Layer 8 by Yuu Asaka

It's been a long time since I have not reviewed a puzzle by Yuu Asaka, my bad!

So, let me introduce you the "8 Layer" puzzle composed of.... 8 pieces and a tray! 

 

The tray and the pieces have some protudent parts and the challenge is to find out how to not be blocked by them. There are several ways obviously apart from putting into holes...but no spoilers here.

Initially I tried to do so, then I tried to be a bit creative (which ended up being a little bit useless) and finally I solved it. Yes, I am pretty proud considering the number of possibilities how to put each piece inside the tray.

It gave me way less trouble than Duct 23 while Duct 23 is supposed to be less challenging. Was I lucky??

 

I really like Layer 8 because it gives you a nice challenge with only 8 pieces, the colors are bright and the fit is super precise as usual. By the way, I noticed that one of the pieces have the name of the puzzle engraved on it. Maybe I missed that on the other puzzles, but I am pretty sure that it's the first time I see that.

 

If you like a challenging puzzle and you're a sucker for packing puzzles in general or Asaka puzzles, you cannot go wrong with this one!

 

It's available on Puzzle Master website.

 

 I am still waiting for a 1 piece packing by Yuu... Just saying :) 

 

Creep 2 by Yuu Asaka

Yuu Aska is still expending his [name]&[number] puzzle design and after his Pond 12, now comes Creep 2, consisting as the name suggests of only 2 pieces.

It's also his first puzzle to have a restricted access to the pieces with your hands but you still have enough acces to be able to manipulate the 2 pieces.

It's one of the easiest Asaka's but in my opinion also one of the most enjoyable (maybe also because I managed to solve it on my own?...)

First of, the pieces: they are very colorful and look original. They remind me of a crab shape with 2 eyees and will meet at a certain point inside the frame.

As you can assume just looking at the puzzle, it will be a little "try and try again" until you find the trick. Initially I imagine what the trick could have been, but I was wrong and the second trick that could be employed here came to my mind and bingo! Then, the 2 pieces dance around each other to finally meet and the puzzle is solved.

I really hope that Yuu can come up with a 1 piece packing puzzle. Plenty of ideas can be implemented and I am sure that it will be brilliant when the time comes.

If you're a fan of packing puzzle and/or Yuu Asaka's packing puzzle, you definitely need this one!

You can buy it at Puzzle Master webshop

You can also buy a bundle for a reduced price

Some recent Yuu Asaka's

Yes I know I reviewed before some packing puzzles in the same spirit as the Yuu Asaka's tricky packing puzzles, but this time I will speak about 2 pretty recent ones Green 13 and Record 6

So as a warm-up: record 6 !

Record 6 is a nice puzzles composed of circles. Personally I like that the tray has not the same shape as the previous puzzles. It's always nice to see some differences in the tray and I like that one. I bet that you understand a bit how you will have to proceed with this puzzle. Despite being the easiest Yuu's and despite it's mostly trials and errors, I enjoyed it a lot.

It does not have to be hard to be enjoyed and that gave me a nice puzzling journey. Each plexi circle has some small holes of protudent pieces that need to fit inside other holes. Basically when I mean "trials and errors", it's because you will try one configuration, flip the piece, and do so again and again for each piece. At you should solve it soon this way. Jigsaw 16 and Bird 11, his other "trial and error" puzzles were harder but less enjoyable from my point of view.

As usually the quality is wonderful and the fit is perfect. This is a puzzle that you can easily share with a friend while avoiding frustration (due to the difficulty).

Green 13 is probably, on the opposite, one (if not the most) of his most difficult puzzles. Luckily for you there is no trickery with the pieces: you need to pack the green pieces inside the tray and the white rounded pices inside the holes formed by the shape of the pieces. I was sure there was something tricky there and the the white pieces must be put in some "unusual" place, but not at all. 

But clearly it maybe make the solve easier, but definitely not easy at all, and will require many hours of thinking.

I enjoyed it but I prefer something a bit less challenging though :)

Now, when will Yuu be making puzzles with triangle shapes??

You can buy Record 6 on Puzzle Master wbeshop, same thing for Green 13 !!

Yuu Asaka made it again!! Wave 5 & Ice 9

So here comes the time to review the latest 2 puzzles designed and made by Yuu.

Some points good to mention before: the quality is still very good with a great contrast of colors between the color of the pieces and the color of the tray.
Also this time the pieces are not transparent, so less prone to fingerprints. And I like the smoothness of these pieces!

So let's start with the first: Wave 5
Like its brother you have some wave-shaped pieces to pack inside the tray.
How difficult can it be? Well it's hard, it's puzzling, it's fun!
I was wondering why Yuu seemed to make difficult puzzles and then easier after. Like for example he released jigsaw 29 and then jigsaw 19, and clearly 19 is easier than 29.

Some may think it's easier then. Well wave 7 was super hard. Wave 5 is maybe a little bit less hard, but it's still very challenging and not that way easier.

I cannot say more, but you will have your "aha-moment" for sure pretty soon in your puzzling journey ;)

It took me a lot of time, way more than I expected. I like it a lot.

Now, Ice 9: the beast!!

Some nice pieces with weird angles.....The challenge is that you have many pieces that can go with many other due to the rounded or curved angles of the pieces. So a lot of possibilities to put the pieces together....and obviously you will have some holes as the pieces cannot cover the whole tray.

This is probably the most difficult puzzles in the whole series (as of now...who knows about the future hahaha) and this will keep you puzzling for long time. 

Trust me the "aha-moment" comes at the very end...and you really realize how Yuu is a very devilish guy. He likes to put you on the wrong way and you will do so....until you try new things.....

As with his previous puzzles, I can only say that you should definitely buy both puzzles. 

You can click on the link of each puzzle to see where you can buy them. I don't think these puzzles are limited edition, but they may take "a bit" of time to make, so if you're in a hurry to be "puzzle-tortured", hurry up and send Yuu an email ;-)

 

 

Solution for Wave 5

 

Solution for Ice 9

 

 

If you want to get all the Yuu's puzzle in one go and have a nice reduction in price: here

Wave 7

After his 2 jigsaw puzzles, Yuu Asaka keeps on designing nice plexi packing puzzles and this time it have like wave-shaped pieces.

The goal is still the same and the challenge is still high! And it's definitely more difficult than the jigsaw 19 as you have a lot of possibilities to put the pieces inside the tray.

You will notice that some pieces fit perfectly with others when they have the right orientation and you will also soon realize that you will have to put some pieces vertically and some others horizontally. Now the challenge is: which pieces... :-)

I needed a bit of help for this one and even with the help it was still challenging. 

The puzzle does not require any force to make the pieces fit inside the tray. The fit is absolutely perfect like Yuu's other packing puzzles. So you need to think about to put 2 pieces so that the gap between them and outside of them is as small as possible, so that you can "save" some space for the other pieces. You need to take into account the shape of the pieces and experiment if you can put such or such piece inside them.

To conclude: a puzzle that will puzzle you for long time!

If you want to buy it, you can go HERE.

I would not be surprised if it pops up at next design competition ;)
We'll see!

Solution here!

Jigsaw 19

Yuu made Jigswaw 29 that I reviewed previously and he made 2 new puzzles.
So far I have only solved one, so the other one will be reviewed later.

It's called: jigsaw 19. And the goal is the same: just pack the pieces inside the tray!
"Just"?....

Well if you have played with his bog brother you will see the same features that differenciate this puzzle from a regular jigsaw puzzle.

It took me less time to solve (well there are fewer pieces also) and knowing the special features of these puzzles, I tried another approach. Trying to see which piece goes with which. And I ended up with some "packs" and put them together.

Sometimes a piece can also go with several, but you will soon realize if you're doing things right or not :)

In terms of quality: perfect! Nothing to say. The fit is perfect as well and the colors well choosen. The only drawback with plexi is that it attracts dust :-(

In terms of difficulty: no doubt it's challenging. Lesss than its big brother though. For me it's better to start with this one. And give it to non-puzzle friends and watch their face when trying to solve the puzzle hahaha.

You can go to Puzzle Master webshop to get your puzzle. The other packing from Yuu is pretty different and super challenging! So far no real progress on it -edit: solved! :)

Solution is (as most of the time) available on Puzzle Master website!

Jigsaw puzzle 29

This seemingly innocent puzzle was designed and crafted by Yuu Asaka for IPP design competition in San Diego (2018) and it received a prize!

Many times I wonder why such or such puzzle receives a prize because in my mind it's not deserved. I mean, all puzzles are usually nice, but most of the time (if not always....) the jury committee does not choose puzzles that really deserves to be awarded!!! What's going on in their head?....

So I was thinking: "why the hell did this jigsaw puzzle received a prize"?....until I got one and started to play with it :)

Ok so first it looks very nice: the colors are well choosen.
Then the cuts are very precise and you won't need to use any force at all. I was worried with that point because it can be tricky with plexi puzzles....

Now the serious part, and why in my mind it's a good (and then why it obtained a prize) puzzle: you won't solve it in a "conventional way".
I mean, usually with jigsaw puzzles you know how to start, right? Do the same thing (yes, please do!) won't lead to anywhere and so you will soon realize that you will have to think way more!!
And yes you need to pack all the pieces flat inside the tray :-)

This puzzle is very difficult and could only come from a crazy devilish puzzle designer's mind ;-)

With many possibilities and pieces that have the same color, this puzzle will puzzle you for long time.
With a low price, this is clearly worth the money.

Did I said that Yuu is from Japan and Japan has the best postal service in the world?...Yes it already happened that I got a package 4 days after it's been mailed. Impressive!!

You can check Puzzle Master webshop to get your copy. Maybe you will get too much frustrated and need the solution?