Thursday 31 March 2016

Free Willy !!

Designed by the Dutch designer Oskar van Deventer, made by George Miller and exchanged by Nick Baxter in 2005, this nice little puzzle was the first one crafted using 3D printers.

Willy has to be positioned properly so that the puzzle completely fits inside the box.


This is a pretty fragile puzzle due to its materials used and you should play with a lot of care: no force at all, but gentle moves only.
As you have guessed the goal is to free Willy (the blue plastic dolphin) from the maze. On each side of the solid are pegs that prevent Willy to move freely, so you will have to go through many sides of the white solid while turning Will to finally free it.

Oskar has accustomed us to mazes and this one is no exception to the others: you will get lost easily inside the maze....Poor Willy!! ;-)
Actually, when I played with this puzzle, I had the feeling that I went back to previous steps many times and what I considered as moving forward was more stepping back....but perhaps I also went back making some moves inside the holes. Anyway, after many (more than what is needed) moves, I solved the puzzle.

 

Don't judge a puzzle only on its size: this one is pretty small but will keep you puzzling for some time. And mazes like this one (not hidden mazes) are always fun to play with. Especially because you usually know the goal but cannot remember all the right steps in the right order!

 Which maze(s) from Oskar is/are your favourite one(s)?


2 comments:

  1. My copy of this puzzle is delicate. By gently squeezing a face, I can remove Willy from any position. This is not allowed, of course, but it is easy to do inadvertently. Might be nice to make it out of metal to prevent such moves.

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  2. Really? Actually I feared more breaking it than solving it inadvertently. I do share the same idea: a metal one would be very nice, would not break, would be even more precise (regarding the fit, etc.).

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