All Hail The Queen

This is another of the chess piece puzzles designed by Marcel Gillen and reproduced by Eureka, and it is the counterpart to All Hail The King. This is All Hail The Queen:

And here she is next to her 'other half':

As you can see the styling of the two is pretty much the same and both are made from cast aluminium. I won't go into as much detail as I did in my review of All Hail The King because they are so similar, but I will highlight what I feel is worth mentioning.

The mechanism within the Queen is essentially the same as the King, except where you were able to depress the 'head' of the King into it's main body you can pull the 'head' of the Queen slightly out from the main body. Also the Queen contains a small plastic jewel inside as opposed to a coin. I also would've preferred the 'jewel' to at least be made of glass, I just really don't like plastic.

Even though the mechanism is the same I preferred the way it was implemented in the King as it was easier on the hands to solve. And as I had already solved the King it only took me a couple of minutes to open the Queen.

Like I said in my review of the King, don't buy this expecting it to be a very high quality puzzle because you will be disappointed. Don't get me wrong it looks nice and works okay, it just lacks the quality of a properly machined metal puzzle. It is however definitely a collector's piece, and as such I would still consider it worth buying if you are able to find one. Finding one may be a bit of a problem though.

This puzzle was loaned to me, but it was bought from Sloyd (which is now one of my favourite companies to deal with....they are seriously good). However they are no longer selling them and I am at a loss of where to find one, but puzzle auctions may be your best bet.

If you know of anywhere that sells the Queen please let me know and I'll add it here for the benefit of others.

Also, you may like to read my slightly more in-depth review of All Hail The King here: LINK

The YOT

Now this may not be one of the more expensive puzzles I own, nor is it one of the rarer ones, but it is easily one of my favourites:

This is The YOT, a very simple but very nice looking puzzle made by HI-Q Products INC. in Canada. I added two photos because in this case I thought it was necessary to see both sides of the puzzle.
The YOT is made out of high quality aircraft aluminium that has been nicely polished, and as you can see in the first photo it contains a real US Eisenhower silver dollar. The YOT is also available in 18K gold and containing an antique silver dollar instead, however it does cost......a little more.

There is also a 'sequel' to The YOT, and it is (rather imaginatively) called The YOT II, which I am now quite tempted to get even though I hear that the solution is pretty similar to it's predecessor.

With The YOT the goal is immediately obvious; you have to remove the coin from it's aluminium casing. The coin will rotate freely within the casing, the top section (pictured right) will also turn freely if held by the small knob on the top and the top section can also be depressed very slightly into the main body of the puzzle.

I now have a decent few puzzles in my collection, but I have not found any of them that can grab a person's attention quite like The YOT can. And it doesn't matter if the person in question has never seen a puzzle like this before, they will love it and won't be able to put it down. They will also most likely be begging you for the solution. Even better is the fact that if you are sly enough you can open The YOT right in front of someone and they still won't have a clue as to how you did it.

I found the solution relatively simple and as such solved in within a few minutes, but I reckon this is only because I have had some experience with puzzles before. Others that I have given it to have taken days or even weeks to solve it!

For a mass-produced puzzle the build quality is absolutely perfect. The finish is great and the mechanism will work without fail every single time. And considering how good it is the price isn't too bad either.

I bought my YOT from eBay, but they can also be bought from several other places. Puzzle Master are currently selling both the YOT and the YOT II.

And for those who are interested, here is a picture of the YOT sitting beside the YOT II, you'll notice that the YOT II is slightly thicker in comparison:

Also read Brian's review of The YOT here: LINK

Popplock T3

Here is another great puzzle lock from the Popplock series made by the German designer Rainer Popp:

This is the Popplock T3, essentially meaning that it is the third in this series of puzzle locks. However it should be mentioned that the Popplock T1 is not actually for sale, and as such there are currently (at the time of writing) four different puzzle types, and if you have read my previous post you will already know that there are two versions of the Popplock T2.

Just like the T2, the T3 is machined from solid brass and the shackle is made from stainless steel, so once again there is a really nice weight to it and a great sense of quality. The circle in the centre of the lock can rotate freely both to the left and the right, and it can also be depressed just less than a centimetre into the lock and out the other side. There is a little bit of movement in the shackle, but it really is very little. And one of the first things you will notice is that the shackle runs all of the way through the body of the lock and out through the bottom which I think is a great bit of design, it looks really unique.

As of writing this I have only had the pleasure of solving the T2 and the T3 locks, so when I say now that my favourite is currently the T3 do understand that it is only out of those two so far.
Now there are quite a few things that I really think make the T3 such a great puzzle lock, and the main one is the fact that the lock comes as a single piece, just as shown in the image. It makes it quite clear that you have all you need to open the lock right in front of you. Another thing is that although I had a really elaborate idea of how it opened in my head, it only takes five moves in total to open it.

I think it took me about an hour to solve the T3, which I consider to be a very decent amount of time, and once you've solved it once you can do it again in only a few seconds. The mechanism itself is pretty satisfying and you will find yourself solving it several times after just for the fun of it.

This puzzle was loaned to me by a friend as the Popplock series is pretty expensive and I didn't want to spend so much if I wasn't sure of whether I'd like it or not. But I can now say that if I had bought it myself I would not have been disappointed.

You can purchase the Popplock T3 from Grand Illusions and Puzzle Master.

Also: Read my review of the Popplock T2 and My review of the Popplock T4

Cast O'Gear

Here's another puzzle from the Cast series by Hanayama. This is the Cast O'Gear:

I don't think that it's one of the nicest looking puzzles by Hanayama, but it it definitely is a fun one to solve.

I couldn't really understand exactly how it worked before I got it just by looking at pictures of it, but I'll try and explain. The goal is to remove the gear shaped piece from the cube, and this is done by rotating the gear from side to side using the slots in the cube. The gear can only be removed once it is in the right position in the correct side of the cube, and you can only turn the gear 90 degrees in one particular direction on each face of the cube, depending on how that particular slot is cut. Also, not all of the cube's edges are rounded, meaning that you can only move the gear over the rounded edges and not the others, this is the main thing that makes this puzzle a lot trickier than it looks.

The first time I solved this puzzle I didn't do it correctly. As with most puzzles, taking it apart is only half of it, you also have to reassemble it in order for it to be considered solved. There is a particular 'starting' position that this puzzle needs to be left in when starting and finishing it, and this is shown by two indentations in the edges of the cube for the gear to slot into once it's on the correct side.

Once again this is another great puzzle from Hanayama. It took me around 10/15 minutes to solve properly, which is about right for it's difficulty rating of 3 out of 6. And as with all of the others it's not particularly expensive, which is why I have quite a few of them.

This puzzle was bought for me from NetGadgets and it is also available from Puzzle Master.

Also read Brian's review of the Cast O'Gear here: LINK

Japanese Puzzle Box

This was actually the first puzzle box that I ever bought, and as you can see it is of the traditional Japanese design:

I was really surprised when this little box arrived, mostly by just how small it actually is! It is described as 'mame' in size, which equates to a length of between 1 and 2 inches (ish).

Most Japanese puzzle boxes that you will see on sale will have their measurements shown in 'sun', which is the traditional Japanese unit of measure. Here is what each of those measurements equates to in sizes that most of us can understand:

   1 Sun = 1.22 inches (Mame)

1.5 Sun = 1.83 inches (Mame)

   2 Sun = 2.44 inches

2.5 Sun = 3.05 inches

   3 Sun = 3.66 inches

   4 Sun = 4.88 inches

   5 Sun = 6.10 inches

   6 Sun = 7.32 inches

   7 Sun = 8.54 inches

                                                               

It's a bit hard to get the hang of, but in general Japanese puzzle boxes will look a whole lot bigger in pictures than they are once you have them in your hand. Now considering that my box shown above is only 1 and a half inches long (ish) there is just so much detail put into it. The pattern is shown on all sides of the box, and you cannot physically see the joins between the panels, it really is beautifully made. Also you can get Japanese puzzle boxes in quite a few different designs if you don't like the pattern on this one.

It requires 10 moves to open, and this is done by sliding the outer panels in the correct direction and in the correct sequence. It is pretty easy to work out, but it is also great fun to repeat.

I bought this puzzle box from eBay, but you can buy them from a whole load of other places. Puzzle Master tend to sell quite a few Japanese Puzzle Boxes, so it's worth checking them out.

Prices tend to vary quite a bit depending on the size, number of moving panels/keys and who made them (of course) , but they can go from around £20 all the way up to being well over £600/£700!