The (Rialto) Bridge between 2 nice things

If I remember correctly, I already post something (it must have been few years ago!) that was not 100% puzzle-focussed and I will repeat again.

 

Why should it be 100% about puzzle? Nice things always deserve to be highlighted. 

The title of this post ambodies perfectly the 2 topics I am going to speak about. Hopefully you understand the title and the intended pun :)

 

So first let's speak about puzzle. The Rialto Bridge puzzle was designed, made and exchanged by Brian Young for IPP26. Only 212 copies exist. I like palindromic numbers!

 

 

The best description of Brian's puzzle is from him, so I better copy-paste the below: 

This puzzle fits into a couple of different categories of puzzle. Brian calls it a sequential move puzzle. There are items to find and get out of the puzzle so it could be called a puzzle box in a way.
But Brian does not consider it to be a Sequential Discovery puzzle.

Goal: What you have around the Rialto Bridge is gondolas and gondoliers, right?
So you have to find the gondola and gondolier inside the puzzle. As well as his oar (pole) and the ballast (we jokingly said that was the paying tourists sitting in the gondola).

While it is possible to complete the puzzle with dexterity (read: lots of frustration😣) a better way is to find the elegant and repeatable solution to all the steps without dexterity involved. The only dexterity necessary should be on the reset of the puzzle and that’s very minimal.

 

Now, my thoughts. I can still call it a SD puzzle. There are not a lot of tools, but there are!

It is fascinating how many steps can be involved in such a little puzzle and the cleverness behind each of them. Dexterity is not involved and should not be used unless you can to damage the puzzle. I guess you will understand which kind of dexterity you could be tempted to use when you're at the specific step. 

So far, I have not been able to reset the puzzle even knowing how to do...am I the only one in this case?

 

Brian retired few years ago (or maybe month, sorry I cannot remember), but it's great to see that he is still in the game!

 

And now the link between the puzzle and the items.

Bridges make the link between 2 places, right? So that was the perfect puzzle to make the transition / link with the products by Gemloader. I had some trading cards a long time ago (unfortunately none of them are worth any penny!) and I thought I should protect them from any damage and direct sun, as you may protect your puzzle is display shelves.

In my opinion, they are the best in the market in terms of protection your cards, no matter the card collection is from. The quality is top level, the delivery is astonishingly quick and for European guys, you won't get any custom fees.

I am not paid to say good things about them / their product, but when you like something I am sure you also advise these to other people, don't you?

Plus, I am sure many puzzle collectors don't only collect puzzles: you're usually not into collection, but collections :) 

They have everything from binders to sleeves. I guess the best way for you is to have a look at their website.

Now, the good news for you is that I have a code that will grant you 15% discount without any minimum amount spent, you can use for any product they're selling and how many times you want. 

 

Use:  PUZZLINGWL15 to get 15%

 

The Legend of Zelda - Addison Sign

The Legend of Zelda Addison Sign is probably the weirdest puzzle in the Hanayama puzzles series.

The goal is neither to separate pieces nor to reassemble them, but to balance them!

Indeed, you have to use the rods in conjunction with the sign to create a self-supporting structure without using the small human piece.

Not the official solution as you have to only use the pieces

So far I have not found the official solution, and I guess there are multiple solutions. It's mostly about dexterity (I don't really like that side of puzzles) and I am pretty sure a solution shown by someone may not work for you (it may as well!).

I feel this is a unique puzzle and the only (so far as I am wrriting this post) hanayama puzzle that uses this kind of solving process.

Do I like it? Yes and no. Yes because it's unique and a very beautiful puzzle. No because I prefer disassembly / reassembly puzzles.

 

You can get it, as usual, on Puzzle Master website! 

 

The Legend of Zelda - Hylian Shield

The Legend of Zelda - Hylian Shield is part of a Hanayama series with the Zelda theme.

Already having others in the series and being super fan of Zelda, I needed this one as well.

The goal is to detach the shield from the stand and reassemble as in the picture below

 

To be honest, this is not much of a puzzle as it should take you few seconds before solving, it's a merely 1/6 in terms of difficulty.

But it is a nice looking puzzle and displays well in your puzzle cabinet.

So if you're looking for a serious challenge, you can skip this one. If you intend to complete your Zelda series / hanayama puzzle collection and/or if you're a fan of Zelda, then you should get it. 

 

Get it on Puzzle Master website! 

 

The whole series is here 

Layer 8 by Yuu Asaka

It's been a long time since I have not reviewed a puzzle by Yuu Asaka, my bad!

So, let me introduce you the "8 Layer" puzzle composed of.... 8 pieces and a tray! 

 

The tray and the pieces have some protudent parts and the challenge is to find out how to not be blocked by them. There are several ways obviously apart from putting into holes...but no spoilers here.

Initially I tried to do so, then I tried to be a bit creative (which ended up being a little bit useless) and finally I solved it. Yes, I am pretty proud considering the number of possibilities how to put each piece inside the tray.

It gave me way less trouble than Duct 23 while Duct 23 is supposed to be less challenging. Was I lucky??

 

I really like Layer 8 because it gives you a nice challenge with only 8 pieces, the colors are bright and the fit is super precise as usual. By the way, I noticed that one of the pieces have the name of the puzzle engraved on it. Maybe I missed that on the other puzzles, but I am pretty sure that it's the first time I see that.

 

If you like a challenging puzzle and you're a sucker for packing puzzles in general or Asaka puzzles, you cannot go wrong with this one!

 

It's available on Puzzle Master website.

 

 I am still waiting for a 1 piece packing by Yuu... Just saying :)