Deal of the Week (Spring has finally arrived to Finland): This week is special, as the Deal of the Week will extend until the end of the month, May 31, as part of the "Spring has finally arrived to Finland" discount. Also, instead of the usual 15% discount, you can get a 20% discount on All Cast Puzzles from Sloyd. In addition, if you include in your order the limited edition Hanayama Wooden Box, you also get 20% off on its base price. The wooden box can store three boxed Cast Puzzles or several unboxed. The quality of the box is superb, with a magnet lock, and measuring 25.5 x 14.2 x 6.9cm (10" x 5.6" x 2.7"). To be able to take advantage of this deal, you just need to mention the name of my blog when you place your order.

Some of the best Hanayama Cast Puzzles have this fascinating characteristic of looking more like pieces of art than actual puzzles, and the Cast Harmony by Dmitry Pevnitskiy and Kirill Grebnev is certainly one of them. The Puzzlers' Award and Jury First Prize at the 2010 IPP Design Competition is also a good indicator of the Russian designers' excellence.

The Cast Harmony, here as a double meaning for the musical reference of the pieces' shapes and also for the beautiful harmony between the two pieces. Represented are the G clef and the eighth note. Your task is to simply separate both pieces and then return them to their original position. This is not a hard thing to do, but the solution is quite elegant.

Just like most Cast Puzzles, the two pieces are coated with contrasting finishes, silver and gold. The Harmony is rated as a level 2/6, but even that seems too much, because I solved it within half a minute. I would've been quite disappointed if this wasn't a Cast Puzzle, but to be honest I didn't. With this design there wasn't much the designers could do to make it harder.

The solution, of course, is very straightforward. The only part that seems slightly challenging is the spiral, which is where the note should pass in order to be freed. I hope I'm not giving too much away, but I believe anyone can figure out how to solve it just by looking at it. Curiously enough, even though it's a very easy puzzle, I find myself solving it all the time. It's such a beautiful puzzle and with a fitting solution, you feel the need to solve it "just one more time".

Closing Comments:

The Cast Harmony is easily one of my favorites from Hanayama now. I don't mind that it's easy to solve, at all. You don't need a tough challenge to enjoy a puzzle, as long as it is well designed and well built. Hanayama can launch all the easy puzzles they want, I will always be proud to add them to my collection. This is a must-have for any collector.

Availability: You can get the Cast Harmony from Sloyd, in Finland. Worldwide shipping available. Until May 31 you can take advantage of a 20% discount on all Cast Puzzles. To do that, just mention the name of my blog when you place your order at Sloyd's.

I found the Rubik’s 360 quite frustrating to attempt to solve it a second time. It’s fun at first, but the fun is quickly replaced by frustration. The one thing that patient players get is a great rewarding feeling when they finally solve it. You really feel like you accomplished something challenging. So, is it worth your time and money? – If you like a serious challenge, absolutely!

Availability: You can buy the Rubik's 360 at the Spanish puzzle store PuzzlesdeIngenio.com.

Floor is another unique Packing Puzzle from Jean Claude Constantin. This unusual mosaic is reminiscent of a honeycomb pattern, albeit having pentagons instead of hexagons. The puzzle itself looks like it consists of 19 pieces, but in reality only the inner 7 pieces are removable.

The puzzle is made of three layers of what appears to be plywood. The top of the pieces are very well polished and feel smooth to the touch. Size-wise it's a small puzzle, measuring only 12 x 10.5cm (4.7" x 4.1").

The pieces of the Floor puzzle are also very unusual. Each piece has two layers: the first layer is a simple pentagon, but the second layer is a combination of three spikes, with each piece displaying a distinct arrangement. When solved, the triangular spaces you see between the pentagons should be occupied by these spikes. No empty spaces shall be seen, otherwise the puzzle remains unsolved.

The floor puzzle is deceptively easy. At first sight, it looks quite intimidating, given the strange appearance of the pieces, when in fact it's solvable within 10 minutes or so. It's rated as a level 7/10 by PuzzleMaster, and I have to agree. It's not very challenging. When you place the first piece in the tray, just make sure its spikes cover the empty spaces shared by the frame. From there on, I just placed the remaining pieces, always keeping in mind not to leave empty spaces. I was able to solve it without removing any piece previously packed. I'm not sure if the puzzle has multiple solutions, but seeing how easy it is to solve, I reckon it's safe to assume it should have at least a couple more of them.

Closing Comments:

The Floor puzzle is a nice puzzle to have around. It's not very demanding, but its design is quite intriguing. You can try to solve it more than once as well, because it's a little hard to remember the exact arrangement of the pieces in the tray.

Availability: You can buy the Floor puzzle at PuzzleMaster for about $20 CAD. Take a look here to browse other puzzles from Jean Claude Constantin.

Links:

Jean Claude Constantin - Official Website

Jean Claude Constantin at Puzzle Place

Ever dreamed of building brick walls? - Me neither, but ThinkFun's Brick by Brick promises to make that task quite fun indeed. First introduced in 1990, when ThinkFun was known as Binary Arts, this game was relaunched in 2007 along with other classics.

The puzzle is comprised of only five different pieces, but the possibilities are endless. Included with the game are 60 challenge cards, each with a different symmetrical shape you must assemble from the five pieces. The game was likely inspired by another classic, the Tangran, where you also had to build shapes using the same seven pieces.

The design of the puzzle is as simple as you can get, but true to its name. The pieces are made from plastic with a deep red tone, closely resembling the actual color of bricks. This is basically a 2D puzzle, but you can try to solve the challenges in a vertical position, as if you were building a real brick wall.

I love puzzles like these, not just ThinkFun's but from other brands as well, like Popular Playthings or Smart Games. The main reason is because you get to play with them much longer than any other regular puzzle. They always include dozens of challenges, which depending on your free time, can take quite a while to tackle them all. Some of the puzzles, however, even with lots of challenges and different levels of difficulty, are still pretty easy for the more experienced puzzler. My opinion, though, even if they're easy to solve, is that they're always extremely fun to play with, and that's what really matters.

Brick by Brick, like it or not, falls into the category of those easy puzzles. Unlike others in the ThinkFun range, the included 60 challenges aren't divided into difficulty levels. From my experience, this meant that trying to solve one of the later challenges wasn't harder than the first ones. They're just different shapes, and once you get the hang of it, doesn't matter which one you end up choosing to solve, because they're pretty much the same level. You can find the solution to each puzzle on the back of its corresponding card, but I reckon you won't be needing them that often.

I didn't solve all the challenges yet, but the ones I've solved (about a third) were mixed, some earlier ones along with later ones as well. The average solving time for each challenge was about a minute, others even less. For someone reading, one might think that it's not even fun solving these easy challenges and not having your skills put to the test, but I really think that if you like puzzles it doesn't matter if they're easy or hard, as long as you're having fun...

Closing Comments:

Brick by Brick may not be your ultimate challenge, but I guarantee you, no matter how skilled you are at solving puzzles, you'll most certainly have a good time with it. The 60 challenges will sure keep you busy for a while.

Availability: You can find the Brick by Brick game at Sloyd.fi for about €18. Other similar games are also available, such as the Block by Block, Shape by Shape or the Square by Square.

Burr Box is a deceiving name for an Assembly puzzle. When you think of the word Burr, you immediately think of Interlocking puzzles. However, the concept is quite interesting, although not entirely original, since I've seen a few similar designs.

The Burr Box reminded me of Brian Young's Insoma, a 2-in-1 puzzle. The puzzle is presented as a closed box, and at first sight it doesn't let you see very much. It's only when you first try to open it that you are surprised with a Soma-like puzzle inside. Each of the six faces of the cube have pieces attached to them that form a solid cube when assembled. The goal is to take it apart and try to put it back together.

I don't have much information about its designer, unfortunately. This comes from Brilliant Puzzles and it's actually very well built. The wood is polished and the edges of the cube's faces are beautifully crafted. The size is just right to maneuver it in your hands, measuring 8 x 8cm (3.1" x 3.1").

This actually looks more intimidating than it actually is. Taking it apart is very easy, since it practically falls apart when you pick it up. You need to be careful not to accidentally take it apart when you don't want to. The real challenge comes when you try to put it together, but even this won't be that much more challenging than solving an actual Soma Cube or one of its closest counterparts. It's rated as a level 4/5, but to me it's more like a 3.5/5. The assembly might be a little tricky sometimes, because it's harder to see the empty spaces with the bulky cube's faces in the way, as you try to solve it. When fully solved, the inner cube can't have empty spaces.

Closing Comments:

The Burr Box is very pleasant to play with. The added complexity to a known puzzle type feels refreshing and rewarding to solve. Because of the puzzle's nature I reckon it might have only one solution, but don't take it as a fact, it could have a couple more that I'm unaware of. Either way, I can easily recommend it to anyone with a keen mind for puzzles.

Availability: You can get a copy of the Burr Box at Brilliant Puzzles for about $13 USD.

2D Packing Puzzles allow for some of the most creative works in puzzle design. This type of puzzles is so versatile that you can do almost anything you can imagine. A great example of such creative design is Martin Watson's Digigrams (also called Count on Me!).

Digigrams is comprised of 10 pieces representing the numbers in digital form from 0 thru 9. The goal is simple: just pack them into the provided tray. The solution is neatly packed to make the most out of the available space, due to the unusual shape of the pieces.

The puzzle is manufactured by Creative Crafthouse, and as you can read from some of my past reviews on their puzzles, their craftsmanship is superb. The hardwood they use is very high quality, and in this case there are two tones, light and dark. The size is satisfactory, with measurements of 14 x 12 x 2.5 (5.5" x 4.7" x 1"). Comes in the classic base and cover design.

The Digigrams is not an easy puzzle. It's actually quite challenging, although it never reaches frustrating levels like the Calibron 12, for example. Be warned, though, as the puzzle comes in its solved state. If you don't want to spoil your experience, open the box facing down.

It's very easy to "almost" solve the puzzle, since you can get the first five or six pieces pretty easily inside the tray. However, there's always some pieces that refuse to be packed. At first, it's hard to see how the pieces should be placed next to each other, but you'll soon understand how they interact - That's only a small part of solving the puzzle, because the hard part is discovering the actual solution. Just before when I was ready to be done for the day, I was able to finally solve it. It had taken me approximately an hour and a half to do it.

Solution: If you need help with the solution, you can see it solved here.

Closing Comments:

Packing Puzzles are easily among my favorite type of puzzles. The Digigrams is very close to the limit of what can be considered an extremely hard puzzle. PuzzleMaster rates it as a level 9/10, which is exactly what I think about its difficulty. The quality is remarkable, so if you're looking for a good challenge, this one is a perfect fit.

Availability: You can find the Digigrams (Count on Me!) at PuzzleMaster for about 20 CAD. For other puzzles in the Creative Crafthouse range check out their dedicated page.

This brilliant design from Jean Claude Constantin, Die Welle, which can be translated as The Wave, is a fascinating puzzle from the long family of n-ary puzzles (sequential movement). Goetz Schwandtner has a whole page dedicated to this type of puzzles, as well as a comprehensive analysis of them in a downloadable .pdf. Definitely worth taking a look.

Die Welle, which falls into the category of quinary puzzles (5-ary), has something about its design that makes it very original and totally different from its counterparts. Instead of the usual straight paths with 90º turns you have three wavy paths with curved turns. The principle is the same, but the execution and solving process provides a somewhat different experience.

While the straight path puzzles have you moving the balls sequentially back and forth on a stationary frame (not all of them, but the majority), it's the complete opposite with the Die Welle. The frame moves up and down to make the balls move from one end of the puzzle to the other. The goal is to take out all three balls at the same time. This is not as simple as it sounds. At first sight, the three waves appear to have the same lengths, when in reality the path traversed by the balls is longer at the bottom wave than the top one. When you're done, try to solve it backwards by returning the balls to their original positions.

The design of the puzzle is very attractive, artistic in a way. The wavy pattern adds an elegance to it. The frame is covered by an acrylic sheet with the rest being three layers of plywood. I was pleasantly surprise by its size as well. It's rather big for this kind of puzzles, with measurements of 17 x 14 x 1.6cm (6.7" x 5.5" x 0.6").

Regarding difficulty, it depends very much if you've previously solved any n-ary puzzles. I have solved a few of them before and didn't have much trouble solving this one. I reckon it took me about 10 minutes to solve it the first time, and a little less to put it back in its original state. Once you understand the sequence of the first steps, which require you to go back and forth with the first two balls to make the last one move forward, you just need to keep at it until you get all three on the other side. I should point out that the movement of the wooden frame is not very smooth, it jammed quite a bit. I got the hang of it after a while, but it's still a bit annoying.

Closing Comments:

Die Welle, despite having a so-so movement, is a fantastic puzzle. The challenge, compared to others in the n-ary family, is very accessible and even beginners won't have a very hard time with it. Its strongest selling point is definitely the design, which is gorgeous and a must-have in any collection.

Availability: You can buy the Die Welle (The Wave) at Sloyd.fi for about €22.

Links:

Jean Claude Constantin - Official Website

Jean Claude Constantin at Puzzle Place

(Click to Enlarge)

The 2 Loops is actually a Packing Puzzle with six pieces. Simply remove the pieces from the tray and pack them up again. It's deceptively easy, considering the complexity of the two shapes. The puzzle is made from two contrasting wood tones, which gives an impression that only the lighter parts can be removed and the others are part of the frame.

This is a relatively small puzzle, measuring only 14.2 x 8cm (5.6" x 3.2"). For a puzzle in the $15 price range, its quality is superb. The top of the frame is polished and the loops fit perfectly inside the tray. I was really surprised by how springy the pieces are once you remove them from the tray. It has quite a remarkable design.

Before attempting to solve the 2 Loops I was a bit intimidated to remove the pieces, because this was classified as a level 8/10. I was counting on spending some time wondering how to solve it, but as it turns out, it wasn't even remotely challenging. What a disappointment... After solving it twice, to make sure it wasn't just plain luck, I couldn't think of any reason why this was rated as a level 8. When you remove the pieces, you're still left with the outline of the loops to help you place the pieces more easily. It can't get easier than this. Honestly, I don't think it even deserves a 5, because when you remove the pieces you immediately figure out where each one goes... And yes, I mix them well before solving. If you happen to own one, please let me know what you think of its difficulty. I'm curious to know other opinions.

Closing Comments:

Overall, I don't consider the 2 Loops a bad puzzle. The reason is because I don't think it should even be called a puzzle. The concept is visually captivating and I loved it, but it's nothing more than a decorative object. I would recommend this one only for collectors. If you you're looking for a challenge, find something else.

Availability: You can get a copy of the 2 Loops at PuzzleMaster for $15 CAD.

Links:

Jean Claude Constantin - Official Website

Jean Claude Constantin at Puzzle Place

The Planets puzzle by Oskar is a highly original concept that shouldn’t be missed. If you like a good challenge, this is just right for you. On the other hand, if you’re easily frustrated by hard puzzles, you’ve been warned…

Availability: You can buy Oskar's Planets at PuzzlesdeIngenio.com.

Links:

Video Demonstration

Tilt is yet another gem just like Rush Hour - Addictive and extremely fun to play with. This logic puzzle game was invented by Vesa Timonen and Timo Jokitalo, and it's manufactured by ThinkFun since 2010.

The game is brilliantly designed to provide a wonderful experience, like no virtual game can ever achieve. I remember playing something on the computer long ago, with a similar concept, but can't remember its name. What I can say, though, is that I enjoy much more a hands-on approach.

Tilt consists of a square grid with a round base. You tilt the board in the four basic directions so the green sliders can drop through the center hole. To make things a bit more complex, you have to worry about the blue sliders and not let them drop in the center hole as well. Square blockers are placed around the grid to get different outcomes. Included in the game are 40 challenge cards with four levels of difficulty.

Setting the game to play is very easy: You choose any of the challenge cards (if you're an experienced puzzler, I recommend skipping to the harder levels), and place the corresponding sliders and blockers in place. After solving a challenge remove the sliders from the bottom of the grid and set another one.

There's another thing you need to keep in mind when playing: with each move the sliders need to go from one side of the grid to the other. You can't just stop in mid way and change the direction of movement. You'll get used to the play mechanics if you start by the easier levels.

The game isn't that hard, actually, even on harder levels. As you progress through the challenges you start seeing more sliders and blockers being used. The number of possible moves also rises, but by that time you're already acquainted with the game's mechanics, and you should solve each level within a few minutes or less. If you get stuck at a particular level, just reset it and try again. It's better than constantly going back and forth.

Closing Comments:

I absolutely loved Tilt and its ingenious design. My only gripe is that you can breeze through the 40 levels in no time. I would've loved extra challenge cards like they did for Rush Hour. The game is for 1 player only, but since each challenge can be solved rather quickly, it can be easily shared by multiple players taking turns.

Availability: Tilt is available from Sloyd, in Finland, for about €24. As part of the Deal of the Week, you can get this game with a 15% discount just by mentioning the name of my blog when you place your order. Offer available only until May 3.

Rubik’s Mirror Blocks was invented by Hidetoshi Takeji in 2008, also known as Bump Cube. Later that year, the puzzle was licensed to Rubik’s and since then is being mass-produced.

Based on the classic Rubik’s Cube 3x3x3 mechanism, the puzzle is a fascinating variation, which inspired a whole new breed of “Mirror” puzzles, where you solve by shape instead of color.

Although I have been unable to solve it, I love the Crossteaser, and I’m sure solving it would be extremely rewarding. Playing with it is highly satisfying, due to its pleasant mechanism, and the colorful design is very elegant and attractive. I most certainly recommend it, even if you think you won’t be able to solve it.

Availability: You can find the Crossteaser at the Spanish puzzle store PuzzlesdeIngenio.com.

Links:

Video demonstration

In addition to his wide variety of designs, Jean Claude Constantin also makes puzzles of all types and categories. This time, I have one that requires a good amount of dexterity, the Impuls (Inertia). The German word Impuls might be interpreted to English as impulse or momentum, or as the alternate name Inertia. It's a very fitting name, as you'll discover when you try it for yourself.

Impuls, like any other Constantin puzzle, has a very elegant and functional design. This is quite a small puzzle, actually, measuring only 6 x 5 x 5cm (2.4" x 2" x 2"). The materials used are a combination of two contrasting wooden tones and an acrylic window that lets you peer inside. What you'll be seeing, though, will be enough to solve it.

The cube has some sort of inner maze, although it's not your typical maze, which you need to navigate with a small ball bearing and free it. The solution itself has only a couple of moves, however you'll be doing quite a lot of unnecessary ones before you can actually solve it.

This is not a difficult puzzle, even if you're not used to dexterity puzzles. PuzzleMaster rates it as a level 7/10, but I would probably rate it as a level 6. Do you remember the classic game of "Ball in a cup"? The solving process of the Impuls is actually very similar to this concept, even though there's a little more to it than just throwing the ball around. There's no string involved, but I think you get the idea. It only took me a few minutes to solve it. Setting the puzzle again is much easier. You just need to place the ball inside and it'll go through to the other side effortlessly.

Solution: You can download a solution here.

Closing Comments:

While the Impuls is very easy to solve, it can be rather fun to play with. Everyone, non-puzzlers included, should have a great time with it, and it's a puzzle you can always attempt to solve anytime, just to see if you can solve it faster.

Availability: You can buy the Impuls (Inertia) at PuzzleMaster for $19 CAD. You can also browse other designs by Jean Claude Constantin.

Zahnradlaby (a.k.a. Double Gear Maze) by Jean Claude Constantin is a superb puzzle that begs for your attention. Reminiscent of those contraptions from the Leonardo da Vinci era, this striking looking puzzle is just as hard as it looks, and some more.

The Double Gear Maze is a variation of another much simpler Constantin design, the Gear Maze. Besides the obvious differences with the two mazes, the Double Gear Maze actually features smaller labyrinths, with three pathways, whereas the Gear Maze features four pathways. Although I haven't tried the simpler design, I reckon it's safe to assume the Zahnradlaby is much harder to solve.

The puzzle is made from acrylic to cover the mazes and the rest from wood. The mechanism, as expected from a Constantin puzzle, works very well. Occasionally, the balls might get jammed under the top maze, but to avoid that just make sure you tilt the puzzle in the direction of the ball's movement. The size of the puzzle is also pretty good, measuring 20cm in diameter (7.9").

Both gears have two layers with different labyrinths: the bottom one, which is stationary, and the top one, a moving maze which you can rotate back and forth to create a unique path for your ball bearing. By constantly rotating both gears in sync, the goal is to free the two ball bearings at the same time. I see two circle marks in both gears that should be indicating the solved position, but with the gears' positions it's just impossible to get both holes above these marks at the same time... Unless the intention of the designer was to actually solve one at a time.

Since you're solving both mazes simultaneously, you have to take into account that every move you do on one maze has an effect on the other one, and vice-versa. As you'll be constantly hitting dead-ends, you have to figure out where you need to put the ball bearing on one maze so the other ball can proceed. This constant motion of back and forth is quite challenging, because at times you think you're getting closer to the goal with one ball, but the other one requires you to go back. It's a little frustrating, to say the least.

Closing Comments:

I loved the look of the Double Gear Maze. The concept is fantastic and it has the right level of difficulty. I can see why Constantin made these mazes shorter than the Gear Maze, as it would've been a tad too difficult.

Availability: You can find the Double Gear Maze at Sloyd.fi for about €32.

Links:

Jean Claude Constantin - Official Website

Jean Claude Constantin at Puzzle Place

Today, I realized I'm writing the 35th puzzle review from Jean Claude Constantin. That's way more than any other puzzle designer. I still have in my collection several more of his creations that haven't been reviewed yet, which most certainly takes the total number to well over 50. And the sad part is that I don't even have half of his puzzles.

My latest addition is Get Charged, a very original puzzle with a clever hidden mechanism. There are countless puzzles in the hidden mechanism family, and if you're familiar with them this one will be solved in no time, as I've seen this concept in other puzzles.

Get Charged is manufactured by Bits and Pieces, which got me positively surprised. As you may know, from some previous reviews, this company isn't famous for their high quality puzzles, but this one is actually pretty decent. The wood has a gorgeous dark red tone, smooth and unscratched, and considering it uses an actual spark plug, it's in very good condition. The puzzle is relatively small, only 9.7 x 5.7 x 2.5cm (3.8" x 2.2" x 1").

As far as difficulty goes, it really depends if you have solved any hidden mechanism puzzles in the past. If you have, like I did, then you shouldn't take more than five minutes to crack the secret mechanism. If you didn't, then I believe it will be a tough one. PuzzleMaster has rated it as a level 8/10, and for beginners it's just about right. For experienced puzzlers, though, I reckon it's more like a 6, 7/10 at the most.

I don't want to go much into detail about the puzzle's solution, but one thing that I always do with hidden mechanism puzzles is to give them a shake and try to hear loose pieces rattling inside. Not all of them have this type of mechanism, but many do, and this is one of them. You just have to find a way to remove that little metal rod and free the spark plug.

Closing Comments:

Get Charged doesn't offer much in terms of new concepts. I've seen it implemented in other puzzles too. However, the design, as Constantin has accustomed us with his gems, is a superb and original idea. Kudos to Bits and Pieces too, for a well manufactured puzzle for a change.

Availability: You can find the Get Charged at PuzzleMaster for just $15 CAD. For other great Constantin designs, check out their special section.

Links:

Jean Claude Constantin - Official Website

Jean Claude Constantin at Puzzle Place