of challenging, high quality (and some rather expensive) puzzles made of metal!  Well, don’t let the title of this post fool you. This wooden puzzle from Wil was actually his Exchange Puzzle during IPP37 in Paris last August. And this wooden puzzle was designed by someone else. This is not to say that Wil has never designed wooden ones. He has many years ago, and one of them called Just Fit (The Cut) also happen to win  the 1990 Hikimi Puzzle Competition for wooden puzzle designs.

Back to the puzzle. This interlocking burr goes by the  name of Framed Sticks 4U and is designed by a Mr Gong. Now I have never met Mr Gong, but I understand he is a close friend of Wil and resides in China. Mr Gong has designed a number of wooden burr puzzles (made out of bamboo) which have been sold by Wil in the past several years through Wil’s distribution email list.

design & construction

The FS4U is a 6 x 6 x 5 solid. It is an interlocking framed burr consisting of a square frame and 4 typical burr pieces (sticks) with the usual type of notches. Nothing overly unusual. The frame (box) spots a couple of obstructions glued to the insides which restrict the movements of the pieces and thus brings the level of difficulty of the puzzle to a Level 24 solution. This means that it takes 24 moves to remove the first piece. And a total of 30 moves to disassemble the entire puzzle.  I checked Mr Gong’s design against other 6 x 6 x 5 size puzzles on PWPB and I didn’t find any which were similar in design or number of pieces. Only one other design had a similar shape. So Mr Gong’s design appears to be very different from the rest.

The FS4U is made of two different woods but as to the exact species I don’t know. The burr sticks consist of two pairs with dark and light colours to give the puzzle some colour contrast. Construction and fit is good. Although the copy here is not the kind of very impeccable standard that one would get from the usual few North American or European puzzle craftsmen.  Everything worked properly and the sticks slid smoothly. No issues. The puzzle is produced under Wil’s Streetwise Inc brand, the same company that manufactures all of Wil’s metal puzzles. Size wise, it is about 7.5cm x 7.5cm x 6cm and surprisingly quite heavy in the hand, so the woods used  must probably be some exotic wood.

The puzzle has a shiny finishing to the external surface, as if coated with some form of vanish covering, which seems rather unusual since.  Most wooden puzzles would have some form of (tung) oil rubbed into the wood to smoothen,  nourish and preserve the wood But this is my first wooden puzzle I have with such a smooth and shiny surface.

SOLVING & PLAY

At Level 24.2.2.2, the FS4U is not easy. The disassembly took me a while to get the hang off, given there are some dead ends during the solve at the beginning. But because you can see the movement of the sticks from both the top and bottom openings of the frame, it is not as difficult as other similarly high level burrs. At some point I was able to figure out the moves to remove the first piece. Once that came out, the rest just popped out of the frame. Re-assembly was a different thing altogether! Despite my best efforts to remember the moves (and even photographing the process, because I know burrs like these are quite beyond me), I still had to resort to the provided solution sheet. Thankfully I was also further aided by Burr Tools, which helped me get all the pieces back to their proper places.

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During IPP37, we exchanged puzzles and his puzzle to me was Deadly Romance, a pretty cool and intriguing name I might add. Deadly Romance was Markus’ own design and the production duties went to Pelikan Puzzles of the Czech Republic.  Quality of construction and finish is very good up to the usual Pelikan standards. The puzzle is an interlocking cage burr…but with a twist. The goal is to “put the two pieces into the cage with the colours of the pieces and the cage matching…”. Both the cage and the pieces are made of a combo of maple and wenge to provide the dark and light colours. The puzzle comes assembled and you need to remove the pieces from the cage and replace the same pieces according to the instructions. To remove was not too difficult since there are only two pieces. However, to fit them back into the cage AND match the colours at the same time…a much more daunting task, which I failed miserably. It was only with the help of Burr Tools that I discovered the way the pieces were supposed to go in and the type of moves required. And it (with hindsight) wasn’t so that difficult it would appear, if only I had kept at it and not give up. Well, whoever said I was with good with burrs anyway? which I am not.

Markus Gotz has a number of puzzle designs to his name and I have a couple of his exchange puzzles that I have yet to play with. He is also responsible for the very unique looking packing puzzle Framework II.

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The TIF was the exchange puzzle of Bernhard Schweitzer of Germany at IPP37 in Paris this past August. Bernhard makes his own puzzles and runs a puzzle site called www.puzzlewood.de.  While his site is in German, you can easily do a Google translate to read it in English. Anyway the nice pictures of the many puzzles in the site gallery speak for themselves.

TIF basically comprises a cube-shaped cage that locks two odd-shaped pieces inside. Each of the two pieces consists of 8 units. Apart from this Type B here, there are also Types A and C. For A and C, there are also just two pieces each 8 units, and identical cages but the pieces for each puzzle are differently shaped. Not sure what made Bernhard choose Type B over the other two since all three solutions of A, B and C are the same level of difficulty. Although the TIF has only two removable pieces, nonetheless it still has a level 8.2 solution, meaning that it takes minimum 8 moves to remove the first piece and 2 moves to remove the second. Nothing to be scoffed at here!

The exchange copy came in Smoked Cherry for the cage and Maple for the pieces. Construction fit and finish is decent and the pieces slide smoothly but snugly. My copy became stuck after I got back to Singapore from IPP due to the high humidity but within a day or two in the dryer, everything worked as intended. Maple expands rather quickly when there is high humidity and the day after I solved the puzzle, the pieces felt unusually tight again. Dimensionally the TIF measures about 70mm all round.

TIF is one of those burr puzzles that I generally enjoy and can manage without any aid; mainly because they are lower level burrs that are more suited for a non-burrist like myself. This is one of those puzzles that I could take the pieces apart AND scramble them and not forget how to put them back together. No Burr Tools needed-ha! Of course the fact that the TIF has only two pieces helps a lot in the remembering of the orientation of the pieces during assembly. For an experienced puzzler and even a non-burr enthusiast, not at all that difficult, although the re-assembly may be a tad more challenging, which is usually the case in burr puzzles.

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I decided to up the ante and see if I could come up with an 8 piece version with a (higher) unique solution. After several days of toying with Burr Tools, I managed to design a version, L(eight)tice-2 having a level 5.1.2 single solution. I contacted Andrei and told him about my design and asked if he would consider making copies of L(eight)tice-2 in aluminium.  There were several exchanges of Facebook messages and Andrei agreed to cut a prototype out of 5mm aluminium sheet.  This was several weeks before IPP37 in Paris in August.  Andrei said he would try to have the prototype ready and show it to me at IPP.

On the Awards Night Banquet of IPP37,  Andrei walked over to my table and plonked this heavy hefty aluminium L(eight)tice-2 down. It was pretty massive at 70mm x 70mm x 40mm! I played with it for a while but very gently. I did not want to unravel the pieces as I knew I wouldn’t be able to put everything back together at the dinner table without help. It felt fairly stable and none of the pieces dropped out even after being shaken pretty hard. This prototype was returned to Andrei and he said he would try experiment with 3mm thick stainless steal to produce a smaller sized puzzle. Andrei later reported that another attendee at IPP37 solved the puzzle by hand without too much difficulty. Well, kudos to him for being such a good solver.

After I returned home from IPP, I tried to improve on my design; unfortunately there is only so much one can do with board burr pieces confined to dimensions of 70mm x 40mm. But after quite a fair amount of tweaking,  I did manage to increase the level of difficulty from Level 5.1.2 to a Level 6.1.1.2. However the downside was that I could not get it down to a unique solution. So this latest version would have 2 solutions, one Level 5, the other Level 6. The Level 6 solution with 13 steps (on paper at least) seems to indicated that the whole ensemble would be harder to solve and also appearing even more stable than the earlier version.

I subsequently dropped Andrei a note about this second iteration of my design and when the time came to produce copies in stainless steal, he adopted my “improved” design ie L(8)tice-2. While waiting for his metal puzzle, I decided to cut a copy out of acrylic. The plastic version confirmed my theory above; fitting pretty snugly together and harder to solve. A couple of weeks later, Andrei finished producing his copies and listed them for sale on his site. He had experimented with various tolerances and the copy I received from him was firm and “tight”. The puzzle feels very solid and heavy in the hand and no way would the pieces be shaken loose unless it was violently thrown to the floor.  My copy of L(8)tice-2 had nicely rounded corners and polished to a smooth matt surface, very nice to the touch. Very good construction and high quality indeed.  At either level, the L(8)tice-2 is not an easy puzzle and I still cannot solve it without the aid of Burr Tools. And I must add that it is quite a challenge to handle all 8 pieces at the same time during assembly! Metal interlocking burr puzzles are rare and hard to come by. I am really delighted  that Andrei Ivanov has made available the L(8)tice-2 (US$48) and other of his metal puzzles for sale.

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For IPP37, Rene had decided on a themed design for a mechanical puzzle to gel in with the venue of this year’s IPP, which was the City of Love, Paris. And I must say it was very well executed. There were several Paris Eiffel Tower themed puzzles this IPP but the Eiffel Burr is only one of two burr style interlocking puzzles. The other was an transpartent acrylic version designed by Junichi Yananose and made by Brian Young. I would probably get around to this other puzzle at some point in the future, most likely next year.

First off, the Eiffel Burr is cut entirely out of MDF board and produced by Marcel Gillen of the metal Chess Piece Puzzles fame. Quality of construction is very good and the pieces all fit nicely, albeit a bit too tight for my liking. Even after a few days in my dry box didn’t do much to loosen the pieces caused by the high Singapore humidity. But thankfully I could still slide and move the pieces around without undue force. My European and American puzzle friends probably won’t have this tightness problem. Apart from being made of MDF board, the Eiffel Burr, while looking like a miniature Eiffel Tower, is in reality a 6-piece board burr in disguise, with two of the pieces cut to form the shape of the famous Paris landmark. Nice choice of colours (orange and dark gray) and contrast for the 6 pieces.

The object is to disassemble and re-assemble the puzzle. Like I said above, the Eiffel Burr is quite different from the Vivaldi Burr in several aspects. Firstly, IMHO, it is far more difficult than the Vivaldi Burr. The disassembly I could manage without too much difficulty but the putting together totally lost me. I had to specify the design in Burr Tools for help. The puzzle requires 27 moves and has a level 11.10.2.2.2 solution (meaning t requires 11 moves to remove the first piece). While the Vivaldi Burr  had distinct un-burr-like shaped pieces which aided seems to have aided my solve, this one has 4 (out of 6) typical looking board pieces which adds to the challenge. But I am sure the burr experts amongst you would not have too much trouble with the Eiffel Burr…but not me.

Rene did explicitly (on the packaging) caution that the pieces could be damaged by rotational moves and this is probably true. MDF while tough, is still not indestructible. I did also find one rotational move accidentally during early play which would have taken apart the puzzle with just 4 to 5 moves.  Anyway rotation is not permitted and unintended. As an interlocking board burr per se, the Eiffel Burr would have been a very decent challenging puzzle on its own, and I think without the odd-shape constraints of the two orange pieces, rotational moves could have been eliminated as well. But still it is all the more impressive because it is quite a feat of design to have transformed the burr to look like the famous Eiffel Tower.

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Without a doubt, Heblo is very well crafted and from what I can tell, consists of various hardwoods including cherry, maple, oak and walnut. Quality and construction is top-notch here and the contrasting woods really bring out the “shine” of this puzzle. The cube measures 6.8cm all round with curved edges and a nice woody smell to it. 

The object is to remove a small ball residing inside. You can hear it rolling about in some void within. My first thought was that it is an interlocking burr of sorts. Well, there was really no other way to begin solving except by pushing and pulling at the cube itself. But just to make sure that pieces were not compressed together due to the high Singaporean humidity, I left it in my dry box for a good half a day before play.

After a rather unexpected and surprising solve, I got the ball out. Rather too quickly too I might add.  But then again, if it had been harder like a mid-level interlocking burr, who knows? I may not have been able to solve it. But once you are able to find the opening move, its pretty easy. Unfortunately, I can’t show the solved state here as it will be a dead giveaway. From a puzzling standpoint, not at all difficult but from an aesthetics point of view, a beautifully made puzzle for display.

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But this year at IPP37 in Paris last August, I received a pleasant surprise. His exchange puzzle HOPE was not a sliding block puzzle but an interlocking caged burr!

At first glance, the HOPE appears to consist of a cage and 4 separate burr pieces. But actually the entire puzzle is only made up of 3. Typically 3D printed puzzles do not have that sort of sharp and precise lines and edges found on well-crafted wooden puzzles. But the copy I have I must say, the quality is really very decent and well made (printed). The slightly shinny shade of blue chosen by Diniar for the pieces really stands out; a nice contrast against the white cage holding them. And if there’s one thing I really like about this puzzle is the colour and aesthetics. The puzzle measures 7cm x 5cm x 5cm. Pretty sturdy and tough too.

The object of course is to remove the pieces and then put them back in the cage. This is where the 2 pieces bring the level of difficulty down a couple of notches. The “H” and “P” pieces are fused together as in the “O” and “E”. While there are only 2 pieces, this burr is still (as far as my counting tells me) a level 15 or 16.1 solution puzzle. This means it takes 15 (or 16) moves to extract the first of the 2 pieces out of the cage. Not a walk in the park for novices.

I am usually hopeless at this sort of interlocking puzzles but I did manage this one pretty well and didn’t have to resort to Burr Tools! A bit of practice here and here I was able to repeat solve the HOPE a couple of times even. Not too difficult once you commit the moves to memory and frankly, for this puzzle it is not that hard to do so.

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There are 3 congruent pieces of one design and a pair of another, while the last piece is “pin-less”. Object is to take apart and put the puzzle back to together. Very well made by Bart Buie (check out his site here which features a tasty selection of Stewart Coffin puzzles ranging from $45 to a whopping $405 for an STC-7 called Jupiter with 30 different woods!). While the pieces fitted too tightly at first due to the high Singapore humidity, this problem was solved after several hours in my puzzle dry box. The puzzle is about the size of a regular Rubik’s Cube.

Taking apart is pretty straight forward; once you have the first piece out, the rest is easily removable. But putting the thing back together is a tad more tricky, particularly if you scramble the pieces. But because there are two sets of identical pieces and the outer surface of the puzzle is not supposed to show any pinholes, the assembly is not overly complicated. Certainly manageable with some patience, although if you got the orientation of the pieces wrong, you may hit a dead end; some pins just don’t fit into certain holes. Sorry Burr Tools won’t be of any use here. Again, I have to say its at a level of difficulty appropriate for an Exchange Puzzle. Even novices can have fun with the Long & Short and not feel frustrated.

The Long & Short, according to fellow puzzle blogger Kevin Sadler, is the easiest challenge of a much bigger (a bit of an understatement here) puzzle called the Grand Pinhole which has a mind-boggling 43 pieces (if I counted correctly).

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If you are familiar with Goh’s work, you may have come across several other (physically) similar looking puzzles in the “blocks” family such as his Arrow Blocks, Stumbling Blocks, Road Blocks and Check Box. But don’t be mistaken; while they look alike, each of them are different in their own right in terms of design and solutions and all providing good challenges.

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The Non-Void Cube is from Andreas Rover- yes, the ONE who created and free-shared with the world Burr Tools; the indispensable and holy grail of puzzle design tools (no pun intended) for designers everywhere. Without Burr Tools, I am pretty certain that 99.5% of the designs on www.puzzlewillbeplayed.com would not be in existence today, we would not have the huge number wooden and other interlocking puzzles we have now and Eric Fuller would probably still be a professional soldier in the US Army.

At first glance, the Non-Void Cube, with its plastic appearance, looks very much like an ordinary Rubik’s Cube without any of the coloured stickers. In fact its a 3D printed interlocking burr designed and created by Andreas. The Cube is very nicely printed and the tolerances between the pieces sufficiently tight. Notwithstanding, the pieces move and slide smoothly and I experienced no jamming whatsoever. Size-wise, the Cube is 6cm all round, the size of a normal Rubik’s Cube.

And what is unique about the Non-Void Cube is that it has got no voids (holes) within the cube, yet it has a Level 4.3.3 solution, something that is impossible to achieve with a typical burr design. Andreas managed to create this puzzle by attaching the cubes of the 4 pieces not by joining the faces of the cubes, but via their corners (see photo above). In this manner the pieces can slide in the various directions even without the voids or voxels necessary.

While it takes only 4 moves to remove the first piece (and with some effort not too difficult to figure out) and 3 moves each to remove the next two, the design is not without some trickiness. If you scramble all the pieces after disassembly, and unless you have a very good memory, you may just forget the orientation of the pieces (like I did) and find yourself in a bit of a bind trying to reassemble the thing. Again with some persistence and time, it is do-able. And Burr Tools would not help you here if you can’t solve it, Haha!. Is Andreas hiding some features of the software which he is only keeping to himself?

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