Kuku (SonicGames)

The Kuku is a puzzle from the manufacturer SonicGames (formerly SonicWarp). And despite a few minor quality issues I've been told of they do tend to make some very good looking puzzles, this being one of them.

The Kuku

The three pieces of the main body are machined from aluminium which have then been anodised so that you can clearly distinguish between them. One piece also has the Kuku name printed onto it.

The Kuku reassembled but with the coin removed.

There is a plastic coin hidden inside of the puzzle, this coin has a serial number on it that can be used for some kind of prize-challenge-type-thing on the SonicGames website, however as I am mostly interested in the mechanical aspect of puzzles I don't really have any interest in that kind of thing, so I won't go into the details of it here. I'm sure however that you could read more about it on the Kuku page of the SonicGames site should you desire to do so.

As this is a Take Apart puzzle the object of it is to take apart the Kuku in order to remove the coin from inside. This isn't a particularly difficult challenge, although I have been told that two different versions of this puzzle exist, and one has an additional aspect to the locking mechanism that makes it somewhat more difficult to open. Either way I would imagine that most puzzlers could open the Kuku in under half an hour, depending of course on luck, past solving experience, the weather, stock market values etc. 

It has a nice little coordinate motion aspect to the solution which I found worked very nicely. It reminds me of a spherical version of the Pandora's Box puzzle that Pentangle made a while back.

While I would not recommend this puzzle based on how good it is as a puzzle, I would actually be happy to recommend it based on the feel and aesthetics alone. It is a lovely looking puzzle that also feels nice and weighty despite it's rather small size. The main downside here is the price, which can be anywhere between $60 and $80.

If you're looking for a Kuku, you can find one on Puzzle Master, along with several other puzzles in the SonicGames series.

Gear Cube (Oskar)

Recently I've been getting more into the world of 'twisty' type puzzles, and a variety of them that really caught my attention were the ones that implemented a mechanism based on gears. Not only do I think that this type of mechanism looks incredible, but they are also extremely tactile and fun to play around with.

The most recent addition to my collection from this series of puzzles is the Gear Cube in black.

The design came from the mind of the prolific puzzle designer Oskar van Deventer from inspiration given by Bram Cohen. Oskar originally gave it the name 'Caution Cube' due to the caution a solver would have to take so as not to get their fingers trapped in between the very sharp gears on his 3D-printed design. The original 3D-printed version can still be bought from Oskar's Shapeways Shop for a pretty hefty price, or if you're on a budget like me (and don't want to hurt your fingers) then Mefferts have mass-produced the Gear Cube to a very decent standard at a price we can all enjoy.

One 90 Degree Rotation

The main thing that I like about the Gear Cube is that it is not massively difficult for a twisty puzzle. I managed to solve it within half an hour or so the first time, and now that I understand the movement it would only take a matter of a few minutes. Understanding the movement also isn't very difficult, because although it looks incredibly complex with the gears showing the movements are actually pretty simple.

What's Inside A Gear Cube?

Each time the the top and bottom layers of the cube are rotated 180 degrees, the centres of the middle layer will rotate only 90 degrees. But what really makes this puzzle interesting is that the edges rotate as the layers are turned. Because of this you would have to perform twelve 90 degree turns to complete one full rotation!
Okay...so after re-reading that last paragraph it actually does sound pretty complicated, but I promise you that it is nowhere near as difficult as a standard Rubik's Cube, and anyone should be able to understand the movement with a little practice.
Hell, if I can understand it then anyone can. Remember how terrible I normally am at twisty puzzles?

Fisher Sticker Modification

 A while back a puzzle designer by the name of Tony Fisher came up with a minor sticker modification to the Gear Cube to not only make it look much nicer but also to make it more difficult.

Fisher Sticker Modification Scrambled

If you really look hard at the first pictures you can see the four little inner edge pieces on each side of the Gear Cube. They really are tiny, and they are needed there to allow the edge gears to turn even when they are not touching the corner pieces.
Neither Mefferts nor Oskar ever stickered these pieces, and Tony saw this for the shame that it was and added them himself.

All But Inner Edges Solved

Since the standard Gear Cube was easy for me to solve now, I loved the idea of this. So I ordered a new set of these stickers from Cubesmith to give it a go. I stripped off the basic Mefferts stickers and carefully applied the new Fisher style ones. It was a delicate process and probably took me about an hour or so with a hobby knife and a steady hand.

With Tony's sticker modification added it is possible to have the cube solved as before, but still have the inner edges in the wrong place! Working out how to solve this requires more thinking and practice, but again is easy enough to work out by yourself without having to spend years on it.

This is a puzzle that I really do recommend. It is just so much fun to play around with, and although it looks intimidating it really isn't as hard to solve as it looks. And if you want to up the challenge then head over to Cubesmith for some new stickers. They are well worth the extra couple of dollars!

Z-Shift (Peter Hajek)

Some of you may know that another of the relatively regular Midlands Puzzle Parties (MPPs) has just passed by, and I'm confident in saying that a great time was had by everyone there.

One of the other attendees and fellow puzzlers who I met there was Peter Hajek, who I had met several times previously on my recent travels through the puzzle world. With him he brought a handful of very interesting and clever puzzles, several of his own design. This is one such puzzle that Peter brought with him, and that I was lucky enough to be able to get a copy of for myself.

This puzzle is called 'Z-Shift', and it is quite unlike any other puzzle that I have encountered thus far. It was designed by Peter as his exchange puzzle for IPP31 last year in Berlin, and manufactured by Buttonius Puzzles & Plastics.

It looks like a simple 2D assembly type puzzle, but what really makes it interesting are the varying levels of difficulty that can be solved using the same 7 pieces in different combinations. Despite the seven pieces there are only two different piece types, as the four larger pieces are identical, as are the three smaller ones.

The larger 'Z' pieces are made up of two layers of acrylic that have been glued together. Both sides of the piece are identical in shape, but one side is blue while the other is red. Due to the opposing nature of the 'Z' shape both layers can be seen at the same time from either side. The smaller pieces are only single layered and in just the one colour.

As you might be able to see from the picture here, there are a total of five puzzles that can be solved using a specified number of pieces, the first of which is to make a large red square and a small blue square using only the four larger identical pieces. This takes a bit of perspective to be solved as it could be quite easy to get the wrong idea with what to do with the pieces. But within a few minutes most puzzlers should be able to solve it. As the puzzle starts off easier it encourages people to try and solve the other problems as well, I've found that this is actually a very good puzzle to give to 'first time' puzzlers to try out as it holds interest very well.

Each of the conundrums on the card requires a different approach to be solved. Just because you solved the first one doesn't mean that you will immediately know how to approach the others. As an example; the conundrums lettered A and B are particularly clever and may require some serious 'out of the box' thinking to find the correct solution.

All in all a very fun little puzzle that I thoroughly enjoy. And the opinions of others that I have given it to seem to confirm my thoughts as well! I've taken to carrying it around and springing it on any person who dares to look bored in my vicinity.

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.

My Little 3-Card Burr Saga

Quite a while ago now I was sent a copy of George Miller's 3-Card Burr as a gift from Wil Strijbos. I had an idea of how it went together as I had seen a few copies in other people's collections in the past, however I also knew that it had a rather interesting quirk to it. Once the puzzle has been assembled into it's final burr state it will not be able to come apart again without the cards being destroyed in the process.

Scott Elliott phrased the process involved much more eloquently than I would've in a comment on his blog, so I'll just add it here:

"The one-way feature elegantly balances topology against the limitations of the cards' material properties. You must put the cards under a great deal of stress to assemble the puzzle, but the cards work together to keep that stress under control until you reach a fully-assembled equilibrium. Once it's assembled you can't go back because neighboring cards resist the movement instead of assisting it; the force required to overcome the resistance would exceed the material strength of the cards."

I was worried that there could be a real chance that I could screw up the assembly of this puzzle, and as such destroy it completely. So with this in mind I did something which even I consider to be very sad; I decided to keep the puzzle unsolved until I worked up the courage to put it together.

3-Card Burr DIY Attempt

Because I really wanted to know if I could assemble the puzzle, I asked fellow blogger Allard if he would mind sending me a rough diagram of the cuts needed  so that I could make a copy for myself that I wouldn't mind if I screwed up a few times. He kindly obliged and thus my DIY attempt at the 3-Card Burr was born!
It was made from a cheap set of plastic playing cards that I had lying around. All it took was a few vague guessed at measurements, some pen lines and a scalpel and the job was done. The fit -to put it nicely- is not amazing, but it does work! And for me that was the main thing.

Quite some time passed from this point, and I was content that I had sort of solved this puzzle with my DIY attempt, and this negated the fact that I owned a perfectly solvable puzzle that was still in it's original packaging. During this time I was entering into a rather unusual puzzle exchange with Scott Elliott for a copy of a puzzle that he owned but wasn't particularly attached to (more on that later).

Now I say that this was a rather unusual puzzle exchange because neither myself nor Scott had properly exchanged a puzzle before, so this was new territory for both of us. Somewhere along the line I had mentioned to Scott that I owned an unsolved copy of the 3-Card Burr, and he saw this for the shame that it was. So to add an interesting twist to our puzzle exchange he imposed an 'unconventional stipulation' on my 3-Card Burr. As part of this exchange I was required to properly assemble my copy of this puzzle!

3-Card Burr PVC Practice Copies

Although Scott had put forward this unconventional stipulation, he is not a cruel person. To compensate for this unusual condition (not that he had to of course) he very kindly said that he would send me a couple of PVC samples to practise on that he would make up using his awesome 3D printer. These PVC copies could stand a little bit more force than the card version, so they would be perfect for me to practice on before putting together the real thing. I put these together using the same method I applied to my DIY version, and they went together no problem. I even took them apart again, which is something that cannot be done with the card version, showing that there is indeed more 'give' in the PVC.

Now that the warm up was complete I had no real excuse to hold back any more. I unwrapped George Miller's 3-Card Burr from it's shrink wrap packet and proceeded to put it together.

George Miller's 3-Card Burr

I had a bit of a scare during the assembly process when one of the cards got caught up and had begun to bend a little bit too much, but luckily this was easily corrected with a bit of gentle prying. The tolerances were so tight that I have no problem believing that this puzzle will never be able to come apart again, but now that I have it together I'm not bothered by that in the slightest.

Scott was right, you really do have to put this together and see it for yourself to really appreciate it, and I'm actually very glad that he decided to bring this unconventional stipulation into our already unconventional puzzle exchange.

And here they all are together, my little 3-Card Burr family:

My 3-Card Burr Family

A big thanks to Scott for pushing me into eventually doing the right thing. And also to Allard for his help in making my DIY attempt possible.