Your list of puzzles to order from X-mas Father

X-mas is coming in a month or so, and it's time to make your wishing list for Xmas-Father !!!

Below are my suggestions. I will put several puzzles with several kind of price. If you've been nice maybe you will get them all under the Xmas tree. Else...maybe nothing??

The order of the below puzzles does not mean anything special. It does not mean that 1/ is my favourite. I just needed to make a list, that's it :) 

Also there are some great puzzles that I would highly recommend, but many are sold out. And it's better to have some puzzles in stock ready to be bought for your X-mas Father, you don't want to receive your presents in January :)

1/ Mecanigma Kit and/or Architecto kit for the people who like crafting things and enjoy big boxes!

Mecanigma Kit is the first big kit to have been released. I advise starting with Mecanigma Kit before doing Architecto. Everything is provided in the kits: glue, sandpaper, laquer, etc. You will just need some tiny manuel screwdrivers (kind of actually) to make tiny holes.

You need to follow the steps as everything is clearly mentioned. So you should not have too many issues. I still need to warn you: it's not that easy and obviously if you already have some manual skills that helps a lot.

As for Architecto Kit, it's a bit more expensive and more challenging to solve because there are LED lights and other things to add.

One more thing: you won't get spoiled while crafting the puzzle because the steps in the solution process don't follow the same order as the steps in the crafting process. Plus I am sure you will be more focussed on making things right, than analyzing the pieces and steps to deduce the solution ! :)

 

2/ Bozo's packing puzzles for the people who loved well-made clever packing puzzles

I reviewed the several puzzles in different posts in my blog. To be honest, I really like all of them. The quality is top, fit is perfect, difficulty is challenging.

His first puzzle was Ugly 4 which puzzled me for long time due to the weird puzzle pieces. Definity challenging.

The other 2: 8cat and Broken Heart are also nice challenges. 8cat has 2 challenges. As for Broken Heart I like the design a lot. For this one, I did not fall into the traps so I did not fully appreciated the difficulty, still liking it a lot.

The latest one MisFit has even improved in terms of quality with a nice tray and a plexi cover. It took me a bit of time. You can choose the colors of the pieces when placing your order.

Let me remind you the coupon code to use when ordering to get a nice % reduction: RPW7ZMDYF6XZ

3/ Trick Locks from Sashko for the metal lover puzzlers who liked to be tricked with locks!

I reviewed in older posts the Titan Locks, Her Key to The treasure lock, and the lastest one: Monoblock.

All are modified locks from existing locks. In terms of difficulty for sure Titan lock is the most challenging with some traps and some unusual steps. Her Key to THe treasure can be solved in different ways (some more elegant than others) and finally Monoblock is the heaviest (pretty heavy actually!) of them all and has nice steps. It's not super difficult but some steps may puzzle you for some time.

His locks can be bought on etsy under the name of "LockPuzzle". He also made available to purchase some lock picking kits to learn how to pick locks. Something interesting I guess (I have never tried so far) !

I've put the link if you click on LockPuzzle, but sometimes links to etsy don't work...so I guess you also may find it by yourself on etsy :)

4/ Some mazes by Doug (aka Inside Cube)

So fare they have released a lof of puzzles from Easy to Mortal (well this is the name of it). The goal is to navigate with a ball from start to end with the maze engraved on the cubes. That does not make the puzzles easy, hell no !!

The first puzzles were called The Original: the easy cubes have fewer levels than the "regular" ones. The phantom ones have 2 ball bearings. Be careful: for the most advanced cubes, you cannot open them. 

The Donjon was released with the idea of using a vegetal plastic. It has a nice shape. I love the design of it.

Finally the Legend puzzles are on one level and have nice stories behind them. Recently there has been a campaign on Ulule to raise some money to create a more advanced Legend with a 2-layer maze. The layers can be taken off the tray, they call it Troglodyte.

Which ones will you choose ?? :)

NKD fund raising campaign: Architecto puzzle box is coming !!!!!

Dear puzzle friends, I wanted to let you know about new fund raising campaign by NKD puzzle company!

And this time, it's on kickstarter to attract of broader audience !!

The previous time the goal was to make the Mecanigma Kit available for everyone and this time it's about Architecto puzzle box, their most challenging box so far, it really looks amazing!!

Some pictures below:

Look at the wondeful details ! It looks promising !! Full of mechanisms and gears, you cannot ask for more. Sounds they planned the perfect puzzle box ever ???

And what a wonderful box that protects the puzzle. I wonder the goal of the compass and the paper....humm I am sure it must be useful at some point. 

Maybe it can give clues on how to solve Architecto? Honestly I have no idea at all, just a quick guess...

You want to be part of this amazing campaign? Then don't wait and bid HERE !!

Ulule campaign: Mecanigma kit !!!

Ulule campaign NKD puzzle is coming soon !!!!!!!!

It will be launched Saturday 15th February !!

Main project will be a Mecanigma kit for way less money than the original puzzle (time's money!)


Trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UuXFw6G6tE


Campaign here:
https://fr.ulule.com/la-mecanigma/

Do-it-yourself puzzle: the minipunk by NKD

I alreay posted a review about the mecanigma puzzle made by NKD, this time let me talk about their puzzles that you have to craft by yourself. Yes they either sell already crafted puzzles (and some in luxury versions) but of course they cost more, and some puzzles that you have to craft. Don't worry they provide everything you need: glue, sandpaper, the pieces, assembly notice, etc.

All you need to do it a cutter blade to take out the pieces and some patience :)

This puzzle is called minipunk and is basically a piggy bank. Building it is very pleasant with all the parts and gears (I love gears!) and is suitable even for children. Solving it is not very difficult and take 5 moves. But there is a lovely sequence of moves that I am sure you will like!

You can fill in some coins from the top of the box and then let your friend manage to get them :)

Some may wonder: am I spoiled the solution when crafting the puzzle? I would say: yes and no!
Well obviously you will see all the parts of the puzzle and you may get an idea how they interact with one another. But first the sequence of moves is not correlated to how you craft the puzzle. I mean you will assemble pieces first that are not for the first move for example. And then also when you're focussed on crafting a puzzle, you're not focussed on how to solve it. So the challenge will still be there. And you know, crating the puzzle is already in a way a puzzle in itself. Solving it is just the next logical puzzle :)

For the price, I am sure you will have fun to build it and solve it. NKD has other do-it-yourself puzles to craft but I would recommend starting with this one as it is the easiest to built.

You can find the kit HERE

Mecanigma: the big puzzle box

Maybe you've seen somewhere else the name of this puzzle associated with the company (NKD) which produces it?

Anyway we'll talk about this puzzle in this review :)

The mecanigma is a totally hand-produced puzzle (and so, 100% made in France) by the 2 owners of NKD company Julien Vigouroux and Christophe Laronde.

It's a big wooden cube with several challenges to solve to open the box in a spirit of an adventure of kind of sequencial discovery puzzle (even if you don't get tools to use them).

At a first glance you immediately notice the huge work on it: the puzzle is vernish on all side and there are so many details on the box that finding them is somewhat an adventure by itself :)
Many parts are 3D printed and so many pieces have been added on each side of the puzzle that it's not only a puzzle box, but also a real art piece.

Each box take an enormous amount of time to make, all are carefully assembled by hand. The price is worth the effort!

So the quality is definitely here, but what about the solving experience?
For sure, it's good! It's very good. I mean there is no luck, no dexterity no hidden things. This puzzle is the perfect exemple of what a good puzzle is: you see everything (or almost) and you can deduce how to solve it by analyzing the parts. This does not mean it's super easy, but it really means that there is a progression in the solving and you can notice it!

I did not find the solving process to be so hard, except for the last part where I had not found the right idea (even if mine could have been used!) but I finally managed to open the box and it's very rewarding. A good puzzle is not a puzzle that is frustratingly difficult to solve, but it's a puzzle where you see a progression in your solving experience and a puzzle that you can analyzed and predict what the expected result should be to proceed to a next step. Honestly this mecanigma embodies perfectly these concepts.

What's more the clicking sounds and moving of gears and all these stuff make the solving experience very pleasant and add something very exciting to the puzzle.

Even if this puzzle can be played by anybody even if by unexperienced puzzlers, I still advise you monitor them solving because no force has to be used. If you force things, then you may solve some steps (that are not intended to be solved this way), but more important you will damage the puzzle and the mecanisms. And it would be a real pitty.....!!


If you have money and a bit of patience you definitely should consider buying it. For those who have less money they also sell some puzzle boxes: do-it-yourself kits that are cheaper or luxury versions that are more more beautiful and cost more (as they require lot of work!)
 

No the puzzle is not yet solved!!!

You can find the mecanigma HERE