Popplock T2

Now here is a puzzle that I imagine many of you are already familiar with. This is a puzzle lock going by the name of the Popplock T2, which is made by a man called Rainer Popp in Germany:

And I think it's a great looking puzzle. Also, if brass isn't your kind of thing it is also available in stainless steel, but do expect to really have to search for one of those as only 100 were ever made.

Now this thing is solid...and I mean solid. Let's just say that you really, really wouldn't want to drop the T2 on your foot. It is machined from solid brass and the shackle is stainless steel. The only quality issue I have is with the key shown in my picture. As the key is cast in softer metal rather than machined from steel I managed to break one of the teeth off. This was even more traumatic because this T2 was actually on loan to me. Luckily Rainer Popp is pretty easy to get into contact with and he was able to send me a replacement key which was off of the stainless steel run of puzzles which is of much better quality.

The Popplock T2 is 'simply' a padlock which comes with a key. Although (as always) things are hardly ever as simple as they seem. I found it hard to gauge how many steps were required to open it in total, but according to Rainer Popp it takes six steps to solve. I found myself going backwards quite a few times when trying to solve this one.

It took me approximately 3 hours or so to solve this puzzle, and it is a puzzle that I would definitely recommend, especially if you like your puzzle locks. But keep in mind that the Popplock series is not cheap, so you may want to do some hunting around before jumping in to buy one.

Like I said, this lock was lent to me, and it seems to be out of stock in quite a few places. But two sites that have sold them in the past and may do again are: Puzzle Master and Grand Illusions.

Also: Read my review of the Popplock T3 and My review of the Popplock T4.