Chain store

Awarded at past IPP, this puzzle comes from the genius mind of the designer Goh Pit Khiam and was made by the very talentuous Tom Lensch.

Tom is used to crafting puzzles made by Pit Khiam and his puzzles are usually very good and have a little something that makes them very special. Just take the example of this puzzle: packing puzzles are common, not original. But packing puzzles using a chain of 5 links...well I have never seen it before! Have you?

Despite the fragile look of the chain, I can say that it's strong enough (unless you use useless brute force!) to be handled and manipulated without fear that the chain breaks. You have to believe the ability of Tom, he knows what he crafts!!!

I have played with the puzzle for some time before finding the solution and I would say it's pretty challenging, but not overly difficult compared to many other packing puzzles.
It's easy to put some part of the chain inside the box, but it's way more challenging to put all the chain, and remember that you have to pack the chain so that the top is flat...! :-)

Next attempt may be the right one....maybe...

My method was to try packing the chain outside of the box and see how it can fit or not inside. And I do think it's better to play like that, because you may not be able to arrange the links of the chain when the chain is inside the box. No force needed, just clever moves to try to make the chain "as small as possible" without too many holes or useless gaps.

There is only one solution and I really wonder how you can find that there is only one solution and how to write a program that gives you the precise solution..Nevermind, it's another kind of puzzle I assume...

Domino tower

The name describes perfectly the shape of this puzzle made of several wooden dominos glued in a way to come up with 4 identical pieces, that need to be disassembled and then reassembled together.

A clever design by the famous Oskar and crafted by Tom Lensch. Have you noticed that many Oskar's are crafted by Tom, by the way? :-)
I cannot complain because the quality is very good! And the designs from Oskar always original!

What strickes you is the very nice woods used to craft this puzzle: the colors are bright and contrast perfectly with each other. The look is very nice and reminds me the shape we try when we were younger by playing domino, trying to build to highest tower. Here it's only a 6 levevels tower and is stable!

Now, what about the puzzling aspect? Very easy to take apart, but when doing it, try to remember what you've done because it's more challenging to reassemble. So a nice challenge and not overly difficult to reassemble.

If you come across one, don't hesitate you won't be disappointed! And it's a nice addition to a puzzle collection. I think there are other domino's puzzle by Oskar. If any of you have ever played with this one and the others, which is your favourite?

Number blocks

Number blocks is a puzzle designed by the very talented Pit Khiam Goh (Goh is his last name by the way) for IPP 2015 and was awarded as "Honorable Mention" by the Jury, which was well deserved!

This puzzle was crafted by Tom Lensch. No need to speak about him because I assume that everybody already knows how good his craftmanship is.

Number blocks is composed of 4 pieces of wood with protrusions that fit inside a box. Each piece has a number on its top and the goal is to rearrange the numbers, hence the name.

Below on the left the starting position and on the right the solved position:

I see you coming and wonder how can these pieces move. Well the number 4 does not have any protrusions and thus you can just take it out, which creates a hole in the tray to be able to move the other pieces. Simple as that!

The moves are smooth and it's really fun to play with this puzzle and notice that at some point you're stuck....whatever you do you cannot achieve what you want...and that will prevent you from solving the puzzle :-)

I tried many combinations and was always stuck. Damn! How is it possible?! Well it is, but there is a clever features that you need to use!! And you will have to think out of the box! And no force (even small) is needed nor advised.

So after the puzzle is solved you can still try to arrange the pieces to find other combinations. If there were no protusions at all you could have 24 possbilities. For example (1st two numbers for top row and last two numbers for bottom row): 1234, 1243, 1324, 1342, etc.
Actually you have fewer possibilities due to the constraints of the pieces. I managed to find all the possibilities:

 

 

These extra challenges are not really difficult, but it's still fun to try to see how we can increase the fun of a puzzle. I am  almost sure that no other combinations can be found, but in case you find others feel free to add a comment :-)

To conclude: a really nice and enjoyable puzzle for a reasonable price.