Stable boy

Stable boy is an anti-slide packing puzzle recently made by Brian Menold and designed by George Sicherman.

First, what is an anti-slide packing puzzle? Well, the goal is to pack all the pieces in the tray so that no pieces at all move in any direction. So it is easy to see if you have solved or not the puzzle by simply moving the tray in the 4 directions.

So the 5 pieces need to be arranged in a special way, but not in a fetched way (so no pieces put diagonally!)
This is my first puzzle of that kind and I must admit I enjoyed it a lot. This is a challenging puzzle (it still did not take me days to solve though) and I am sure you will have fun with it. I tried several approaches: I tried to put the square piece on a specific spot in the tray and tried to see how the other pieces would be put to block one another. So it's also a puzzle where you have to analyse the several possibilities and if they can work or not.

The seemingly basic shapes of the pieces and the "normal" shape of the tray will deceive you and the solution is very nice. This is a puzzle that can be enjoyed by anyone.

By the way no force allowed nor necessary. If the space is almost but not enough big to put a piece, it just means you're allowed to put it. Precision is key for these kind of puzzles!

It work more or less, but this is not the solution!!

I highly advise you to buy this puzzle while there are copies left and I wish there will be more puzzles of this type in future Brian Menold's releases :)

You can buy the puzzle HERE

Hat trick

Hat trick is a new creation from the genius Laszlo Molnar, who is famous for his unconventional packing puzzles (I reviewed several in the past, have a look!) and crafted by the talented Brian Menold.

I think you already noticed that but I feel this has to be mentioned: in my opinion Brian is the guy who crafts puzzles with the most beautiful wood species. His woods are wonderful and he don't use the same wood again and again as some other wood puzzle craftmen do...
So if you want beautiful puzzle this is the man you have to buy puzzles from !!

OK let's go back to the puzzle. It was awarded with a prize at past puzzle competition and when playing with it then it becomes obvious why.
The puzzle is composed of a cage and 6 "L-shaped" pieces to pack. I am pretty reluctuant to play with puzzles when your finger moves are restricted because it makes it very difficult to manipulate the pieces. But with this one, this is very fine and you should not have these kind of difficulties.

As you may asume, if it got a prize and if it's a Laszlo's, then you imagine that this puzzle has something extra and well it has. It not just a basic packing puzzle. If you're aware of Laszlo's puzzle, then you know which twists it must have :)

I always repeat my technique with packing puzzles: solve the puzzle outside of the box and then see if you can make it inside. It always works! I ended up with several ways of making the shape to pack. For several that was an impossible shape because you could not have extracted any pieces from the cage. But I ended up with one possible shape. Hard to not spoil.....but I won't spoil, no worries :)

Some pieces were easy to pack (and thus to remove) but I was stuck with how you could pack some. It gave me pain and all of sudden I managed to pack them. Then the remaining pieces were a piece of cake! I was curious about how I packed those pieces and tried to remove them from the box to understand better. And guess what: I could not! Well at one point I could and I took care to take pictures of all the solving process.

Wonderful contrast with corners, cage and pieces!

This is a puzzle with a big "ah-ha" moment and I am sure you will like it a lot.
Definitely a nice and challenging puzzle you should get !!

Soma tube

Laszlo Molar did it again! Brian Menold crafted it again!!  :-)

Derived from the famous soma cube, this puzzle is this time a tube! I feel that the some cube is so famous that it still gives a lot of idea from designer who enjoy transforming this common puzzle into weird and more difficult puzzles, like this some tube!

Well it's also a restricted puzzle. I am not a big fan of restricted puzzle because it can be difficult to manipulate the pieces making your puzzling experience more a dexterity challenge and less fun.
However with this one, I did not have these kind of difficulties.

With seemingly basic pieces, how hard can it be?
Well, there are a lot of possibilities but only one solutions and let me tell you this is quite challenging!!!
However I managed to solve it (and it did not take me month), maybe I just had the right idea at the right moment, who knows...

My method with these kind of puzzles is the following: try to make a final shape (here a tube) with the puzzles outside of its box. Then try to take pieces off the shape one by one, while looking at the box and if the shape was in the box if the piece you're taking off could really be taken off the box. The continue until the final piece. And then do that in the reverse order to put the pieces in the box.
If the shape you're making does not "suite" the box, then first turn the shape. If it's does not work, make another shape with the pieces.

Usually you have several possibilities to make the shape with the pieces. The real challenge it to put the pieces inside the box.

As usually with Laszlo's puzzle, you will have sliding and rotating moves.

This is again really clever and I really enjoyed it. Buy it if you like packing puzzles that have a little something extra and if you like Lazslo's puzzle and Brian's craftmanship :)


I just have a little worry with the puzzles that use plexi: if the plexi cracks or breaks, then how can you replace it....
I do think puzzle makers who use plexi should find a way to let the solver take out the plexi. Maybe by dividing the box into 2 and using magnets (of course that would increase the final price, but maybe less than shipping the puzzle back to the craftman for repairement....)

String octet

Recently crafted by Brian Menold and designed by Goh Pit Khiam, this is not only a puzzle, but 13 puzzles itself!

Well you have to solve 13 challenges, so it will take you some time to solve all of them :-)

You have several pieces on which a path is drawn and 2 filler pieces. The goal is to make a continuous path from the starting piece to the end piece by using all the pieces (sometimes you can complete the goal with less than all the pieces, but well, it just means you failed...) and the 2 fillers. Brian includes a paper with hints, which consists in telling you where to place these 2 fillers. But I am sure you will not look at the hints, will you??

Almost....

Obviously you have 2 sides for each piece and then depending on the orientation of the piece, the path is changed. The initial design was with straight lines, but I feel this is nice to have these curves, and maybe it can confuse people, making the challenges even more difficult?

When I saw the puzzle, I thought it would be super (or too) easy, well....definitely not. This is challenging, and so far I have not yet solved all the challenges. This is not the common packing puzzle you're used to seeing and this is what makes this puzzle very interesting.

The quality of the puzzle is nice and Brian is a very friendly craftman, always replying to emails and questions, even if he is very busy....If everyone could be like him ;-)

The puzzle is still available HERE. I am sure Brian will be happy to sell it to you, but don't wait too long because the puzzles are sold out quickly! It's worth the money!

L-I-Vator 2

I did not have time to write a review last week, so I will publish my Thursday review a bit in advance.

I have already reviewed the puzzle L-I-Vator designed by Laszlo Molnar and crafted by Brian Menold. And this time I will review another puzzle in the series of the L-I-Vator puzzles (maybe there will be some more?....)

So what's the differences between L-I-Vator 1 & 2 ?

The size of the new puzzle is a bit bigger and you can also notice that the bottom of the box aligns perfectly to the box for the first version and not for the second version, but it's normal!
The woods are truly wonderful for both but I still prefer more the colors of the second version.

The pieces are not the same (but this is pretty obvious) and for the second version they are pretty weird, I like them!

Maybe you've guessed that you will need some rotations? No? Now you know :-)

All Lazslo's puzzles so far need rotations to be solved and that's what make them so special.

There are fewer possibilities than the first version to make a cube with the given pieces, but that does not make the puzzle easier, and Laszlo considers it as being more difficult. But it's still less difficult than the triagonal agony (his most difficult puzzle so far!).

With packing puzzles you try to put one piece and try to fit the remaining pieces, but with these puzzles you also need to consider rotations. So you can try to see which pieces can rotate, which cannot, that reduces some possibilities. Also if you manage to make a cube outside of the box (which is advised to have a better view), you can check if you could have taken one piece of the cube out of the cage (if the cube was in the cage). If you cannot take out any, then rotate the cube and do the same process again. That will allow you to eliminate the wrong possibilities but leave enough to puzzle you for some time! :-)

This is definitely a challenging puzzle but with nice sequences of steps and a satisfaying solution. Give it a try if you can!

To better appreciate this puzzle I would advise to begin with the first version, and to get used to these puzzles by starting with the easiest: No holes barred > L-I-Vator 1 > L-I-Vator 2 > Triagonal agony.

You can find Brian's puzzle HERE, but be quick because they are usually sold out fast!

And these puzzles are only made by Brian, another reason to throw some cash to Brian :-)

L-I-Vator

I like packing puzzles, especially when they have something more than a regular packing puzzle with the same boring shapes and same boring moves!

Well if you feel the same as me, then you should have a try at puzzles designed by Laszlo Molnar and made by Brian Menold.

What's special with Laszlo's puzzles? The shapes of pieces are not common, the solving process includes rotations and you have constraints (the shape of the cage).

The puzzle is composed of 6 pieces and the cage as you can see above. Without the cage we would not have a puzzles of course!

There are 3 ways to make a cube with the given pieces. It does not mean that it will be an easy task, though!
Indeed, with a cube you have 6 sides, and moreover you mave many ways to decide the order you put the pieces to make the cube...and you have to see which pieces can rotate as well. So be ready for puzzling hours!!

As mentioned, this puzzle includes rotation(s) so burr tool won't help you solving it, but burr tool can actually give you the 3 different ways to make a cube, useful but not enough.

After many hours of playing with it, and I must admit with a bit of luck, I managed to solve it, and the sequence of moves are definitely elegant. This puzzle can only be created by a devilish mind, but it's not the most difficult from Laszlo. On a scale of 10 (1 being "common that's childly easy", 10 being "Oh my God, I will solve it in 50 years"), the designer ranks it as 4/10. In my mind I would better say 7/10!

Laszlo's puzzles are, as far as I know, only made by Brian Menold, and from what I also saw these designs have a lot of success (proof is that Brian made other batches of them!).

If you want to enjoy these puzzles be quick and ready when Brian releases new batches of puzzles. They are sold out fast. Easy to understand why ;-)

Some wooden wonders from Brian Menold

I recently received a nice package with one packing puzzle and one co-motion puzzle, packaged and crafted carefully by Brian Menold who is running a puzzle company in the USA.

I could say the same things about Brian Menold than for Pelikan puzzle: that was my first order to Brian because he is used to making burr puzzles, and most of the time when I can be interested by a puzzle, between the time he puts some puzzles on his website and when I can place an order they are all sold out....!!

So this time I was lucky enough to order on time a packing puzzle designed by Laszlo Molnar and one co-motion puzzle designed by Gregory Benedetti :-)

Front: co-motion puzzle / Back: packing puzzle

The first puzzle is a co-motion puzzle called "Little Slide Plank" and is composed of 3 (pretty weird) pieces. It is not difficult to solve. Actually you just need 2 fingers (from the same hand) and if you hold the puzzle with your 2 fingers correctly placed then the pieces disassemble by themselves. So in case you're lucky I would advise you to hold it on a soft surface....

The craftmanship is very good: not too tight, not too loose. Just the right fit that allows you to solve the puzzle in a "peaceful way" ;-)
With co-motion puzzles it's usually (well, that's my feeling) more difficult to reassemble them than solving. If you try to reassemble it just after disassemble this puzzle that should be easy. But just wait one or more hour(s) and "scramble" the pieces, then it's more challenging.

But normally you should not be stuck because there is a features that is very useful: the color of the wood, especially the color of the small bands on each side, which form a cross. Just looking at the colors then with a bit of trial and errors your life will be made easier :-)


The second puzzle, "No Holes Barred", I ordered is a packing puzzle designed by Laszlo Molnar and which goal is, of course, to pack all the pieces inside the box.

The pieces are almost the same and then you think that it will be easy....Sorry, but no it's not...It's challenging! So it's definitely good!!

The thing you notice is the small cube already attached to the box. So well, it's not a surprise that you will have to take it into account when putting the pieces inside the box (because it blocks pieces in some orientations).

In my opinion, there are 2 challenges with this puzzle: try to make a cube with the pieces and then try to find the way to make these pieces fit inside the box. The 1st challenge is the most difficult one.
Indeed it's pretty difficult to make a cube because it will not be a "regular cube" but will have some holes. I managed to make a cube but could not put the pieces inside the box: one was just not possible to fit inside...So I needed to give up with this idea and as I could not figure out any other configurations I asked some help from Laszlo who was kind enough to help. Thanks!

It seems that this puzzle is not the most difficult from Laszlo, I whish I could have tried some of the other, which were also crafted by Brian.


To conclude: nice and original puzzles crafted with great woods by the seasoned Brian Menold. Next update for Brian's puzzles will be at the end of the month. So check out often his website and be quick!
HERE you can find some of the other puzzles Brian crafted. Some puzzles are still available but only burr puzzles.