Do you fancy some Jean-Claude Constantin puzzles?

A bit long time that I have not reviewed some JCC (Jean-Claude Constantin) puzzles :)

Here I will speak about 2 small boxes: triangle trick box and 20 cent box.

Which attributes do they both share apart from being made by the same designer and being made with wood and a bit of metal? Well, they have several steps (not a lot though), are not that big (especially true for 20 cent box) and.... they are boxes !! Amazing, right? :)

Triangle Trick Box

I first need to mention that I like th shape of the box, it changes from basique cubic boxes! It obvious at a first glace that something must move to open the box. Now how to open it? Well, I am not going to reveal the secrets. But just be curious about all the small little things here and there. What about the screw? Do you have to find a screwdriver? I let figure it out by yourself :)

It did not take me a lof of time to solve, but it was still nice to repeat the process. It should not be a big challenge for puzzlers, but may pose a bit more difficulty for newbies. Hence, I recommend it either if you're totally a beginner in puzzle boxes or for children

20 cent box

Keys bit no keyholes....

Coin but nothing to pay for....

Nothing seems to move....

but of course, things will move!

This is one move that I am not super fan of in the solution process. But I must admit that it's pretty clever though. Not a lot of steps, not overly difficult. A bit more challenging than Triangle Trick Box. You can try to cheat (yes I did), I wish you good luck if you manage to solve the puzzle like that. Normally it should not happen. When I mean "cheat" you will immediately know how you could consider cheating with this puzzle when you have it in your hands :)

This puzzles is suitable for new puzzle collectors and for more seasoned as well. Don't get me wrong, you seasoned one, you won't be challenged for hours with this one though!

The "how" trick box

I know, it's not the real name of the puzzles, but for me it's way easier than writting the German name which is difficult to pronounce and write :-)

So this puzzle is a trick box designed and made by Siebenstein Spiele. It consists of several pannels that need to be moved to open the box. The quality is overall good and I like a lot the design with the question mark.

A seasoned puzzler won't have difficulties to open the box because he knows the tricks that a trick box can contain while a newscomer may experience some slight difficulties.

The good thing with this puzzles (despite its puzzling aspect) is that it has enough space to try to imagine how you could modify the puzzle. And if you wonder: yes I have ideas to make it even more challenging...in case the designer reads this blog ;-)

It's definitely a nice introduction to trick boxes.

You can buy it at this nice shop: Brilliant puzzles. They have a lot of choices for trick boxes with all price range, have a look!

Havana box #4

Made and designed more than 2 years ago, this wooden trick box belongs to a series of 4 puzzles. The goal of each havana boxes is to open them to free the cigar (a real one!) which lies inside.

The fit is very precise and the grain of the wood used is just awesome! Judge by yourself:

Ok, now, what about the mechanism and difficulty?
Eric said that the difficulty increases even more for the next box, so #4 should be the most difficult one. Actually, maybe yes, maybe no, it's not easy to compare when you have not played with the other 3 :-)

What you clearly notice is that you can more some pannels on the top, but that not going to help you that much. Of course, it may be part of the solution, but Eric put more steps in this puzzle than a simple move! Honestly this is a challenging puzzle, but well after all you have to deserve the cigar (not being a smoker, I hope it won't turn out "badly". Will it, if it stays in the box?)!!

I tried many things and after some time and soar hands (...) I managed to free the cigar. Opening the box won't reveal the mechanism, but maybe you can still guess how it works inside.

I saw the solution and I must admit I did not solve with the intended solution and I managed to find a short-cut, with which I am pretty happy (and it works!!).
Have you solved yours with the intended solution?

In my mind this is a great puzzle to have in a puzzler's collection, for the design, the material used and the quality.

Which Havana box do you prefer? And why?

Confetto box 2

I have already reviewed the first Confetto box, so now it's time for this second Confetto box, which was designed by Iwahara for the 2014 X-mas presents.

As with Karakuri, you always know that the puzzles are well crafted and put in simple but nice box.

If you have already played with Confetto box 1 (I strongly advise so that you better know the principle of these confetto puzzles), you notice that this puzzle is a bit smaller (why??) but still have nice wooden panels.

The goal is to find a secret compartment (there is only one contrary to Confetto box 1) by moving the panels. The moves are a bit tricky but you will know pretty quickly what you have to do, because you cannot do anything if the previous steps are not done.
Perhaps a Confetto box 3 would have some kind of "dead ends". I mean you can move many panels and moving one panel may lead you to a dead end. That would be a bit more challenging. Because again, like Confetto box 1, you have to do the previous steps to do the next steps and there is only one way to do that.
So Confetto boxes remain pretty straight-forward puzzles.

However, this puzzle is very good and you will have fun whether you like trick opening boxes or Karakuri's puzzles.

I still prefer Confetto box 1 because I prefer the color of wood of Confetto box 1, because it's a bigger puzzle, because there are more secret compartments and finally because the moves are much easier to make with it (it slides smoother, but it's also due to the solving process of Confetto box 2).

Which one do you prefer? The 1st Confetto box or the second one? Why?

Confetto box

You may wonder why I put the box and not the picture of the puzzle as a first picture...Well it's because the box is beautiful: I like the contrast of the colors and when you look at the box, you know that there will be a great puzzle inside. And you're right to think so!

This confetto box was designed by Iwahara (a famous craftman who belongs to the Karakuri Group) and produced as a X-mas present in 2008 for the members of the Karakuri Group.
Becoming a member of the Karakuri group allows you to get a book with all the pictures of the puzzles made by the craftmen (only when you're a new member), to get reductions in prices for the puzzles that are on sales and finally to get one X-mas present. If you want more X-mas presents, you have to pay more. The first year it is more expensive, especially because you receive the book (you receive it about 1-2 weeks after you've paid for the membership). The next years are less expensive.
The shipping is free for the presents, but perhaps you may have to pay custom fees if they don't declare the puzzles as gifts (they don't like to do that...). Because of that, it happens that I get caught by the customs...and for sure the price of puzzles increased a lot... :-(
What you have to know about the X-mas presents is also the fact that you don't know what you will get. It's the surprise!! So you may very happy or perhaps a bit disapointed...And you pay almost one year before getting your puzzles. You will have to be patient...but you're used to that because you're a puzzler :-)

If you don't know which craftman to choose, Iwahara is always a good value, and his puzzles are usually very good. This one is no exception: the quality is superb, the finish is very good, the panels move smoothly, the wood has an handsome red color. Nothing bad to say about that.

There are 2 secret "chambers" to discover.
I put below 2 pictures of the inside the puzzle, but it does not give any hint on how to open the puzzle, so don't worry it's not a spoiler at all. It is just for you to see the quality of the internals. That's a great job!!

The symbols (star and moon) are useful to remember which panel goes to which compartment.
The first compartment is easy to find, the second one is much more difficult because you need to learn some new moves. Note that only 2 panels can be removed, the other 4 cannot.

I love this puzzle and if you find one, don't hesitate and buy it, you won't regret it. In my opinion, it's one of the best Iwahara's (even if I have not tried all his puzzles). Moreover, the difficulty is good: not too easy as (too) many Karakuri's puzzles and not too difficult, so that you enjoy solving it not only once, but many times.
Iwahara also designed a confetto box 2 that I will make a review of it later on. I think that it's better to have played before with confetto box 1 to better understand confetto box 2.

This puzzle is very sought (like many old Iwahara's), so the price may be pretty high, and at least much more expensive than the price of one X-mas present. So when you buy X-mas presents, you make good investments (even if you don't intend to sell them)!

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!

Secret boxes

These 3 wooden secret boxes are made by Mi-Toys company.

They all have a rectangular shape and have a hole on a side of the box, but that does not give any hint about how to solve these puzzles.

The goal is, as you can imagine, to open these boxes. Two of them have a "dilemma" difficulty and the other is "challenging". But frankly, all of them are very easy and it took me some seconds to open them. Either for an experienced puzzler or for a beginner, I would ranked all these puzzles as very easy! I don't understand the way they rank these boxes...

When you see the mechanism, you can wonder why they have this size, because they could have been smaller....In my opinion, the size and the weight of puzzles have to be justified by the mechanism: if the mechanism if very small and simple, there is no need to have a super big puzzle!
On the contrary if the mechanism is very complex with many small parts and is big, ok, you can have a big puzzle.

The mechanism is not complex fro all these boxes and even if some of these boxes need several steps to solve them, the steps are pretty straight-forward.

If you want some cheap trick boxes, I advise them. If you like a bit of difficulty, I don't advise them. But like all puzzles, you have to try them to make your own judgment.
And of course, being mass-produced they cannot be compared to Stickman's boxes or Karakuri's boxes!!

Magic billet box

Perhaps you know some crowdfunding companies like kickstarter? Well, this projet was funded through kickstarter by Eric Krusentjerna.

He uses CNC machines to make those really nice trick opening boxes. They cannot be considered a real box puzzles, but more as secret boxes. But in any case, you have to figure out how to open the box! The mechanism is pretty ingenious by the way and I did not have any of this kind before.

The box are in aluminium and can be anodized (upon request) with gold, red, blue, etc. anodization. As you can notice my box has a red anodization. If you don't choose anodization the price is a bit lower, but anodization makes your box nicer and more colorful and also it protects from scratches, so it has only advantages :-)

It is not completely opened!

What is good is that first there is some space inside the box to hide some small items. Then the quality is very good: everything fits well and the mechanism works well, of course!
And finally you can order a customized box: you can say which anodization color you want and choose the engraved forms that surround the box.
In my case it has a Vasarely design and I love Vasarely!!
There are many other models offered like a box that looks like the secret cube in Mario with an "?" on the box. And if you don't find the model you want, just say to Eric which design you would like and he will make it for you. So the possibilities are almost unlimited :-)

There are 2 kind of trick boxes offered, just check Eric's website HERE
Please note that as he will change his website, this link may not work in the future (I don't know)

Don't look at the video in Eric's website because the solution is shown in them. Also, when you receive your (well protected from damage) box, don't look at the opposite site of his business card because the solution is written on it. Just put aside his business card and look at it later if you don't find the solution.

If you want to contact Eric for any questions or purchases, please drop me an email and I will give you his email address.

Try to escape from Alcatraz

This puzzle made of trespa, a solid material, is one of the puzzles made by Robrecht Louage, a Belgium puzzle designer.
It measures 9cm x 7.5cm x 1.3cm, so not a big puzzle that you can easily put in your coat.
I cannot say more of the other materials used for this puzzle because it may give you clues about how to solve this one...I put this puzzle in the label "trick opening boxes" which was Robrecht's designation, but as you can see it has nothing to do with, for example, the Karakuri's trick opening boxes!
If you are familiar with Robrecht's puzzles, this one is no exception to the rule and have an euro coin to be released. So in reality, you pay a little bit less your puzzle if you take the euro coin and replace it by a plastic coin :-)

The beginning

The design of the box is very good because the name fits perfectly with the design of the puzzle. And don't worry, this is easier to solve this puzzle rather than escaping the real Alcatraz jail!!
I find rather ironical to replace the German euro coin that was at the beginning by a euro coin that has a royal face, here it's a Belgium coin (but a Spanish coin would have also worked), to make a real prisonner. I think it was Robrecht's first idea, but perhaps he lacks of those coins.

The goal of this puzzle is to open the box and it requires several steps, the first one being the trickiest one in my opinion.
When you move the puzzle you can hear things inside but you will never be able to see the real mechanism even when it is solved, unless you completely break the puzzle, which will be unusuable thus...

I am on the good way...

As I knew all the material used for this puzzle, I did not have a lot of difficulties to open it, but I must admit that I did not understand totally how I solved this one, because I just turned the puzzle upside down, pull and push the slider...And it opened!!
So I asked Robrecht if he could send me the internals of the pictures and it became clearer.
Yes I like having the internals (as well as the solutions!) because I feel a little bit frustrated if I cannot see the whole mechanism...I want to admire the mechanism!

Solved !!! I am out of jail now!

To conclude, if you like Robrecht's puzzles and you want to buy an affordable puzzle, don't hesitate.
You can find this puzzle on Puzzle Master Webshop.

Of course, the solution exists !!