Tetro-Billes

Two years ago, I received a copy of Tetro-Billes, courtesy of its designer and my good friend Frederic Boucher. Billes in French means "small balls"....

Tetro-Billes was entered in the IPP35 Puzzle Design Competition by Frederic and is classified as a 1.1 2-Dimensional assembly puzzle. In common puzzle terms, I would consider it as one from the pattern matching category of puzzles. 

Frederic, who lives in Japan, is a pretty prolific designer and does not just design a particular genre of puzzles but his scope is quite varied (and interesting), ranging from exotic wooden 3D packing puzzles like the Marble Cake and Artefacts to Impossible Objects like Smiley In A Bottle and stuff in between such as his dexterity puzzles like Pyramida and Manholes 55 and a couple of burrs here and there.

Now back to the puzzle. I had kept it away for about two years since 2015, forgot about it and only recently re-discovered it and decided to give it a go. The puzzle consists of five wooden pieces (made of Japanese Beech) each containing blue and yellow marbles held in holes drilled into the wood. Quality of construction is very good and the marbles all fit tightly without fear of falling loose (although Frederic indicates that they can be removed and changed about for other sorts of challenges...which I didn't try for fear of damage)

The object of the puzzle is assemble the pieces so that the marbles form five different tetromino shapes - three in blue and two in yellow, with two solutions. Sounds rather simple doesn't it? considering its just 5 pieces to move around on a flat surface. Well I couldn't be more wrong. I spent several sessions over a few days before I discovered what I thought was the solution and happily shot an email to Frederic (which I usually do when I solve his puzzles or when I need help). Or at least I thought I did. Frederic reverted to say that while I have 5 tetraminos, two of them are identical (the yellow marbles). The photo below shows a solution, but its not THE intended solution.

I then spent another good several sessions over two days trying to figure this one out...but thus far have been unsuccessful. The time I allotted myself for this puzzle had exceeded so I decided to throw in the towel and look at the accompanied solution. Sigh...I was close but not quite there.

For anyone wanting something different to challenge your wits or if you are interested in any of Frederic's puzzles mentioned above (and mind you he may even have new ones that I am unaware of), PM me and I will link you up him. Perhaps he might just have a copy or two lying around available for sale.

Pack Your Passport

American Eitan Cher's IPP36 Exchange Puzzle, Pack Your Passport is IMHO one of the nicest looking 2D packing puzzles I have come across, and believe me, I have quite a large number in my collection, and none of them come close!

This is a meticulously crafted puzzle that measures 13cm x 9.5cm x 1.7cm, about the size of a real passport. It consists of a number of layers of acrylic glued together to form a two-page "passport" with the covers held together by rubber bands. The puzzle including the 10 irregular pieces that come with it are precision laser cut and the entire package smacks of high quality. As I understand, Eitan has access to a number of laser cutting machines at his disposal, hence his ability to ensure quality control over the final product.

Not only is the puzzle beautiful to look at and feel, the design concept of the puzzle also deserves commendation. IPP35 was hosted in Canada and IPP36 in Japan. Pack Your Passport was designed by Rex Perez of the Philippines and aligns itself very well thematically. On the first page of the "passport" is the Canadian flag with a cut-out of a maple leaf; detach and flip it over and you see the Japanese flag with a cut-out of the sun. the second layer stores the 10 loose pieces which are neatly stored in their own slots. 

The goals are simple and clear, use all 10 pieces to form the maple leaf of the Canadian flag and the second challenge is to use the same 10 pieces to form the sun of the Japanese flag. Believe me, both challenges are very difficult, since there are 10 pieces involved and in the case of the Japanese flag, there is only one solution. Quite a design feat, I might add.

I struggled with the Canadian flag for a couple of days before I decided I needed help and promptly shot a message to Rex for a clue. Quick was his reply (he too couldn't solve it sometimes!) and he indicated to me where one of the 10 pieces was suppose to fit within the cut-out. With this, I was able to solve the puzzle during the next hour or so. Next I tried the Japanese flag but as of the date of this post, I have still not solve this one. Still waiting for Rex to forward a clue. 

Between the two challenges, the Canadian flag is the easier one, since careful observation will reveal that there are a couple of pieces that can only fit (or not) in certain places within the cut-out and this reduces the level of difficulty somewhat, but perhaps still not enough! 

For packing puzzle lovers that also demand top-notch quality, Pack Your Passport is a must-have. From what I can tell, it is commercially available from http://www.puzzle-shop.de.

Of Symmetry And Shapes

This weekend's puzzle play consisted of Symmetrick from Vesa Timonen of Finland and Four Triangles Five Shapes from Emrehan Halici of Turkey. 

Symmetrick

Symmetrick was a Top 10 Vote Getter during the IPP33 Puzzle Design Competition in Japan. It was also Vesa's exchange puzzle during IPP32 the previous year. In case you didn't know, vesa is a very prolific designer with a number of Hanayama Cast puzzle designs to his name.

Comprising of just two irregular shaped pieces made of Finnish Curly Birch wood in a raw finish, the goal here is to form a symmetrical shape. The instructions are clear....to place the two pieces on a flat surface to form a symmetrical shape...no tricks, no silhouette, hole in centre and the like.

One would wonder how difficult can that be with just two pieces right? Wrong...it is in fact a rather difficult puzzle, more so if you don't even understand what a symmetrical shape refers to. 

During IPP33 itself, I had already seen quite a number of puzzlers in the competition room trying to figure this one out.... and many couldn't solve it even by the end of the event. All round it received a lot of positive comments. I took about a couple of hours before hitting the jackpot. Please PM me if you would like to see the solution...it's really quite unexpected.

Symmetrick IMHO is really an example of a great puzzle design, so simple and innocuous looking with just two pieces, yet very challenging. For those who love this sort of shape forming puzzles, its a must have. Available from Mr Puzzle Of Australia and Sloyd of Finland.

Four Triangles Five Shapes

This puzzle came courtesy of Emrehan Halici. I had a privilege of meeting Emrehan the second time during IPP35 in Ottawa last year and his Four Triangles Five Shapes (FTFS) was his exchange puzzle to me.

The FTFS is made of 3mm red laser cut acrylic. The four pieces comprise of four triangles of different shapes. Nicely cut and pretty large pieces so easy to handle.

There are five different tasks here (hence the name "five shapes"). Using all the triangles to make the following shapes:-

1. 3 different Pararellograms

2. An Isoceles triangle

3. A Square

I was able to make just one of the parallelograms, the isoceles triangle and the square...or so I thought. I shot an email to Emrehan for the solutions to the other two parallelograms and when he replied I was in for a shock; I had only gotten the square correct!

How difficult is the FTFS? Well, I only managed to solve one of the five shapes, despite just four pieces. I would rate it as very challenging indeed. As this one is an exchange puzzle, it's only available from the designer (assuming he has any left), so please PM me if you would like to get a copy and I will link you up with Emrehan.

Fusion

Name
Fusion

Designer
Goh Pit Khiam. 

Manufacturer & Availability
My copy was made by Eric Fuller. A total of 39 copies were made and sold for $57 each. Currently none available.

Type & Classification
2D packing 

Dimensions
3.8in x 3.8in x 0.8in

Materials & Construction
The tray is made of Maple while the pieces are Yellowheart, Bubinga, Paduak and Walnut. The tray has a top and bottom transparent acrylic cover. Construction and quality as usual is first rate with everything precisely and accurately cut.

No spoiler here showing the solved state, since the
challenge is to pack the pieces into the tray

Overview
This is another Goh Pit Khiam classic, following the likes of Retrofit and the IPP33 award winning Dancing Shoes. Puzzlers who have played with Goh's packing puzzles know that they are always in for a surprise since Goh's packing puzzles are anything but the typical.

The object is to pack the 5 pieces (4 which are identical) into the tray. The tray has a clear cover with a square hole the size which is just enough for each of the pieces to go through.

Difficulty Level
IMHO, more than moderately difficult but very tricky. Fusion is by far the most challenging of the three, as compared to Retrofit and Dancing Shoes. It took me a while to figure this one out. For anyone who has not experienced a Goh packing puzzle, he/she may take a really long time to solve Fusion, or not even at all. Again, some thinking outside the box (tray) is necessary here but ultimately, what needs to be done is inside the tray that matters.

Summary

Some folks are good at designing high level burrs while others are good at designing packing puzzles. Fusion is another great design from someone who manages to do both well. 

T4-II (Tea For 2)

Name
T4-II (Tea For 2)

Designer
Mineyuki Uyematsu who has done over 70 designs to-date.

Manufacturer
Mineyuki Uyematsu. Mineyuki sells the T4-II and other puzzles on his website but is currently sold out. The site is in Japanese so Google translate would help.

Type & Classification
3D Packing

Dimensions
7.6cm (Length) x 7.6cm (Width) x 3cm (Height)

Materials & Construction
A combination of several exotic hardwoods; the box frame is made of what looks like Walnut. Cover is frosted acrylic. Very well made and the pieces have nice bevelled edges throughout.

IPP
T4-II is Mineyuki's entry for the 2013 Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition at IPP33 in Tokyo, Japan this year. 

Overview

I first handled this rather nice looking puzzle at IPP33 during the two days judging process of the design entries but didn't get anywhere with it. When it came to the day of the Puzzle Party, Mineyuki had a number of copies for sale and I duly bought one.

T4-II is a 3D packing puzzle and the object is to fit the 4 pieces into the box. Simple it seems when you first look at the 4 identical T-shaped pieces and try to figure out the layout it would take within the box (not hard this latter part). Except that you have to get them through an odd-shaped looking cut-out on the acrylic cover that seals the box. Even this part seems manageable until you discover that always the last piece can't seem to go in.

The cover makes the puzzle tricky and a bit of thinking outside the box (no pun intended) is required here. Not the usual method of trial and error here; which I normally first adopt, but to no avail of course.

I studied the cut-out in greater detail and tried various movements and orientations with the pieces. Suddenly something clicked and I was on my way to packing all 4 pieces in nicely.

Difficulty Level

Challenging but not too difficult. There is one first important step that will lead the solving process and once you discover this step, the rest becomes obvious. Like I mentioned above, you need to depart from the typical approach here.

Summary
For those who like packing puzzles, this is a good one to acquire. Fun and with an unexpected (but rather rewarding) solution.

Dancing Shoes

Name
Dancing Shoes. 

You can probably tell why the puzzle bears this name.

Designer
Goh Pit Khiam. Goh has designed well over sixty puzzles to-date, including the highly sought after (and no longer available) Tenary Burr first made by Brian Young and most recently by Eric Fuller. For some of Goh's other puzzle designs, click here. 

Manufacturer
Tom Lensch. Limited availability as far as I am aware. Priced at US$66/- plus S&H. 

Type & Classification
2D Packing

Dimensions
12.5cm (Length) x 12.5cm (Width) x 1.9cm (Height)

Materials & Construction
The frame is made of Maple while the four individual lighter pieces are made of Tulipwood. The dark piece is Kingwood. Construction, fit and finish is very good. Good size puzzle and handling of the loose pieces is comfortable.

IPP
Dancing Shoes won the Puzzler's Award at IPP33 in Tokyo, Japan this year. This award goes to the design entry that had garnered the most votes from the IPP33 attendees. This was Goh's first puzzle design award but unfortunately he was not present in Tokyo to collect his prize in person.

Overview

I first handled this puzzle at IPP33 during the two days judging process of the design entries. Given I had to go through around sixty puzzle designs, I didn't have the time (nor stamina) to try to solve it. Since Goh and I both live in Singapore, I was pretty sure I would be able to get my hands on a copy from him to play with at some subsequent date.

Just several weeks back, Goh contacted me to ask if I wanted a copy from him as Tom had sent over to him several copies which had just been newly made. Of course I said a resounding yes! 

The object of Dancing Shoes is the fit all five loose pieces flat into the tray. The tray itself is rather unusual in that the four corners have an L-shaped protrusion . At first glance, you might think that you can arrange the five pieces outside the tray to get the correct formation and then try to fit the pieces one at a time into the tray. Well this is what I tried initially only to discover (and I should really have known better) that this is impossible. The pieces won't fit in the way you want them to.

This is a packing puzzle with a twist; you need to think beyond the traditional methods of solving, which obviously will not work here. I am not good with packing puzzles so I grappled with Dancing Shoes for quite a while before finally hitting upon the solution. However I had the benefit of seeing how a couple of Goh's other puzzle designs work so I had an idea to the possible solution for Dancing Shoes. 

Difficulty Level

Challenging enough but not unduly difficult. It's not a puzzle that would frustrate one to wits' end (although it possibly might for some people). Its one of those puzzles that spur you to puzzle on because everything is there in front of you, doesn't seem to look that difficult, yet the solution is somehow rather elusive! 

Summary
Another great puzzle design from a prolific puzzle designer. Good quality too. Well deserving of the IPP33 Puzzlers' Award and definitely a must-have for the collector.or packing puzzle enthusiast. 

The Decoy

Name
The Decoy

Designer
Stewart Coffin (Design #187-A). To-date he has done 258 puzzle designs. For a list of his designs, click here.

Manufacturer
Eric Fuller. Website www.cubicdissection.com. 42 copies were made, each priced at US$59, but all have been sold out.

Type & Classification
3D packing puzzle (with a twist)

Dimensions
9.5 cm (Length) x 9.5 cm (Width) x 2.8 cm (Height)

Materials & Construction
The puzzle comes in a several wood combinations. The box frame is made of Sapele with a laser-cut acrylic transparent top. The bottom is made of either Spalted Wormy Holly or Canarywood. The six loose pieces are either Cocobolo or Ebony. Construction fit and finish is excellent and all the edges well cut. Tolerances between the pieces are tight; in fact a little too tight in the case of my copy. The high humidity in Singapore doesn't help either.


Overview
The Decoy was shipped to me in the solved state. So the object is to first remove all the six irregular-shaped individual pieces up through the similarly irregular-shaped cut-outs in the acrylic cover, and then to re-pack them back into the box frame. Looking at the shapes of the cut-outs on the acrylic cover, it is obvious the pieces can only come out after being orientated in a certain way. This is a packing puzzle with a slight difference here compared to the traditional "open-top" ones. And in some ways similar to The Rattle reviewed earlier in this blog.

Removal of the first three pieces was a cinch. After taking out the first one, it was just a simple matter of sliding the other two into position and removing them through the cut-out on the cover. Then comes the real challenge. So challenging indeed that I was stuck in the same position for a couple of days. Extraction of the 4th to 6th pieces by way of simple (linear) sliding would not do. I experimented with rotations. One piece could be turned in a certain direction while the other two wouldn't budge. I tried all sorts of ways but no avail.

I wondered if the tolerances were too tight so in went the puzzle into my camera dry box overnight. Eric crafts his puzzles at around 55-58% humidity, so I set my dry box to 42% humidity which I thought would do the trick. Alas, even after over 18 hours of de-humidification, there was no still improvement, so I assumed (wrongly here) that perhaps the puzzle was just too difficult for me. In situations like that, normally I would ask for help (after all, is there any point in trying to be a hero and frustrate myself indefinitely?). I emailed Eric and he promptly replied with a solution PDF.

Now here is the clincher...after studying the solution, I discovered that one of the pieces that I tried to rotate but could not, IS actually suppose to rotate....no wonder I was stuck for so many days. The problem was the tolerances were indeed too tight. I emailed Eric again about this and he gave me some information about compression shrinkage; basically it may take a while for wood to expand and then take just as long for the wood to shrink. Here's the excerpt from a post on a woodworking forum Eric had contributed to:-

"I've read several posts lately about wood movement and thought I would post this up in case anyone didn't know about it. It's near and dear to my heart because I work to stupidly tight tolerances when I make my puzzles, and my work gets shipped all over the world (i.e. different climates).

Compression shrinkage occurs when wood tries to expand but is constrained by its surroundings (i.e. locked into a puzzle or a drawer inside a frame). When that happens the wood absorbs moisture but cannot expand. The cells then take on an oval shape, and when the wood dries, it is permanently smaller then before it tried to expand. So, if you make something a little too tight when it's dry and you find it has locked up in humid weather, best thing to do is store it somewhere for a few dry/humid cycles. It might surprise you by working itself out via compression shrinkage!

As far as movement in general, I keep a close eye on humidity in my shop and adjust my work accordingly. If it's super humid I'll make the puzzle as tight as possible while still being assembled. If it's dry I'll make sure key joints or places where pieces will interact have a few extra thousandths to move around. I recommend putting a decent hygrometer in your shop and getting into the habit of checking it if you do any precision work. I bought mine at a cigar shop for $20 and calibrated it using a zip-loc bag and some damp salt in a soda pop cap."

In went the The Decoy into my camera dry box for a second time but this round, I kept it inside for a full week. Yes, when the seven days were up, compression shrinkage had taken place; this time when I tried to solve it, all the pieces slid and rotated smoothly and I got every piece out of the box.

Difficulty Rating
Tough! As quoted from Eric's site, Stewart Coffin says:

"The Decoy (#187-A) is by far the most difficult and my favourite. It is the only one that requires a slightly loose tray or rounding of corners to solve."

However, it is not so unduly difficult that you can't repeat solving it. As I mentioned above the first three pieces come out quite easily, its the next three that will pose the challenge. But you will only be working with three pieces. With some practice, the moves can be memorised and you will be familiar with the sequence after a while.

Summary

The Decoy starts off easy and gives you the impression that you are doing well. But along the way, the trickiness comes into play and here's where the difficulty begins. That's why its called the "Decoy". If you like packing puzzles (with a twist), this one is a real gem!

Conjuring Conundrum

Name
Conjuring Conundrum

Designers
Allard Walker and Louis Coolen. Allard runs his own puzzle blog Puzzling Times.

Manufacturer
Allard Walker and Louis Coolen. Available now only from Wil Strijbos for 48 Euros. Please PM me via my blog profile email if you do not have Wil's contact details.

Type & Classification
Sequential Discovery; 2D Assembly

Dimensions
10cm (length) x 7cm (Width) x 1.8cm (Height)

Materials & Construction
The puzzle is made up of a combination of materials including aluminium, steel, fabric and acrylic. The miniature briefcase (for business cards) is commercially available. The insides are actually very decently "modded" by hand, considering there is a fair amount of cutting and glueing. Comes packaged in a cardboard box with the IPP33 logo and text bearing both designers' names. Accompanied by a sealed solution sheet. For a very interesting account of how Allard and Louis created and produced the Conjuring Conundrum, click here.

IPP
The Conjuring Conundrum was Allard's Exchange Puzzle at IPP33 in Tokyo, Japan just this past August.

The briefcase with all its contents out (well, almost all)

Overview
I met puzzle collector and blogger Allard Walker the first time in person at IPP33 outside the lobby of the hotel where event was held. He looks better in person than the photograph on his blog profile. I had corresponded with Allard from time to time via email over the last couple of years (usually asking him for his opinion on a certain puzzle or for help in solving etc) prior to our meeting. We were both part of a group that took a trip into Tokyo city to look for some Karakuri puzzles. I have never met Louis but from what I have heard, he is a master solver, solving puzzles sometimes in minutes when others may take hours, days or months.

I was an Exchange Assistant (to puzzle collector Diniar Namdarian) at IPP33 and assistants typically only assist and do not get any exchange puzzles. Nonetheless Allard was very kind to give me a copy of his Conjuring Conundrum as a gift (thank you Allard). He told me a story of how Peter Wiltshire had given him (Allard) an exchange puzzle when Allard himself was an exchange assistant, and encouraged me to pass on this tradition when I myself one day become a puzzle exchanger, which hopefully will be soon.

The Conjuring Conundrum is actually two puzzles in one. The first puzzle is to open the briefcase. Step one is very easy...just undo the latches like any other normal briefcase as you would. Then the tough part comes. The lid of the case can only open a little bit enough for you to take a peek inside. There are things inside that look rather confusing and messy.

This is a sequential discovery puzzle so Allard and Louis have provided certain "tools" for use in opening the case. I fiddled with the case and studied whatever I could see inside. I was surprise to find myself quite quick to figure the way to opening the case lid. Very good use of the tools provided and clever execution of the mechanism I might add. Actually just opening the lid of the briefcase itself would already have made a pretty good puzzle, but Allard and Louis went further...

Having opened up the case, I found a fabric cloth bag containing a number of irregular shaped pieces of white acrylic. A little instruction card came with it; the object (of this second puzzle) is to form a shape of some sort using the pieces provided, on the back cover of the briefcase as a working surface. ie 2D assembly.

While Allard later told me that opening the brief case was the hard part, I have to disagree. Arranging the acrylic pieces to form the intended shape was to me the more difficult of the two. In fact so difficult for me that I had to ask Allard for help.

I got nowhere with his initial clues and after a long time trying, my patience ran out and I checked the solution. The solution was just as cryptic as Allard's clues and again I emailed Allard for help. Finally he gave me the intended position of two of the pieces and I was on my way again. After some more pushing the pieces around, I eventually solved the second puzzle and got the shape required, well more or less at least, although not fully complete...whew! I am glad that I was not the only one who had problems with the second puzzle. Apparently puzzle blogger Kevin Sadler was also stumped by the pieces in the bag.

Update 1 Nov 2013 - I was encouraged by Allard and Louis to try to (fully) complete the 2D assembly (packing) puzzle so I took it out of my puzzle cabinet to have another go at it...discovered the final solution after 10mins. All the time it was actually there "staring" at me in the face! Really unexpected trick...unusual twist for a 2D packing puzzle!!

Difficulty Level
Overall a difficult puzzle in my opinion, both the first and second parts, especially for those who have not much experience with sequential discovery type puzzles. Personally I found the second challenge far more difficult than the first, maybe because I am much better at sequential discovery puzzles as opposed to packing ones which I am crap at.

Summary
Great puzzle and certainly good value for money since you are getting two puzzles in one. For a sequential discovery puzzle, a rather unique and very clever trick incorporated within. And something for those who also happen to like packing puzzles.

Heptagon 48

The Heptagon 48 is one of the most beautifully made puzzles I have come across. The marble (yes marble!) version of this tray packing puzzle was Japanese designer Koshi Arai's competition entry at the IPP 32 Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition held in Washington, USA this August. It was also one of three entries that won a Jury Honourable Mention at the competition.

When I first saw the marble Heptagon 48, I immediately contact Koshi-san for price and availability but the quoted price was a bit too high for me so I decided to settle for his wooden (less expensive) version instead. And I have no regrets buying the latter.

And now to the scientific bits. A heptagon is a polygon with seven sides. Together four heptagons can be joined together at the edges to form a "tetrahept", which in turn become the individual packing pieces of this puzzle. 12 "tetrahepts" consisting of six different designs (making a total of 48 heptagons) make up the pieces required to fill the tray. If you are confused like I am about all this technical stuff, check out Koshi-san's website where he has loads more information about his puzzle and Heptagons.

This puzzle is made of two different woods. Both the individual pieces and tray are made of dark rosewood for the top surfaces and light coloured birdseye maple for the bottom. The tray measures about 17cm x 13cm x 2cm. Quality of construction is excellent with incredible finishing. All the individual pieces have been (laser?) cut to very tight tolerances and fit just nicely with each other into the tray. This puzzle even comes in a nice beige gift box.

The object of the puzzle of course is to fit the 12 tetrahepts into the tray with all the pieces dark side up. The puzzle comes to you partially solved with 2 tetrahepts wrong side up (ie light pieces facing up). The tetrahepts do not cover the entire tray, even when correctly packed in, but will leave "pentagonal" spaces in between, which is intended.

According to Koshi-san, there are an unknown possible number of solutions, of which he has discovered 57 to-date; all with a combination of dark and light pieces facing up but only two that have all pieces dark (correct) side up. So far all my attempts have yielded only one solution; ie one remaining piece that can only be inserted but wrong side up. I only managed to solve the puzzle properly when Koshi-san sent me his 57 solutions in PDF.

The Heptagon 48 is very challenging.  There are no straight edges; all the 4 sides of the parallelogram-shaped tray cavity are "jagged" to fit the tetrahepts. You have to grapple with pieces that not only look geometrically similar, but work with the same dark coloured woods for both the pieces and tray, which provide no contrasting reference points to aid in solving. And because the pieces fit so well and closely together, inserting and removing the pieces from the tray is not an easy task either, which makes it all the more difficult.

If you are into tray packing puzzles and want serious quality, well, the Heptagon 48 definitely should not be missed. It is available directly from Koshi Arai via email.

Pack-Man

This very colourful tray packing puzzle comes courtesy of Chris Enright, who entered it as an entrant for the IPP32 Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition held in Washington just this August. This is Chris' second competition entry, his first being the Polarity Puzzle in 2009 at IPP29.

If you did not already know (especially readers who are of the Gen X and Gen Y age group), "Pack-Man" is a play on the word Pac-Man, a computer game that came out in 1980 and one of the most famous (and iconic) arcade games of all time.

True to its namesake, the Pack-Man puzzle consist of four similar looking odd-shaped pieces (the "enemies") and the fifth piece, Pac-Man which looks like a circle with a quarter portion cut away.  Chris has even kept to the original colours of the arcade game; the four similar looking pieces are red, pink, blue and orange and Pac-Man yellow. For a history lesson on the Pac-Man game which started the video gaming revolution, click here.

This tray packing puzzle measures about 11cm x 9cm. All five pieces are made of laser cut acrylic and the tray ABS plastic. Quality and finish of the puzzle is very good and the tray is even slightly textured for better grip.

The object of course is to fit all five pieces flat and flush within the tray. While all the pieces may look cute and colourful and the puzzle seemingly simple looking, don't let this fool you for one moment. It is actually harder than one might think....very hard in fact...at least for me, especially since I don't have much experience with tray packing puzzles.

I spent two evenings trying all sorts of configurations to fit the pieces into the tray but with little success. Always the fifth piece would jut out of the tray so slightly! The way the pieces are shaped and the curved corners of the tray kept throwing me off tangent over and over again...I was just not seeing it right. Finally, I gave in and emailed Chris for some clues. I felt some consolation when Chris replied that a very experienced puzzler had also emailed him for help. I wonder who might this person be?

Even with the help of his clues, I only managed to finally solve it after another hour or so. A lot of effort was put in to design and shape the pieces the way they are so that there is only one solution. Compared to packing pieces that are straight-edged, irregular shaped pieces I think are much harder to figure out.

A nice, well-made and very challenging puzzle indeed. The Pack-Man is available from Chris directly via his email.

Four To Square

The Four To Square is a 4-piece 2D packing puzzle designed and made by Jacques Haubrich. This puzzle was entered into the 2011 IPP Competition in Berlin. Made of stainless steel, the puzzle is 73mm square in size. Overall quality and construction is very good and the 4 irregular shaped pieces are of a slightly different colour tone from the tray giving the puzzle a nice contrast. The object is to pack the 4 pieces flat into the tray.

While it might look deceptively simple with just 4 pieces, which is what I had (wrongly) thought initially, the puzzle is actually much harder than it appears. I actually spent quite a bit of time on this puzzle over a number of days, yet I just could not fit in the last piece nicely into the tray. For a while, I even wondered if Jacques had sent me the wrong pieces as he was packing his puzzle off to me or the pieces of my copy were not cut that precisely! Well, thankfully it was neither. Truth be told, after much trying and not getting anywhere with this, I emailed Jacques for a clue. He was kind enough to send me a drawing with one of the pieces in the right position within the tray. Even with his clue, I still took a bit of time to finally get the remaining 3 pieces nicely inside the tray. I was just not thinking out of the tray (or box) and trying to fit the pieces from just one angle!

Overall, a nice little (no pun intended) challenging packing puzzle.

Tresor

This mini safe box puzzle came from Geduldspiele's site under his Exchange section. Tresor means "treasure" and I guess the name is quite suitable for this puzzle. I had first seen the Tresor reviewed on Jeff's blog and decided it was too unusual to miss owning one. Designed by Clause Fohlmeister and made in Germany of quite sturdy plastic, the safe measures 4 3/4in(H) x 3 1/2in(W) x 2 3/4in(D).

Externally, it looks like the miniature of a typical safe with a red coloured combination dial, a keyhole and a four-spoked turn-wheel contrasted against the white colour of the box. At the back there is a slit, presumably for depositing coins for saving. A plastic colour matching red key also comes with the puzzle. The objective of the puzzle is to open the safe door.

For the first couple of minutes, I was fiddling around with the combination dial and turn-wheel and also twisting the key to see if these could get  the door open. Nothing seemed to work at first. I must admit that when I did finally open the safe door, it was really by pure chance. The locking mechanism of the door is quite clever and I would probably have taken much longer to figure out the solution if not for my stroke of luck.

I thought the Tresor was fun, no matter that I found the solution by chance. Besides being a puzzle, it also serves the very useful function of a piggy bank. Will probably pass it on to my son when he is old enough to learn the importance of saving.

4Ts

This diminutive puzzle, according to the seller who sold it to me (identity withheld by request) was designed by Jean-Claude Constantine.

It is a tiny packing puzzle comprising of a wooden box frame measuring 1 7/8in x 1 7/8in x 7/8in into which 4 aluminium Ts are to be placed inside. I have been told that the wood used here by Jean-Claude is Wenge (thanks to Geduldspiele for highlighting this to me). The base appears to be 1/8in plywood.  The 4Ts is pretty well constructed with good fit and finish. The aluminium Ts are also well cut without any rough edges.

With 1 of the 4 Ts inserted here...

The goal is to place the 4 Ts back into the box so that everything fits in nicely together with nothing sticking outwards and all 4 Ts are flush with the top of the box. It may look simple at first but it took me a bit of trial and error and re-arrangement here and there before I slotted in the last T nicely. I have deliberately not shown a photo of the puzzle in the solved state since this is a sure giveaway of the solution.

Digigrams

Digigrams is designed by Martin Watson and made by Eric Fuller. This puzzle came from CubicDissection and as of the time of this writing, there are still 4 copies of the puzzle left. This puzzle measures 3 1/2in x 3in x 1/2in and is made of walnut for the frame, grandillo for the base (tray) and for the numerical digits, acrylic. Quality of construction, fit and finish is excellent. While not obvious, the edges of the frame are also very slightly beveled, adding to the attention to detail. The acrylic digits are very neat and precisely cut and they fit just nicely into the box frame.

This is a packing puzzle and instead of the usual blocks or other odd shapes, the pieces are actually digits (hence the name Digigrams) numbering from 1 to 9 plus a 0. The object is to fit all 10 digits into the frame. The font of the digits are similar to those found on LCD digital watches.

This is my first packing puzzle and I had a quite a bit of difficulty with it. Every time, just when I thought I had got all the 10 digits in, there would invariably be one piece that cannot fit in the last remaining space and I would have to re-arrange all the digits again. The difficulty of the puzzle also lies in the fact that not every digit is to be placed in either the vertical or horizontal orientation, but rather a mixture of the two. This is compounded by the requirement that the digits (the way they have been cut) need to be placed face up properly, otherwise adjacent pieces may not be able to fit as intended. Visually, I feel the laser cut acrylic digits also make the puzzle much harder to solve.

After quite a while I gave up and decided to look for a solution. Unfortunately none came with the puzzle. But I remembered seeing photos of the all-wood version on Steve Strickland's puzzle site (WARNING - don't click on the link if you do not wish to see the solution....just yet) where the digits were crafted out of 3 different types of wood. With the aid of these photos, I had no problem packing the digits into the frame. I committed the position of the digits to memory and after several practice runs, had no problem solving the puzzle repeatedly and quickly.

Overall, a nice pocketable puzzle of just the right kind of size for you to take anywhere. For the price and quality, Digigram is also pretty good value for money.