Some More IPP Puzzles
Here are some more puzzles I picked up at the International Puzzle Party.
Perry McDaniel - Petit Fours
I mentioned Perry McDaniel before in the context of having been the builder and designer of some of the Sandfield puzzles. He is one of the chief employees (official craftsman?) of Incra Precision Tools, so you know that he’s a master craftsman with practically unlimited access to all kinds of specialized woodworking tools. He was there with his son, and these were the items he had for sale. This is a set of four small puzzle boxes (though they were available for purchase individually). I think they were limited to 200 each. They each have a different opening method. They are similar in size and quality to the excellent Karakuri small boxes. Like many of McDaniel’s puzzles, they have a cake theme.
Katsuhiko Okamoto - Floppy Cube
This is a 1×3 Rubik’s cube-style puzzle. Like some of the other Rubik’s style puzzles, I didn’t even realize it was possible to make something like this. It won the first (not Grand) prize in the 2006 IPP design contest. Okamoto has designed other versions of the Rubik’s cube. His innovative designs have won him many IPP design contest awards, including: the Puzzler’s award and Grand prize in the 2009 IPP design contest for the Super Floppy Cube; and the Jury grand prize in the 2007 IPP design contest for the Void Cube. Very well deserved, in my opinion. The Floppy Cube, Void Cube (a Rubik’s cube without any centers!) and the Tower Cube (a 2×2x3 Rubik’s Cube) are available commercially. Check eBay, for instance. The Super Floppy Cube is supposed to be commercially available sometime in 2010.
Andreas Röver - Choreographed Motion
This is a simple take-apart puzzle with 4 pieces. As the designer wrote in his blog:
“The puzzle itself is not very hard, but it is the first puzzle that I am aware of that requires multiple coordinated motion moves. “
A coordinated motion is where more than one piece must be moved simultaneously.
Raketen
The object of this puzzle is to remove the center piece – without using your hands or any tools! It’s a classic design. There is a plastic version called “Lift Off.”
Simon Nightingale - One Block Box Puzzle
The object of this puzzle is to get the center piece to lie flat in the box. It has a similar configuration to his One Piece Packing Puzzle. I had to look up the solution to this puzzle.
Hirokazu Iwasawa - Alcyl
Iwasawa described this as “very simple.” Unfortunately, I got diverted onto a completely incorrect line of thinking, and I had to get the solution from Iwasawa. He won the 2008 Puzzle of the Year (Puzzler’s Award and Grand Prize) with his ODD packing puzzle, and the 2009 Jury First (not Grand) Prize for his Crystalline puzzle. As far as I can tell, most of his puzzles are packing puzzles. He had many on display at his table, but it seemed like they were mostly for sale at a later date.
One problem with buying so many puzzles all at once is that I didn’t have the patience to pace myself. What I should have done is pulled out 1 or 2 puzzles at a time and forced myself to work on them for a month before giving up. As it was, I had all these really nice puzzles around. I definitely gave in too soon.
