Moulin rouge

This puzzle was made by Stephan Baumegger and exchanged during IPP in Paris.
This one really fits the IPP theme as the moulin rouge is a worldwide famous cabaret in Paris.

The goal is to free Colette who was trapped inside the moulin rouge.

Usually Stephan crafts burr puzzles (high level of burr), but from time to time he comes up with packing puzzles or other kind of puzzles. Not being a super fan of burr puzzles, I jumped on the occasion to get a nice puzzle made by this very seasoned man!

The craftmanship is very nice, I love it. The internals, not being a new kind of mechanism is well implemented in the puzzle.

I did not find this puzzle to be difficult, it's not staightforward because you can be blocked sometimes but very manageable for anyone. I knew what I had to do and it did not take time before I released Colette. However, I thought what blocked me was something a bit different, so I was a bit surprised.

Stephen provides a tool to free Colette but in my mind this is not useful because the stand of Colette was pretty tight attached to the internals (yes, I know what I say is confusing, but not sure how to say without spoiling...).

To conclude, a very nice looking puzzle and fun to play with. No doubt why it was awarded!

Coke bottle #5

In the series of the coke bottle puzzles, I will review #5.

As usual, the goal is to free the marble that is trapped and you should not need to use external tools.

So here you see a red rod with screw in 2 places and an hexagonal screw that may be useful at some point.

You definitely need a bit of dexterity (especially when you reassemble the puzzle) but you also need to use the tools in the appropriate way.

I liked a lot the steps and I did not find this puzzle fetched contrary to a previous puzzle bottle with a black top. I feel that the tools are used in a clever way.

About the difficulty, I would say it's moderate: not overly difficult, but not that easy. So a nice challenge. I am sure you would like it.

I am sure you have seen that it should not come out that way :-)

To conclude: one of my favourite Strijbos' coke bottle puzzles!

The 3 circles

Among the recent puzzles sold by Wil Strijbos, this one is the other pretty cheap (I reviewed the other one previously). The puzzle is called "the 3 circles"...and is composed of....3 circles! What did you expect :)
And the goal is not to disassemble the circles but to assemble them  to make like a ball shape.
So when you will receive the puzzle, I tell you it's not solved!

How it arrived

In terms of quality, I fear I will tell you the same thing as the previous small puzzle (cross the ball): the quality is way below Wil Strijbos' standards! But you will notice that by yourself if you don't trust me. I feel this is a pitty. Especially because sometime the pieces seem to be able to move uing a bit of force and you don't really know if you should force a bit (because of quality issues) or if you should take another path to move the pieces...

How it looks when disassembled

One may think this is a burr puzzle, I don't think so. But I let more burr-experienced people argue on that :)
This is not a so easy puzzle and you will have to make several attempts. Maybe some rotations are involved?...you never know...
By having a quick look at the pieces, you should see how each piece should go with which piece. The difficulty is to get them all assembled.

How it looks when solved

Despite the poor quality, I think the puzzle has a good puzzling value for its price. And I am sure that the challenge will suit your taste.