Auzzle

Time to review a new kind of puzzle!
Designed and made by Ilya Osipov, this puzzle got an honorable mention at past IPP in San Diego (2018).

The puzzle is made out of 3D material and obviously magnets!

The goal is to have all the magnets in the center like in the picture on the right.
You have 2 kind of moves: one is to rotate the 2 inner parts, the other move is to rotate the halves of the puzzles. After scrambling the puzzle, you will get magnets pointing in many direction, and now the fun begins!!!

I like a lot the noise of the magnets, the "clicking sound" each time your rotate something.

So this puzzle is like a twisty, but more fun. I like the look, and the puzzle is bigger than what I expected. It seems solid as well. So normally you can let your friends play with it.

No algorithm exists yet, and I hope one will be created. It's like rubix's cube: without algorithm it's not possible to solve. But....for this one, Ilya said that a person should be able to solve it under 2 hours, by just rotating again and again.
And he is quite right. For me it's took probably around 30 minutes (definitively less than 2 hours) to solve the puzzle. I had no strategy at all, I tried to elaborate one but I failed. But at some point, I came up with a solved puzzle!
However, again it would be nice to be able to solve it faster with an algorithm.
And a good idea would be to make like a "pro-auzzle", a professional version for speed solving ;)

If you want your auzzle, you can contact Ilya: HERE

There is also a mathematical demonstration HERE with a youtube link as well in case you're wondering about the moves ad the clicking sound, don't expect to understand anything as it's in Russian haha

Ilya's facebook can be found HERE

Jon Keegan is your new metal puzzle designer!

This is a great news for the metal puzzle collectors!
Overall, most puzzles that are released are in wood and not a lot in metal, this is going to change!

Jon Keegan has submitted 2 puzzles for the design puzzle competition in San Diego (in 2018) and he did not receive a prize (but should have received!!). Among them was the Jewel Thief puzzle which is a massive take-apart puzzle.

Jon will sell 3 puzzles:
-tumbler (100 USD)
-double tumbler (140 USD)
-Jewel Thief (450 USD)

The tumbler puzzles are improved versions of the cylinder puzzle designed by Strijbos, with additional features and a nice color.
The Jewel Thief is a totally new puzzle with nice features, using a lego guy as a thief to release. And it's limited to only 100 puzzles, don't miss it!! ;)

Jon can send you the flyer he made (with some more detailed precision about the puzzles, and a surprise at the end). Just ask him by email by clicking HERE.
I do advise you to be quick if you want the puzzles (you need them for your collection anyway hahaha), because they will be sold out fast.

Jon created some nice wooden boxes!

Jon is the new Strijbos, I am sure he will design some more wonderful puzzles.
So far I cannot be more precise regarding the puzzles (except saying that they are very nicely made with stunning design and color anodization), but I intend to make a complete review a bit latter after playing more with the puzzles.

Merry puzzling X-mas to you & your family !!! :)

Neat lock

This lock was an exchanged puzzle from IPP 23 by Peter Hajek.

It's supposed to be an old mechanism (so not something new), but old mechanism does not mean bad!

And this is so neat that Peter decided to exchange it. Let me tell you that turning the key again and again will result in...nothing special :)

The main difficulty is that you cannot see the mechanism. To be honest, I managed to solve it several times but I am still unsure about how it looks from the inside...

With a pretty unusual keyhole you have plenty space to try and turn the key inside. No banging is necessary.
Your only hint is a slight click sound. Maybe this is useful?....

Solved!!!