Loris

Maybe the reason was I did not publish any review recently was because I did like the loris, sleep a lot....?

Well, ok the name Loris is the name of a puzzle box made in corian bu Frank Chambers and exchanged at IPP 23.
This is a massive puzzle, big and heavy and probably the biggest Chambers'.

Pretty unusual to have the warning written on a puzzle. Here it's very clear: no banging/no force of any kind. Indeed you could break the mechanism!!!

Talking about the mechanism, this one is very unique. I have never seen it in any puzzle. It's not a trick at all, but a real mechanism. It's so clever that you cannot imagine what it's really unitil you've opened the puzzle (gently, of course!). Then you can deduce, this is a pretty difficult puzzle.

Patience is required and you should be able to open the box at some point. The name of the puzzle is (supposed?...) to be a hint.

If you see it somewhere, I really advise to buy it. It's not only a nice puzzle but also a nice mechanism.

Obviously I cannot show the solved state as it would completely spoil the puzzle....

The captive coin

Why captive? Just because you have to free it!

As you can notice, if you're a bit aware of this kind of material, this puzzle is made out of corian, which is not a natural material. It looks like stone.

The goal is easy, how to achieve it is a bit more complicated, especially because you cannot really see the mechanism. However, you can still have an idea of it.

What can you hear? Thing(s) ratling inside.
What can you do? You can depress the lid!

Now you understand that you need to depress it enough so that the coin reaches the same "level" as the hole to free it.

If you have ever played with this puzzle, I am sure you have managed to solve it several times, but not always on the first attempts. The hidden mechanism (simple, if I am right) is the roots of that.

A unique design, crafted by Frank Chambers, this puzzle is also pretty scarce.
The difficulty is not high but solving it is pleasant, and remember that usually with Frank Chambers' puzzles, don't expect to spend hours and hours on a single puzzle.

The oriental toothpick safe

This pretty old puzzle (well it's from 2001, so 14 years ago!) was designed and made by Frank Chambers, with the usual material he used for puzzles: corian.

A pretty small puzzle and a quite heavy one regarding its size. The 3 colors of the puzzle are simple but well chosen in my opinion.

There are 2 goals: first one is to open the puzzle, second one is to make a shape with the toothpicks inside (thus the name of the puzzle).

As you can see on the lid is a black button, you can remove it if you want to see the mechanism. It should be glued but it's up to you if you want to glue it or not. I think better not so that you can admire the mechanism many times. And I feel always frustrated not to be able to see the mechanism for some puzzles.

I did not spend long time before managing to open the puzzle. Actually it's not a difficult puzzle and the mechanism is pretty simple, but well implemented.

For the second goal of the puzzle: making the shape with the toothpick is much more difficult.
Well, I would even say it's fetched, very fetched! And even the solution kept me thinking for some time why this was the solution!...It's a strange solution but yes in reality it would work...
You have to really think out of the box to understand it!

Would this hole give any clue?

Ring box

This small and cute puzzle was designed and crafted by Frank Chambers some time ago, with corian.

The goal is to open the ring box and to find the ring.

 

This would be more considered as a secret box rather than as a puzzle because it's more a hidden trick than really many steps to open the ring box.

Easy to repeat, not difficult at all to open, but it may take a bit of time (more than 10 seconds...) for a non puzzler because it's very well hidden!

So better to give to your other half tomorrow than to a puzzle collector ;-)
But of course the puzzle collector would appreciate it a lot in his collection!

Push box 2

After the Push box that I reviewed some time ago, here is the next one: Push box 2 !

Same designer (Simon Nightingale), same kind of material (corian), pretty same dimensions, but not same mechanism (luckily!).

Again you do not see what you're doing and unfortunately you will not be able to see the internals. The good point is that the drawer cannot fall on the floor :-)

Now, what about the mechanism? Well, nothing new...So, nobody will have difficulties to solve it quickly. It took me around 10 seconds.

Nightingale is famous for his puzzles with clever and interesting mechanism, I wish he invented a new mechanism and did not simply took an already existing kind of mechanism, even if it was an exchanged puzzle.

Anyway, whether you like corian or just collect Nightingale's puzzles, I recommend it. If you want a bit of challenge, that's not the puzzle for you!

The great (great) escape

This puzzle was designed by Simon Nightingale and was made from corian (now I know what is this kind of material). Many different versions exist: one was the exchanged puzzle in 2009 and another one won honourable mention at the Design competition in 2009.

The puzzle feels pretty heavy in your hands and the quality os perfect. Moreover you can solve it again and again. But if you want to be faster, you can put only 1 ball instead of all the 4.

The goal is (seem to be) easy: you need to put the 4 small balls in the holes of the puzzles and them try to get them out of the puzzle.

When you look at the picture above, you may think that it's easy, but perhaps you don't know how tricky Simon is :-)
It's just that here you cannot see what is inside and prevent you from solving this puzzle and it's dark inside. Everything is so well hidden that the puzzle does not give you any clue.

You should play with it on a carpet (for example) but not outside of the street. Because you may manage to free one ball by chance, and it would be a pitty to lose it.

To conclude, a good puzzle to play with and to solve again and again !!

Push box

This little puzzle was designed by Simon Nightingale and was his exchange puzzle in 2014.

The puzzle is made from a kind of resin (if you know the material used, please say it in the comment section) which looks like stone.

When you move the puzzle, you can hear some things ratling inside but once solved you will not see what's inside because the drawer cannot completely get out of the box.

The name of the puzzle is a hint about how to solve the puzzle, and I am sure you can guess easily where to push :)

Nice color

The puzzle is not very difficult and it did not take me long time to understand how to solve it. It can be solved repeatedly (it can still take you some seconds).

Nothing inside...Humm

I wish it had been a bit more difficult but I like it though. Again, I feel a bit frustrated not to be able to see the internals nor to have a picture of them (if you have it, please send it to me)

Have you ever tried to put something inside the drawer?
A nice puzzle in any collection!