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....)

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 ;-)