National Puzzle Day

Help celebrate this National Holiday by teaching somebody about your favorite puzzle.

While we're at it: post a comment about your all-time favorite puzzle. Mine's Rubik's Cube.

Kuku puzzle

http://www.sonicgames-uk.com/kuku/#home

Mr. Andrew Reevess of the United Kingdom recently sent my office a copy of his Kuku puzzle. Kuku has 4 settings of difficulty. And Andrew sent it to us at the hardest level. Now I should say that I met Andrew at the New York Toy last year & played with Kuku at the easiest level. The hardest level - I thought - would be ridiculously impossible! However, I did it - to a hearty round of applause from the secretary pool.

George Miller has retired

For the past 8 years George Miller has produced amazing puzzles in very limited quantities. He pioneered the use of 3D printers to create puzzles that could not be manufactured by conventional means. Most importantly, George teamed up with Oskar van Deventer and explored strange new puzzle concepts.

Last summer I visited George in his California home & admired (gawked is more appropriate) his collection.

http://www.puzzlepalace.com/

Strimko for the iphone!!

http://www.strimko.com/iphone/
The Grabarchuk Family: Serihy, Serihy Jr & Peter have consistently produced clever, fun puzzles. Their invention, Strimko, has taken the world by storm. Strimko is similar to Sudoku, but circles are linked together. Each set of links must contain different numbers while the entire grid forms a latin square.

$2 gets you 120 puzzles. That will keep you occupied for many hours - and less expensive than a movie.

Philiosophy: you can download a 'lite' or 'free' version. However, you don't get as many puzzles. Also, people should be rewarded for their efforts, right? Then they'll make more cool puzzles.

Fling! - Iphone puzzle

Fans of Lunar Lockout, an amazing series of puzzles by Nob Yoshigahara and ThinkFun, will love FLING! The concept is similar with 2 minor rule changes. The Free version has 6 levels of about 7 puzzles/level. The paid version contains 19 levels. I'm almost done with level 12. No need to ever say 'I'm bored.'

New York Puzzle Party

The annual New York Puzzle Party Symposium will be Saturday February 13 from 9:30 - 4:30. Please email me if you wish to attend.

Oskar's Maze Cube iphone app

Did you pay $5 - $10 for Oskar van Deventer's Cube Maze? It's been available in plastic and metal. Check bitsandpieces.com for the real McCoy.

Alternatively, you could do what I did yesterday and buy a virtual puzzle for your iphone or ipod touch for 99 cents. Besides being cheaper, it provides thousands of variations ranging from easy to complex. We applaud the designers for this tour de force! http://www.whifflebird.com/cubemaze/

LOST Theory

Fans of LOST know that the numbers 4, 8, 15, 16, 23 & 42 are significant. But where do these #s come from? One theory - from a middle school student! - is Julius Caesar.

Julius Caesar had 4 children, was killed at 8 a.m., on the 15th of March, owned 16 houses, stabbed 23 times. Although he was killed in 44 B.C. - he was sanctified as a deity in 42 B.C.

On line Phyics Puzzles

ROLY-POLY Canon 2 is a series of 30 puzzles. Object: shoot the canon ball, from a fixed canon, and kill the bad guys. Fans of billiards will enjoy the ricochet action. In the photo above, there are 2 steel beams that will not explode. One is moving horizontally, the other vertically. This adds a timing element to the shooting. Not a great puzzle series, but entertaining.

http://roly-poly.zoomshare.com/files/flashgame.htm

YOT - 3 VERSIONS

The YOT comes in 3 varieties. We were the first to buy versions II and III. Version III is plated with gold. We bought ours at $80. It now sells for $125.

Helicopter Cube

The Helicopter Cube - created by Adam Cowan - good guy. It will be available for sale at http://www.TheTwistyStore.com

I had the opportunity to scramble and jumble Helicopter. Very very cool. A must have.

Master Skewb

Once upon a time, there were maybe a dozen 'twisty' puzzles. Thanks to Tony Fisher and a new generation of custom twisty puzzle inventors/makers, the world is a better place.

Watch the video!
http://tonyfisherpuzzles.net/110%20Master%20Skewb%20(%20Rubik%20type%20puzzle%20).html

Best On-line Puzzle of the Year! (So far)

http://www.continuitygame.com/
Ragtime Games consists of Elias Holmlid, Dmitri Kurteanu, Guy Lima Jr., and Stefan Mikaelsson. They reside in Gothenburg, Sweden and study at Chalmers University of Technology and Gothenburg University.

Let's talk money now. You can play all 32 levels for free! (Level 29 is so much fun!) And it will engage your mind for a good 2 hours, which is, coincidentally, about the length of a movie. So do consider making a donation on their behalf: first, as a token of appreciation; second, in the hopes that they will make more levels. (Imagine if all movies were free and you paid at the end whatever you wished!)

Happy New Year Puzzle

Arrange the digits 0, 1, ... , 9, using one of each (no repeats) into the expression a^b + c^d + e^f + g^h + i^j to obtain the current year.

Puzzle from Michael Reid

Lab Mice Puzzles - now in Finland!!

It started in America, then crossed the Atlantic to Italy. And now, Lab Mice Puzzles are all the rave in Finland. From one of the local newspapers: When one of the Laap reindeer breeders discovered how much fun Lab Mice Puzzles are, he lost track of time and lost his herd. (Santa was NOT happy.)

http://www.sloyd.fi/product_info.php?cPath=53&products_id=355&osCsid=2217c6afa3683e25ddf7a6d3f7a8e890

Custom Extended Rubik's Cube Ebay

This 4x6x7 works almost like the 3x4x5. You must turn the top and bottom layers before you can start mixing completely! This adds to the uniqueness, complexity, and how much fun you can have with the 4x6x7!

$450 on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/RARE-CUSTOM-RUBIKS-4x6x7_W0QQitemZ190354012540QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item2c51fbb97c

Oskar's Cube Now an iphone app

Oskar's Cube (http://www.bitsandpieces.com/product.asp?pn=42745) can also be played on iPhone now. The design and programming was done by Albert Leung and Mikheal Kruk. They present the app at http://www.whifflebird.com/cubemaze/. It can be bought at
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amazing-cube-maze/id343941176?mt=8 (requires iTunes download).

Strimko

People who say "I'm bored" are boring. The Grabarchuk Family has consistently produced challenging, fun, online puzzles. Strimko is a nice variation on sudoku.

http://www.strimko.com/play.htm

Reflex Game

Block Dodge http://www.aggrix.com/games/blockdodge

Takes 2 seconds to learn and 30 seconds to play. My high score: 44. Beat that!!

Games Magazine current issue

The February 2010 issue is on the newsstands. Look for this Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent's article about laser-cut jigsaw companies.

http://www.libertypuzzles.com/
http://www.artifactpuzzles.com/

Ternary Burr !!!!!

Years ago, this Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent had the opportunity to buy the Binary Burr from Bill Cutler and passed!

I spoke with Goh Pit Khiam about 6 months ago about this project after I bought his Ternary Key Puzzle. Brian Young made 30 copies of this puzzle.....and it's sold out!

http://www.mrpuzzle.com.au/prod292.htm

Micro-Conundrum X3

GarE Maxton has quietly been producing some very interesting heavy metal puzzles. Expensive, but cool. This Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent will dig further.

http://www.maxton.com/maxtongallerypage.shtml

Rubik's TouchCube

The original price was $150 - a bit steep for the average consumer.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Rubik%27s%2B-%2BRubik%27s%2BTouchCube/9492863.p;jsessionid=C8704FBF618A59A7999FBC9B2E4F3A36.bbolsp-app06-22?id=1218123789980&skuId=9492863&st=touchcube&cp=1&lp=1

17x17x17 Cube

http://www.shapeways.com/model/64058/over_the_top___17x17x17____3500.html

For years, it was 'proven' that no cube could be made higher than a 5x5x5. Fortunately, Panayotis Verdes of Greece never read that paper when he designed his 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, 9x9, 10x10 and 11x11. Of those, only 2 are in production: the 6x6 and 7x7.

Now along comes Oskar van Deventer with a 17x17x17 cube. No copy has been made yet. But if you're willing to be a sponsor, it can be yours for only $3500.

Gravity Puzzles

Mr. Pantazis Constantine Houlis is fanatical about sequential movement puzzles. In the past 2 years he's created a series of 'gravity puzzles.' The diagram above shows 5 squares whose edges should match neighboring squares' edges. Note that each piece is extended into the center. Change the orientation and position by rotating the sphere. Difficult & fun. This Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent is reminded of various rolling cube puzzles. Bravo Pantazis!

Oskar's Floppy Cube

Oskar van Deventer keeps churning out fantastic, magical, twisty, rotational puzzles that this Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent simply must have. Of course the expense: $ 171.93

http://www.shapeways.com/model/56082/Floppy%202x3x3.html

Puzzle News - Across the Pond

Laurie Brokenshire just informed me that the Daily Mail wrote up this story in March of this year. In 2007, Laurie was a featured speaker at our very own New York Puzzle Party. He delivered a stimulated talk about Puzzle Vessels.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1162943/Q-What-puzzle-fanatic-collection-10-000-brainteasers-A-Spend-30-000-house-new-extension.html

National Enquirer Puzzle Gossip

The November 30 issue has a story of my British puzzle friend Laurie Brokenshire and his 10,000 puzzle collection. He built an addition to his house in order to properly store his treasures in a museum-like setting.

We applaud the National Enquirer and wonder when the 'mainstream media' will climb on board and report important puzzle stories. Rest assured puzzlers, this Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent will always fight for the truth! Death threats will never deter us! (On the other hand, getting free puzzles may always influence us.)

The Math Book by Clifford Pickover

Good news. Hooray! "The Math Book" is finally restocked at Amazon, after the 1st printing sold out in Sept!

The gossip is that the publisher did not anticipate demand and thus did not print sufficient copies. The publishers were worried to have extra copies of books in warehouses that they would rather run out 15 days after the publication date then take the risk, which is what happened. Today, it is finally back in stock at Amazon.com

Read Martin Gardner's review here: http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/math-book.html (Martin Gardner was the former columnist for Scientific American and current Contributing Editor to Games Magazine.

Game Magazine (December 2009) has a full page review - written by the superb editor Wayne Schmittberger.

The Gift-Giving Holidays are upon us!

http://www.pickover.com

World's Hardest Game

http://www.addictinggames.com/theworldshardestgame.html

We've heard the term 'hardest puzzle in the world' too many times to count. This "hardest game" consists of 30 levels of dexterity puzzles. I cannot get past level 24. The photo above is from my favorite level: 16.

Chess with Cubes

The good people at Chessboss.com have come up with another version of chess. Since it involves Rubik's Cubes, we are naturally intrigued.

"As you make progress and play a better game there are a number of chess variants that can be of great interest to someone who wants to play chess on ChessBoss.com. The first that comes to mind is chess with cube. This new variant of chess has been patented and is offered only on ChessBoss.com. Part of the game is playing with same cubes as are used in backgammon to double the stakes."

Games Magazine

The February issue is now on sale. Pieces of Art: Cutting Edge Jigsaws features the amazing puzzles of Liberty Puzzles and Artifact Puzzles. This Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent not only authored the piece, but also took some of the photos.

www.libertypuzzles.com
www.artifactpuzzles.com

Nutcase: Oskar van Deventer

http://www.eureka-puzzle.eu/eureka/index.php?/Cast-Puzzles/Game-Rank-6/Cast-Nutcase.html

Another gem from the smartest man in the world: Oskar van Deventer. Extremely difficult.

Look for the version made by George Miller with his 3-D printer: http://www.puzzlepalace.com/

Octiles - Great Game

Dale Walton invented this terrific game. I'm wondering now what happened to my copy. Probably buried under puzzles. Get the wooden version!

From: http://www.gamepuzzles.com/abstract.htm#OC which is run by Kate Jones.

New York Puzzle Party

The annual New York Puzzle Party will take place Saturday February 13, 2010. This is the day before the New York International Toy Fair. Many people have emailed me questions about the International Puzzle Party (IPP). The IPP is an annual gathering of puzzle-minded folks. It is by invitation only. Figuring out how get an invitation is a puzzle itself. The NYPP is more open. If you want to come, shoot me an email & I'll provide more details. I anticipate 40 people will attend the upcoming NYPP.

Rubik in the Classroom New York Times

Read more:
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/learning-math-from-the-rubiks-cube/?scp=1&sq=rubik&st=cse

This Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent has been teaching Rubik's Cube for 13 years at a private school. Kids love it. Especially the solving competition in the school auditorium in front of EVERYBODY.

Rubik's Hat or Rubik's Rabbit

This puzzle is very rare. Twist the layers around, hold it up to a light to see all the rabbits. This past weekend, I had the opportunity to talk with the inventor: Ron Druben. He thought that the puzzle was never sold in the US. Not true, according to 2 puzzle collectors who bought it years ago. Ron Druben is also responsible for inventing Tickle Me Elmo.

Rubik's Cube Championship

This Mechanical Puzzle Correspondent LOVES Rubik's Cube. However, there are so many championship tournaments which include silly events like solving the cube one-handed. Other events: 2x2, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, Rubik's Clock, Rubik's Magic, Square-1, Pyraminx, Megaminx, and countless others. Some speedcubers have timed themselves using chopsticks.

I attended one of these tournaments in Riverdale, New York (2003?) Nobody was in the audience. Except for the parents of the participants. Boring!

When Roger Bannister cracked the 4-minute mile - that was momentous! But nobody knows (or cares) who holds the current record or what the time is.

Same for Rubik's cube and all the other categories. Having so many categories diminishes the significance of the only one that should count. Organizers of speed cubing events should consider why the general public ignores eating contests.

Nevertheless, this Mechanical puzzle correspondent HIGHLY RESPECTS those who can solve Rubik's Cube blindfolded and those who strive to find the fewest # of moves.

To the Speedcubers: keep doing what you're doing because it's fun. However, please realize that there's a whole world of other puzzles to explore.

http://www.speedcubing.com/

Dogic

5 years ago the only way to obtain a Dogic was to hope that somebody put one up for auction on Ebay. The typical price: $400.

A couple of years ago Uwe Meffert started making them. Unfortunately, he's completely out of stock and will not make them again! Our advice: when Mefferts.com says a puzzle will be offered for a limited time - get it right away. And if you're smart, you'll order 2 copies - 1 for trade.

http://sites.webec.com.hk/meffert/index.cfm?fuseaction=detail&id=1199889&product=154