Topless Box (Eric Fuller)

I don't usually manage to blog about a puzzle immediately after its release (mostly because I'm just never that quick off the mark), but I enjoyed this one so much I thought I'd write about it while it was still fresh in my mind.

This is the Topless Box, and it is Eric Fuller's latest contribution to the puzzle box genre. Eric's puzzles always sell out pretty fast, so I always consider myself lucky when I get hold of his creations.

This puzzle was created by Eric as part of the huge 'Apothecary' project, which will see contributions from twelve great puzzle craftsmen combined into one puzzle chest of epic proportions. Definitely one for the books!

Just like many of Eric's previous puzzle boxes the Topless Box looks pretty unassuming at first glance. The main body of the box is made from a very nice striped, quarter-sawn sapele which looks incredible under the light, and the two 'lids' are made from quilted maple. The whole box feels really sturdy, and even Eric said that they were designed with longevity in mind. This was great news for me! Some of Eric's puzzles don't deal well with levels of high humidity, so I've always had to keep them locked away in a specially dehumidified box, but this puzzle looks like it'll work well whatever the weather.

The box starts to look much more interesting as soon as a lid is removed. Now you can see a really nice contrast with the lovely orange-red colour of the padauk.

But now you start to see a problem. The 'lid' has been removed and the box is clearly not open. How odd.

Maybe if we try the other 'lid' then that will be the way into the box.

Nope...that doesn't seem to be the way forward either. And now the name of the box starts to make sense.

As Eric says;

"The box has two lids and neither a top nor a bottom. Figuring out how to deal with that conundrum will hopefully get you on your way..."

When I first saw pictures of this box on Eric's site I built a picture in my head of how I expected it to work, and strangely (because it doesn't happen that often) I turned out to be right! Because of this I actually managed to solve it pretty quickly, certainly in under ten minutes, but I definitely wouldn't take this as an indication of how difficult it is. I expect that if I hadn't had conjured up the correct expectation before its arrival then it would've taken me significantly longer to solve.

I've now been lucky enough to have had the chance to solve a good few of Eric's puzzle boxes, and I still haven't found one that I didn't really enjoy. The Topless Box has many of the great qualities that I look for in a good puzzle box: It looks great (inside and out), it has an excellent build quality (which is to be expected from Eric), and above all else it has a fun and reliable solution. Because of all of these this is actually one of my favourites from Eric thus far.

If you ever get the chance to buy one of Eric's puzzle boxes then honestly don't hesitate, I very much doubt you'll be disappointed.

Square Dance (Tom Jolly)

This is another of Tom Jolly's designs that has been made in superb quality by Eric Fuller, and was in his latest batch of puzzles. I didn't think it was much to look at when I first saw the photos, but after playing with it I couldn't have been more wrong.

It looks a little like a packing puzzle, and in a way it is, but once you start playing with it you'll realise pretty quickly that it is much more intricate than what you may first expect.

Eric made the frame either out of Padauk or Bubinga, but in both versions the pieces are made from Holly. This gives a really nice offset between the frame and the pieces. All of the pieces are given a  bevelling on their outer edges as well, which is also a nice touch. The version that you can see here is with the Padauk frame, and only 40 of these puzzles (Padauk and Bubinga) were made for sale, each signed and dated by the manufacturer.

The puzzle starts when you remove the first piece, which is a single block held in place by a pair of magnets. I thought this was a particularly nice touch as the whole thing holds its shape in the solved position very nicely. It also has Eric's signature and date of manufacture written on.

Once the first piece is out the other pieces have to be removed by sliding movements within the frame. Each piece is made up of three layers. The top and bottom layers are perfect squares (as can be seen in the picture), but the middle layer of each piece is what makes this puzzle so interesting. The irregular tabs and slots on each piece make sure that you have to perform linear sliding moves in order to release any further pieces. In fact after popping the first cube out of the frame it will take you another eight moves to release the next one! To make things even more tricky, the frame is not entirely grooved all of the way around on the inner edge, so sometimes pieces may not move as far along as expected.

After a bit of analysis using BurrTools it turns out that this puzzle has two slightly different solutions; one level 30 (1.8.5.3.2.3.3.2.3) and one level 31 (1.8.5.3.4.2.2.3.3). The level is denoted by the total number of moves needed to solve the puzzle, and the number sequences show how many moves each piece requires for it to be removed. The first number is one, because that first cube just pops out from its magnetic catch, then you need to do eight more moves to get the next out, five for the next etc. The second piece comes out in a very clever way as well, not quite how I imagined it would.

Now as far as difficulty goes I would say that Square Dance is more than a little challenging. In fact I would say that it is a lot challenging! As of writing this I am yet to solve it 'properly', and I have given it a good few hours of my time so far. But I am still very much enjoying it and am very much determined to finish it! The design is original enough to hold my interest, and the pieces are not at all boring to mess around with.

This has to be one of my absolute favourite designs by Tom Jolly thus far. I really hope that the collaboration between Tom and Eric continues, because by looking at the puzzles they've been putting out recently they really can't go far wrong.

One Piece Packing Puzzle / Clive Box / Pack It In (Simon Nightingale)

Here is a really unassuming little packing problem standing at only 1.75" tall, designed by English puzzle designer and manufacturer Simon Nightingale. And this particular copy was manufactured in a limited run of 42 copies by Eric Fuller.

It was released by Eric Fuller under the name of the 'One Piece Packing Puzzle', but it has also been called by the names 'Pack It In' and the 'Clive Box'. It was called the 'Clive Box' when it was used by Simon Nightingale as his exchange puzzle for the International Puzzle Party held in London in 1999 (IPP19).

What a brilliant looking puzzle! It looks to be made entirely from exotic wood, but looks (as always) can be extremely deceiving. The object here is glaringly obvious; pack the cube (and yes, it is a perfect cube) into the box that is just the right size to hold it.
When I picked it up for the first time I knew there would be more to it than that, so I wasn't too surprised to find that no matter how I put the cube into it's box it insisted on jumping back out again. From the feel of the resistance I could tell that there were definitely some form of magnetic repulsion going on there, but even after flipping the cube the other way it still refused to be packed into the box!

After about ten minutes or so I managed to get the tricky little blighter to sit still in it's box, but I had to do this a few more times to truly understand why this puzzle was acting in such an unusual way. Now that I have it properly figured out I am really impressed with it! This puzzle implements a very interesting property of magnets that many people are not aware of, as I wasn't until very recently.

It's not a very difficult puzzle, and it does work on a sort of 'trial and error' solving method rather than an entirely logical approach, but it is truly brilliant! I love the fact that you can hand it to someone without saying a word and they will know exactly what has to be achieved. Also the quality of Eric's workmanship on this particular run is once again outstanding. I also recently got to see a copy of Simon's exchange version, and they are very similar in both size and build style to Eric's, so I assume that Eric worked his designs directly off from an original.

Sadly this puzzle is currently not available as Eric made these back in 2008, and like most items that go up on Cubic Dissection they sold out very shortly after release. I was lucky enough to be loaned this particular copy from a generous fellow puzzler that I met during my recent visits to the Camden Puzzle Gatherings. But if a copy ever does come up in the future I definitely won't hesitate to add one to my collection.

Quad Gear

Okay, I know that this isn't exactly a puzzle (again), but I thought it was pretty cool and definitely worth a quick mention.

Here's a curious little toy that Eric Fuller of Cubic Dissection released a batch of a couple of months ago, and then a few more in his latest batch. They must've been quite popular as they seem to be sold out again!

It's called the Quad Gear Toy, and the thing that makes it such a cool item is the fact that even though the gears are all oval shaped and attached on an off-centre axis they still turn simultaneously together with a perfect (and quite hypnotic) motion. When it first arrived I found myself just turning it round and round in my hands for ages in awe at the movement. And I still can't help picking it up whenever I walk past it.

They aren't actually designed my Eric, but they have been precision machined to Eric's very high standards. The gears are black acrylic, the connecting rods are clear acrylic and these are all connected using stainless steel screws. It definitely doesn't feel flimsy, and it's only 3.5 inches across!

Right, I promise to get back to talking about puzzles again now..............probably.

Camden Lock Puzzle Gathering No.100

Back in February I wrote about my first time attending a regular puzzle gathering that takes place on the first Wednesday of every month at the Lockside Lounge in Camden, London (check out my blog post), which is right next to Village Games. I had a great time there, met some really nice people and saw some really awesome puzzles. So when I heard word from Ray & Barbara (owners of Village Games) that the next one coming up on the 7th of September would be their 100th gathering I knew I would have to be there!

I arranged to head over straight after work and meet up with my good puzzle friend Ali outside Village Games so that we could have a little browse through the shop before joining everyone for the puzzle festivities in the Lockside Lounge. I knew that I should take a puzzle with me to share with the group, but I didn't want to take a bag and I was worried about carrying anything delicate in my pocket on the train, so I opted to take one of the Aluminium Burr's from Wil Strijbos as there was no chance of that breaking on the journey.

When I met up with Ali outside Village Games the first thing he did was hand me his new copy of the 4 Steps Visible Lock, which was the Jury Grand Prize winner by Robrecht Louage at this years International Puzzle Party (IPP31) in Berlin. Needless to say I was really happy to be able to get my hands on this puzzle as I just loved the look of it when it came up as one of the IPP entries. I'll write a proper review of that later, but this sort of set the tone for the evening where I would be passed great new puzzles from left, right and centre!

Now here's some photos from the evening. A huge thank you to Laurie for letting me steal his photos as I managed to forget my camera! At least I managed to remember to take a puzzle eh?

I feel a bit bad as there were so many people in attendance that I just didn't get the chance to speak to. Several of them I had met before at the last gathering, but there were many who I knew purely by reputation (mostly good reputations I might add), and had been attending these gathering for many years. As an example I was told that Robert Reid has attended over 90 of the 100 gatherings!

There was plenty of food being handed around during the whole evening, including a couple of really nice cheesecakes home-made by Barbara. Although I have to admit that food took a bit of a back seat to all of the puzzles floating around.

At one point I was handed the Tri Again puzzle to attempt to solve, which I managed to complete after about 10 minutes or so. During that time a guy leaned over and said "I designed that!". And that's how I met Frank Potts! Again I'll talk more about Tri Again in a proper blog review as it was a puzzle I hugely enjoyed. It may even have become one of my new favourite burr puzzles!

Another couple of puzzlers that I had the pleasure of meeting were a couple of 'long-term afflicted' puzzlers; Laurie and Ethel Brokenshire. Laurie also treated several of us to a few close-up magic tricks that I really enjoyed. I can understand why it is said that puzzling and magic are closely related. I may have to learn some magic for myself when I next get the chance.

The next several hours were spent doing lots more chatting and puzzling, during which I tried out several of the exchange puzzles from this year IPP. One of these that I tried very hard to solve was Laurie's exchange called 'Bi-Cycle' which was a interlocking put-together puzzle made by Vinco. Despite my efforts I was not able to solve this puzzle before I left, but as Ali picked up a copy there I'll definitely be giving it another go at some point soon! I don't like being bested by a puzzle.
Another puzzler brought along his copy of the 51 Pound Box designer and made by Eric Fuller, which is beautifully made although not very difficult. I'll try and get some photos of that to write about it too. I really wish that I didn't forget my camera! I won't be making that mistake again.

After a while we all stopped for a quick breather in which Ray was given a very special and (I've been lead to believe) very difficult puzzle box as a thank you for hosting 100 of these little puzzle gatherings. The name of the puzzle eludes me for now, so someone please leave me a comment if you happen to know the name.

All-in-all I had a brilliant time! And if you ever happen to be free for the evening on the first Wednesday of the month then I really recommend you try and get to one of these. You'll get to meet a whole load of people that are nicer and more welcoming than you can possibly imagine. Although it's very hard to find many puzzlers that aren't! I'll definitely be trying to get myself to as many of these future gatherings that I can.

I'll most likely be adding to this blog post as I think of more things that happened that evening that I want to mention. I met so many new people and saw so many new puzzles that I was a bit overwhelmed!