The Amazing Acrobat
This is a pretty cool dexterity puzzle. The object is to balance the acrobat, 3 balls and a block into various positions shown in the illustrated book.
Since this is a mass-market puzzle, it’s cheap and easy to obtain.
I took advantage of the Christmas sale from Bits and Pieces and got a few items.
These included a number of unique, inexpensive boxes:
Bits and Pieces "Mini Book Box"
This box is marketed as being used to house a gift card or money. I was able to open it, but it was sticky and did not open consistently. It has a simpler, different design from their “Original Kamei Book Box”.
Bits and Pieces "Snap Latch Puzzle Box"
This is clever. Obviously, you don’t just undo the latch.
Bits and Pieces "Secret Rectangle Box"
This has the same mechanism as the “magic” box I mentioned in an earlier post
Bits and Pieces "The MatchBox"
This box was a lot of fun.
Bits and Pieces "wine puzzle box"
This is a version of the standard “magic” puzzle box that is large enough to fit a wine bottle into. I tried putting a wine bottle in, but even though it was relatively thin, it made the box difficult to open and close.
Recent Toys "Writer's Block"
This is an interesting puzzle designed by noted puzzle maker Oskar Van Deventer, made by Recent Toys International in the Netherlands, and distributed by Bits and Pieces. It has 7 pens in the frame, all of which start retracted. When they are all down (in the writing position), the frame can open. The pens’ states are changed using a key that can fit into the frame in one of 4 orientations. I found this puzzle relatively easy to solve and restore to its original state just by trying random moves.
Bits and Pieces "Oskar's Blocks"
This is another puzzle designed by Oskar Deventer. It is an easy 3-piece interlocking puzzle.
Bits and Pieces "Infinity Spiral"
This is a large, sturdy version of a classic puzzle.
I often bring new puzzles in to work so my coworkers can take a crack at it. Here are a couple fellow Mechanical Engineers, Blair LeMire (left) and Craig Johnson. They are working on the MatchBox puzzle box and brass cannon, respectively:
Blair and Craig with puzzles
As you can see, I get quite a few of my puzzles from Bits and Pieces. The puzzles (as well as most other items from them) are cheap. Bits and Pieces is often criticized for having poor quality puzzles. Certainly they are lower quality than expensive premium puzzles running about $50 or more. This does not mean that they are falling apart or their function is otherwise compromised.
Bits and Pieces also has a very good return policy. At least they did, before they went out of business sometime in 2008. I was able to return quite a few puzzles with no hassle. I bought the puzzles mentioned in this post after they came back into business, so I’m not totally certain this is still the case.
Many of their puzzles are custom designed for them by notable puzzle designers such as Frank Chambers, Rocky Chiaro, Oskar Van Deventer, and Jean-Claude Constantin. The designers are mentioned on the Bits and Pieces website if this is the case. Since they mass produce these puzzles, they are much cheaper than if the designer made it himself. For example, check out the “Brass Treasure Chest” on Bits and Pieces. It’s $17 (actually, it’s on sale for $13 right now). When designer Rocky Chiaro had versions he made himself for sale, they were $250. Chiaro noted on his site that the puzzle is available from Bits and Pieces, and is well made.
The great thing about having cheap puzzles is that you don’t mind your friends playing with them. If one gets trashed by accident, so what? You lost 15 bucks or so. Contrast that with the $425 limited edition IRMO puzzle box I got from Cubic Dissection. Not many people even get to see that box, which I feel really limits one aspect of its enjoyment.
Here are a few miscellaneous mechanical puzzles
This is DinoTry by William Waite. This was a limited production run, so they are no longer available from Waite. I believe Waite used this puzzle for the International Puzzle Party’s puzzle exchange. To participate in the puzzle exchange, you have to make about 100 copies of your puzzle. In exchange, you get 100 different puzzles back.
The International Puzzle Party is a by-invitation party of puzzle enthusiasts that grew out of house parties held by Jerry Slocum. I believe Slocum has the largest collection of mechanical puzzles in the world. If it’s not the biggest, it’s certainly one of the biggest, with over 30,000 puzzles. By contrast, I have a little over 100 mechanical puzzles. I was fortunate enough to get an invite to this year’s party after submitting my application to Slocum.
The object is to form a dinosaur out of the 4 pieces. The site explained that this was an extremely difficult puzzle requiring lateral thinking. I figured, hey, it’s only 4 pieces, how hard can it be?
The answer, it turns out, is really hard. I emailed Waite my solution attempts. They were both wrong, but he was kind enough to indicate the correct solutions.
This is DemonDino. It’s a similar puzzle, also by William Waite. Again, I was not able to solve it correctly.
This is the one piece packing puzzle. It won the “Puzzler’s Award” (basically, the People’s Choice) at the 2001 International Puzzle Party. It was made for a while by Bits and Pieces. The version I have was made last year by Eric Fuller of Cubic Dissection. The object is to seat the cube inside of the frame, as shown. Magnets prevent it from seating incorrectly. It’s an elegant, but not difficult puzzle.
The above shows a classic puzzle that I found out about in a magic lecture. Alright – the first mention of my two hobbies intersecting (although technically the YOT from my previous post started off as a magic trick)! The lecturer was Mark Wilson, the magician who created magic on TV. I think he was in his mid 80’s when I saw him a year or two ago.
Wilson emphasized performance and entertainment. He and his wife distributed ropes and corks, and taught us all a few rope tricks and this puzzle with 2 corks. The corks are rubber corks with his name printed on them, but the puzzle can be done with anything that has a similar shape, like batteries or tubes of lipstick. The object is to start with the corks in the crotches of the thumbs, as shown above. Then, simultaneously use the thumb and index (or middle) finger to grab the cork of the opposite hand, winding up with the corks and hands separated:
It’s surprisingly hard to figure out. The best puzzle solver in the office, Mike Butler, refused to try this because he had seen it before and failed to figure it out. However, despite the fact that I learned it at a magic lecture, it’s not a magic trick. You can do it exactly as described.
By the way, I grew up in Michigan and did my undergrad at the University of Michigan (class of ‘91). I now live in California!
This is the jumping King Tut from Bits and Pieces. It is similar to the One Piece Packing Puzzle in that the object is to seat the mummy in the cask despite opposing magnets. The solution is different, though.
