Newton's Egg by Stephen Chin

This puzzle was Stephen Chin's exchange puzzle at IPP30 in Japan. I had seen photos of Stephen's work before, but this was the first that I have had the pleasure of trying.

The goal is to open the egg, and the hint is that it is based on Newton's three laws of motion. This particular copy is made out of Huon Pine, which gives it a nice aroma. I was intrigued by the hint and decided to buy a copy.

When I got it, it arrived it a plastic tube and was wrapped in a kid's sock. It also included a tippe top made out of colored pencils that had been glued together and turned on a lathe! This is one of Stephen's 'signature' techniques. It also included the captured ring stand you seen in the photo on the right. The ring can't come off the stand because the diameter is too small, so it is sort of an impossible object. Of course, he achieves this by carving both the stand and the ring out of a single piece of wood. Stephen is a master of the lathe!

It is quite nicely crafted, with a smooth finish. At first, it looks completely impenetrable. I had no luck just trying to take it apart, so I figured there must be a locking mechanism of some sort. I immediately noticed that there is a rather pronounced rattling when I shook it, so I thought it might have some kind of gravity mechanism.

When I actually figured it out about 10-15 minutes later, I was quite surprised at the simplicy and cleverness of the mechanism! It is simple enough that I would have thought it had been done before, but I'd never seen anything like it. Additionally, it could not have been possible if it weren't for Stephen's excellent craftsmanship. It is a fun one to open, I find myself going back to it now and then just for kicks. Once you know the trick, it isn't hard to do, but folks could struggle with this for a little while their first time.

Overall, this is a great puzzle and I'm glad that I got it. I look forward to seeing what Stephen will come up with next year!

TenPlate Puzzle

As I mentioned in the Part 5 of my series of posts about the 2010 Rochester Puzzle Picnic, Jeff Aurand gave a talk about writing a computer program to solve all TenPlate puzzles. At the end of his talk, he had a drawing for a copy of this puzzle, and I won one!

I hadn't had a chance to work on it until now, and I was curious to see how difficult it would be to solve manually. In this photo by Jeff you can see it in one of its solved positions. There are a number of solutions to it, though Jeff would have remind me how many.

The puzzle consists of ten flat pieces. There are five notches, each of which can either be tall or short. Each piece has a different combination of notches. They can be arranged as shown above to create a cube.

This puzzle was designed and made by Jean-Claude Constantin and was Luc De Smet's exchange puzzle at IPP28 in Prague. It is nicely laser cut with what appears to be a veneer of some sort, which gives it a pretty good finish for a laser cut puzzle.

I worked on it for about 20 minutes before dinner one night. My strategy was to just guess at the location of a particular piece, and try to find a combination of the other pieces that would work. When a particular arrangement wouldn't work, I'd rearrange a piece or two in hopes of remedying the issue without screwing something else up. I hoped that I had picked a location that would work for that first piece! Unfortunately I ran out of time that night and had to return to it the next day.

The next day I had a bit more time, and again continued down the same path that I started the previous day. After about 30 more minutes, I was cursing the fact that the last piece wasn't going to fit yet again. However, upon closer inspection, I noticed that it would! I was quite satisfied as the last piece slid into place.

The one thing that bugged me about this puzzle was the difficulty in lining up the pieces. Since they are fairly long, it is hard to get them quite lined up so that the grooves slide together. On more than one occasion, I would be lifting the puzzle up and wiggling pieces trying to figure out why it wouldn't slide together, only to have another piece fall out of place.

Also, it is a bit of a dexterity problem to try to get a piece out of the bottom layer without everything falling apart. I ended up just taking off most of the top layer before messing with the bottom layer, since that was usually safer.

A similar puzzle that avoids these issues is StabPuzzle by Logika Spiele. Logically it is the same idea, but physically the pieces are different. This particular puzzle is a bit simpler since it only has 8 pieces rather than 10, but the same idea could be adapted to this 10-piece puzzle. While it may be easier to manipulate, it doesn't look quite as cool as TenPlate or stay together as well.

Rob Stegmann's website has quite a bit of information on this group of puzzles, which he calls Crossed Sticks puzzles. He even wrote a solver that could solve variations of this puzzle up to 5x5. Pretty cool!

Overall, a nice little puzzle. I would say that it is fairly difficult, you'll need to be either lucky or patient when solving this one. Thanks again to Jeff for giving it to me!

Boxed In by Random Netzley

I recently had the pleasure of trying the latest puzzle box by craftsman Random Netzley of Random Woodworking. It is named "Boxed In" and Random is currently working on a limited run of 8 of these boxes. You can preorder from his website for $300 each. He was kind enough to loan me a copy to review!

As you can see from the photo, it is a striking box. I really liked the use of contrasting wood and it has a nice smooth finish. Its appearance is reminiscent of a framed burr, which made me curious as to how it might operate. Also, Random hinted that the name had something to do with the solution. It is fairly large for a puzzle box at 5“ long, 4.5" high, and 4.5" wide, which I thought was actually a good size for this design.

When I first tried to open the box, it seemed completely impervious. Everything seemed pretty locked down, but eventually I discovered what I thought might be the lid. Unfortunately, that didn't do me much good since it wouldn't budge!

After examining the box a bit more, I discovered the first move, which is fairly unusual. Once I found that, the rest followed fairly logically. There are a total of 3 moves before the box can be opened. The move that actually unlocks the box has a satisfying feeling as you feel it unlock.

After solving it, I could understand better how the name relates to the solution, and it is quite unusual. It isn't something that would help you solve it. This box has a rather novel locking mechinism which I haven't seen before. Pretty clever!

Overall, I think it took me about 5 minutes to solve, and it had a nice "Ah hah!" moment when I found the first move. The only negative that I can think of is that some of the details are not quite "perfect", but you'd have to study it closely to notice. However, as I mentioned before, it looks great!

I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more puzzle boxes from Random, he does very nice work and, if this box is any indication, has some interesting ideas as well! Check out the gallery on his website for more photos of both regular boxes and puzzle boxes by Random.

Silver Revomaze

The Silver Revomaze is the fourth puzzle in a series of five increasingly difficult puzzles. Check out my entries about Blue, Green, and Bronze if you'd like to read more about these puzzles. If you're not familiar with them, the entry on Blue is a good place to start so you know the basics of how they work.  Thanks to John Devost for loaning me this puzzle!

I have been working on the Silver Revomaze since March of this year, and only just solved it now. I didn't keep track, but I think it took somewhere in the range of 40-60 hours for me to complete it, which I think makes it the hardest puzzle I've had the pleasure of solving so far! This puzzle is definitely not for the faint of heart, it will take a ridiculous amount of patience.

Along with incorporating the feature that was introduced in Bronze, this Revomaze also features gravity pins, so the orientation that you're holding the puzzle in matters! This is noted on the website, so I don't think I'm spoiling anything by mentioning it. These don't turn out to be too much of a problem once you figure out how to deal with them.

After working on it briefly, I discovered a very unusual feature: there was a canyon that obstructed my path that goes all the way around the maze! Based on my understanding of the way these puzzles work, it seemed impossible for this to be true, since it doesn't seem like there could be any way to get across.

I was completely baffled! After being stumped for days, I set it aside for a few weeks. After this break, I approached it again with renewed vigor and finally was able to cross the canyon! I think it took me a good 25 hours or so just to make it past this part. I wasn't entirely sure what I had done, but I was across the canyon and didn't look back.

As soon as I started to make progress, I was immediately stuck again. The second phase of this puzzle is referred to as the swamp. It is an area that you can enter and wander around in, but it appears that there is no way to exit it other than the way that you came in. Quite baffling!

Again, I was completely stuck for days and couldn't figure out how to proceed, so I set it aside again. It became really frustrating to try the same thing over again for hours without thinking of anything new to try. Hopefully with some time, I would have some kind of inspiration.

A puzzler friend of mine Derek Bosch had solved this puzzle a while ago, and every time I would chat with him, he'd ask me how Silver was going. Usually, my reply was that I hadn't really spent much time on it recently, but I got sick of giving that answer and decided to give it another shot. After all, Derek had solved it, so I should be able to solve it as well with enough time!

I finally started putting some time into this puzzle again, and started to make what felt like progress, though I wasn't really moving forward. I was just starting to really think about the puzzle again and what my options could be. Finally, with some encouragement from Derek, I had the flash of inspiration that turned out to be the solution to the swamp!

Unfortunately, the flash of insight is only half the battle: actually implementing the solution would be really difficult, if I was correct. It turned out that I was indeed correct, and indeed it was really difficult. I can't really say any more about it without giving anything away, but suffice it to say that it is pretty insane. I was surprised that it was even possible!

Even after I had figured out what I needed to do, it took me a few more days to actually execute it correctly. Finally, a few days ago, I was able to get to the other side of the swamp! I could finally see that I was really close to the end, but I couldn't quite make it!

After a few more hours of frustration, I finally had figured it out how to get to the end. Phew! I was so excited that I called Kellian and posted on Facebook. As of the time that I'm writing this, it looks like only 27 people have solved the Silver Revomaze so far, though the list may not be entirely up to date. I don't actually own this puzzle, so I can't get on the opening order list, but here's a photo to prove that I did it!

Once I got it solved, I very carefully took it apart. Derek had warned me that it is easy to lose some of the small pieces, so I was quite careful. It was pretty stunning to see how it was actually constructed, the picture I had in my mind's eye was spot-on for certain features, but completely off for others. It is beautifully crafted and excellently designed.

One big downside to this puzzle, in my opinion, is that if you don't put it back together just right, it may end up locked forever! Because of this, I was very careful putting it back together. I didn't want to be responsible for turning John's puzzle into a very expensive paper weight.

Overall, I would say that this is a superb puzzle, but sadly only a small group of persistent solvers will be able to fully appreciate it since it is so absurdly difficult. There were a few aspects of the design that I would change somewhat, but overall it was very well done. I am quite intimidated to see what the Gold Revomaze will bring! It is sure to be packed full of even more tricky features.

Thanks again to John for loaning me this puzzle, and Derek for his encouragement! It feels pretty awesome to finally conquer this beast! 

Gordian Knot Puzzle Box

I recently purchased Robert "Stickman" Yarger's latest work, Gordian Knot Puzzle Box (Stickman #22). Robert is one of my favorite puzzle box craftsmen, but this is the first of his Stickman series that I have purchased. You can see photos and descriptions of Robert's amazing work at Jim Strayer's Puzzling Art Gallery.

I was intrigued by Robert's description of Gordian Knot:

The Stickman Gordian Knot Puzzlebox is comprised of a random latticework of over 130 intricately cut and intertwining exotic wood pieces.  The puzzle requires a minimum of at least 36 various steps of sliding, disassembling and reassembling puzzle parts within the box in order to reach its single hidden compartment. The puzzle measures 3 x 3 x 3, and is limited in edition to only 28 handcrafted pieces.

I was particularly intrigued by his statement that it would require "disassembling and reassembling puzzle parts" to solve the puzzle. This seemed to suggest that some kind of tools would be discovered, which I always enjoy in a puzzle. I could hardly wait to give it a try!

I had it delivered to my office, but unfortunately it arrived on Saturday when there was nobody to sign for it and had to wait until it was delivered again on Monday. It arrived on Monday around lunchtime, so I spent my lunch trying to figure it out.

As I unpackaged it, I marveled at the precision with which it was crafted. The box is only 3 inches square, with the pieces crafted out of 1/4 inch stock. The pieces have been milled into a number of interesting interweaving shapes, with the smallest thickness at 1/16th of an inch.

Its appearance is somewhat similar to the metal puzzles made by GarE Maxton. Unlike Maxton's work, which typically has a smooth exterior, this puzzle has a lot of concave nooks and crannies. I had a great time with The Labyrinth by GarE at the Rochester Puzzle Picnic, so I was hoping for a similarly enjoyable experience here.

It is crafted out of a ton of different woods: maple, wenge, mahogany, leopardwood, yellowheart, paduk, montechello, bloodwood, bass, and poplar. The menagerie of different colors gives it a chaotic look that is quite disorienting and leaves your eye no place to rest.

After admiring it for a bit, I set my self upon solving it! I turned the puzzle over in my hands trying to find a logical place to start, but couldn't find anything. I randomly started wiggling pieces to try to figure out what moved. Some pieces would move slightly, presumably part of the solution later, but not the starting point. I tried to figure out what pieces these pieces could be interacting with in order to hopefully follow the path back to the beginning, but that also proved fruitless since the interactions were so complex.

Eventually, I stumbled upon the correct piece and pushed it in the correct direction. A satisfying "click" was my reward as it slid to the end of its path. Ok, so that was the first move out of 36! Now that I found the first move, I was able to progress more rapidly, since I could hone my search in on the pieces that could be effected by the last piece that moved. That sounds straightforward, but sometimes a piece would unlock multiple other pieces, which made it more difficult to understand where to go next.

After about seven steps I came to a dead end: none of the pieces near the last piece that I had moved would move. I was quite puzzled for a while, as I retraced my steps trying to figure out where to go next. After some more random searching, I found about five new moves but again hit what seemed to be a dead end!

I studied the way the pieces had moved so far, and was able to logically determine that a certain piece would move in a particular way. I worked my way backwards a few steps from there and discovered the step that I had been missing. It is was pretty tricky, very nicely designed!

Since I had been studying the pieces fairly closely to determine this next step, I was able to progress through the next bit fairly quickly. There is another interesting trick along the way, but I had discovered it earlier so it didn't slow me down much.

I knew that I was getting close to the end, but I got stuck for one last time right near the end. There was one more sneaky little move that took me a while to figure out. The final move is quite clever, though I can't really go into any detail on it. It is very cool though!

At last, I had it open! It took me about 30 minutes to solve it, which was perfect for me. I was a bit puzzled at a few points, but I was able to overcome each challenge without getting too frustrated. I think most puzzlers will take somewhere in the 30-60 minute range. I think non-puzzlers would find this to be quite difficult, but enjoyable.

One thing that I haven't mentioned is the "disassembling and reassembling puzzle parts" that Robert mentioned. I deliberately excluded this from the description of my solving experience, since I didn't want to give too much away about this part. This part of the puzzle is indeed quite clever, though I didn't find it too tricky to figure out. The reassembly part is not entirely necessary, but it makes one step a bit easier.

I didn't find it too tough to close the box, it probably took me about 5-10 minutes the first time. I had a pretty good understanding of how it worked since I'd just taken it apart. Still, it is possible to get tripped up and forget which pieces must be moved first.

I had such a good time with this box that I proceeded to re-solve it several more times. To give you an idea of the length of the solution, even now that I have the hang of it, it takes me about a minute to open. Closing it takes about the same about of time.

Overall, this is a really awesome puzzle, though there were a few areas where I thought it could have been improved. The craftsmanship is very good but not quite perfect. A number of the joints have small gaps, but this is not surprising since the box is very complex. There was one spot where a piece needed to be lifted a bit to make it slide over an small ledge. One piece sort of flops out of place in an unintended way, which could tempt the solver to pry it up.

It is quite tempting to use your fingernails to help slide the pieces in a puzzle like this, and I'll admit that I resorted to it a few times. In the solution booklet, Robert actually has pointed out suggested spots to stick your fingernail. I tried solving it again without using my nails at all, and it is indeed possible, though tricky at spots. However, when I first solved it, it was hard to tell if a piece was stuck or if I just wasn't able to supply enough force by friction alone. Because of this, I'll be a bit more cautious letting folks try this one out, since it would be easy to accidentally damage it this way.

The solution sequence is really quite ingenious, it is quite surprising the way some of the pieces are related and definitely keeps you guessing. I'm quite happy with this puzzle and very glad that I splurged a bit and bought one. Robert Yarger is always coming up with interesting new boxes, and this one is certainly no exception. I can't wait to see what he'll come up with next!

Zig Zag Knot

When I was at the Rochester Puzzle Picnic, Tanya Thompson of ThinkFun was kind enough to give me a copy of one of their newest puzzles: Zig-Zag Knot. Thanks Tanya!

This puzzle is following on the success of Gordian's Knot after Gordian's Knot showed that a difficult burr could indeed be successful. Designed by Ronald Kint-Bruynseels, Zig-Zag Knot is a unique variation on the classic board burr. Rather than having flat pieces like a board burr, the pieces are shaped like Z's with the ends bent. This complicates the interactions between the pieces, since the shapes tend to interfere with each other.

It took me about 20 minutes to get it apart, though the first time I did it I used a rotational move to remove one of the pieces. This is not necessary and shortcuts the solution somewhat. Removing the first piece is probably the biggest challenge in the disassembly, I thought the second piece followed rather easily.

It is at this point that you can use a rotational move to easily remove the third piece, and for a while I was at a loss for the 'real' way to do it. Eventually I figured it out, but it took me a while to discover it. Once you have the third piece out, the rest comes apart quite easily.

I kept pretty good track of the pieces as I was taking it apart, since it was sure to be a real pain to put back together if the pieces got scrambled. Fortunately this enabled me to put it back together fairly quickly. Considering the amount of time I spent with it, I think even if I jumbled up the pieces I would remember what colors went where, which is the downside to having the pieces be multi-colored (though it looks nice!)

The solution sequence for this burr is 37 steps long, with the beginning being the most interesting and difficult part. There are plenty of dead ends that make it a challenging and interesting puzzle. It really makes you think about how the pieces interact in order to find the solution. It could take quite a while if you are just fiddling with it idly, since it would be pretty difficult to identify the correct path by chance.

The solution booklet is pretty clever: you can read through it from front to back to disassemble it, then you can turn it over and read it backwards to re-assemble it. I didn't try to follow it through the whole way, but they seem quite clearly written in case you get stuck.

Another nice feature is that the pieces have little marks on them so you can gauge how far you are moving the pieces. This is quite helpful for lining the pieces up, since it would be hard to tell otherwise.

I think the only downside to the puzzle for me is that one rotational move. It was almost a challenge to keep the pieces from rotating while I tried to find the correct solution: once I got two pieces out there was plenty of room for rotations. Still, this is not a big issue because the most interesting part of the puzzle comes at the beginning.

Overall, Zig Zag Knot is another great puzzle by ThinkFun! I am always happy to see interesting and challenging puzzles like this reach a wider market.

Cast H&H

Well, it has been quite a while since I've written about Hanayama's Cast Puzzle series! This series of puzzles was actually what ignited my interest in puzzling, and I've blogged quite a bit about it. I mentioned this to Teddy Sakamoto of Hanayama during the Founder's Reception at IPP 30, and he was kind enough to give me a copy of one of their latest puzzles: Cast H&H. Thanks Teddy!

Unlike most of the puzzles I got at IPP, I actually tried this one right away. I was quite eager to see what it was like, and how long it would take me to solve it. Would it take minutes or hours?

This puzzle was designed by Oskar van Deventer, and like many of his puzzles is like a maze. It consists of two pieces that rotate in an interesting manner, and the goal is to separate them.

I really like the simplicity of two-piece puzzles, since they need to be fairly clever to stay challenging. This one is quite similar to Cast Keyring. In Cast Keyring, the pieces are sort of C-shaped, with an opening on only one end. Cast H&H, as you would expect, has two pieces that are shaped like the letter H. It is very nicely made, with a great shiny silver finish and a good weight in your hand.

It is hard to recall, but I think I spent a good 30 minutes on this one at IPP and didn't have any luck with it. When I got home and revisited it, I was able to figure it out in maybe 20 minutes or so. Sometimes with these maze-type puzzles, a certain move just doesn't occur to you. When you finally find it, there's a nice feeling of "Ah hah! I haven't seen this before!"

There are a number of ways that this puzzle moves, one of which is particularly interesting and different from Cast Keyring. One issue that I had with this puzzle was that it is possible to force some moves that should not be possible. This allows you to shortcut the solution path somewhat, but is not a huge problem. Just try to avoid it if you want to get the full effect.

Sometimes it was hard to line the pieces up just right to execute a move, but I got better at that with practice. I would revisit what I thought was a dead end only to find that I could actually proceed.

I found it to be just as difficult to return it to its starting configuration as it was to take it apart in the first place. The move sequence is pretty long, so it is easy to forget exactly what you did when taking it apart. I think it took me a good 20 minutes to get it back together. Even after solving it once, I enjoyed solving it a few more times until I felt like I really mastered it.

Overall, an excellent puzzle by Oskar!

Sushi Puzzle Box

During our recent trip to the International Puzzle Party in Japan, my fabulous girlfriend, Kellian, was kind enough to purchase a puzzle box for me. She had been exploring the Hakone area while I was puzzling, and she came across a nice hotel that also happened to sell some Karakuri Creation Group boxes. I was quite thrilled that she selected a box my one of my favorite craftsmen, Hiroshi Iwahara!

I didn't try to solve it while we were in Japan, as was the case with most of the puzzles I got while we were there. When we got home, this was one of the first ones I tried!

It is beautifully finished and has a great appearance: I think this one will really stand out in my collection due to its unusual look. The wood is beautifully finished, and I really like the woods selected for the pieces of sushi. These nice photos are from Izumia, though they are currently out of stock on Karakuri Sushi.

This puzzle actually consists of two compartments, one in each piece of sushi. Iwahara's hint in the description is to think about "how to eat" and "how to hold" them. I started with the one on the right, which is not attached to the base.

I had a pretty good guess for how this one would work, but it still took me a good 10-15 minutes to figure out just how to open it. One panel was a bit tight and required a bit of wiggling to open up, which I think delayed me a bit. These puzzles are quite sensitive to humidity, so this is frequently the culprit. I really liked the solution, since, as the hint implies, it is quite related to sushi.

The second piece of sushi on the left is attached to the base. It took me a similar amount of time to figure this one out, about 10-15 minutes. It is sort of like a type of trick I had seen before, though a bit different. I think most will find this to be quite difficult. I have shown it to a number of people, and they have all required some encouragement in the right direction.

I think the only downside to this puzzle is the tight fit on the first piece of sushi. I'm not sure if they're all like that, but it is the case with mine. Other than that, I thought that the solutions were clever and the craftsmanship is superb!

Thanks again to Kellian for the lovely puzzle box!

Mochalov Cube and Lennox Burr

I borrowed a number of puzzles from John Devost a while ago, and for some reason I hadn't written about these yet, so it is about time!

Mochalov Cube is an interesting interlocking puzzle that was designed by Leonid Mochalov and made by the Pelikan workshop. It has quite an unusual shape, and leaves you wondering how it might work. This copy is very nicely crafted, with a smooth finish and a perfect fit.

Getting it apart isn't too tricky, but it may take a few minutes. It actually disassembles into 18 pieces, though 12 of them are identical and it is easy to tell where they go. The core of it is made up of 6 pieces that hook together in an interesting manner. It is held together by a key piece.

Getting it back together wasn't too hard, since I kept track of how the pieces came apart. Emboldened, I took it apart and scrambled the pieces. Since I had an idea of how they went together, this wasn't too tricky. It wasn't too hard to identify what pieces went where since it has a fairly logical pattern.

I think I could have done without the 12 identical pieces, they are more decorative than anything and don't really improve the difficulty. Still, it is a cool puzzle that I had a good time with!

Lennox Burr is a pretty tricky 9 piece burr designed by Wenzel Hieke and also made by they Pelikan workshop. It is non-trivial to disassemble, with a number of dead ends that make it pretty confusing. It is nicely crafted out of three different types of wood.There are two different types of pieces, 6 of one and 3 of another, which I think gives this puzzle a nice symmetry.

You would think that having so many identical pieces would make it easy to assemble, but this is far from the case! Since there are 9 pieces to deal with, I found it pretty tricky to keep track of what is going on and spent several nights trying to reassemble it. Eventually I resorted to looking at the solution for this one to get it back together. Definitely a challenge!

Thanks again to John for loaning me these great puzzles!

CMC Puzzles

The last group of puzzles that Jeff loaned to me were a series of puzzles made by CMC Puzzles in Germany. Jeff had written about each of them on his website, so I was interested in trying them out to see how I liked them. Note that all the photos are taken by Jeff.

They are all fairly inexpenve, ranging from 10 to 20 euros, which is a great price range. Here's a direct link to the section ef the CMC website that contains this category of puzzles. They are under the Technikspiele category.

This first one is Beziehungskiste, which is falsely attributed to Stewart Coffin on CMC's website. I believe that this mechanism was invented by Alan Boardman, though I have also seen a similar mechanism in other puzzle boxes. Jeff also notes this in his blog entry about this puzzle. Since I had seen the trick before, it only took a minute or two to solve.

The name means "relationship crate" though the name doesn't seem to have an obvious relationship to the mechanism. Perhaps it has additional meaning in German beyond what can be gathered from Google Translate.

It is made with a laser cutter out of plywood, the finishing is pretty rough and the fit is a bit loose. For the price, this is not unreasonable, but compared to Bits and Pieces, who also produce puzzle boxes in this price range, I prefer the natural wood used by Bits and Pieces.

Rather than purchase this, I would suggest Small Box #2 from the Karakuri Creation Group. The mechanism isn't identical, but the way of solving it is. It is much cleaner and better crafted for only slightly more money, though shipping is included.

This next one is called Bee Box. It has an octagonal shape, which I first thought was related to the bee theme, but then I realized that honey combs are hexagonal, not octagonal. Oh well! The engraving on the top is cute.

The construction quality is similar to Relationship Box: pretty loose, not particularly well finished. There are scorch marks from the laser that you can see in the photo, which looks a bit sloppy.

This puzzle has the unfortunate problem of solving itself during transit. As Jeff mentioned, it arrived solved when he got it. I initially thought that it just wasn't locked properly, but when I received it it was also unlocked! Upon inspection, I don't think the mechanism will typically be able to stay locked during shipping.

As such, if you purchase this puzzle, upon receiving it, you should give it to somebody else to re-lock it, so you can have the enjoyment of solving it. Unfortunately, I don't think it comes with instructions, so this person should be mechanically inclined so they can figure out what needs to be done. If I had done this, I think it would have taken about ten or twenty minutes to solve, but it is hard to tell. You may be tempted to use an external tool for this one, but as Jeff noted in the comments, this is not necessary!

This puzzle box is called Maple Chest, and has a nice little maple leaf on the top. The fit is slightly better on this, though the finish is a bit rough. There was some scorching on the inside of the back panel that you can see in the photo.

Similar to Jeff's experience, I was able to open this one reliably, but I'm not sure if I had the correct solution. The mechanism is not visible when the box is open, so it is hard to tell.

This could probably be opened by jiggling it around randomly enough, but my solution involved an external tool and is not particularly clever. It took me a few minutes to figure this out. I think I have a fairly good understanding of what the mechanism is like, and that is the only solution that I could figure out. I'd be interested to know if there is a better one, but I doubt it.

This box, named Mini Crate, is actually the one that took me the longest to solve, probably about 10 minutes. This was a bit surprising, since, as Jeff notes, it has the same mechanism as another puzzle box that we have both tried.

The construction and finish are similar to the other boxes. There is a slight scorch mark on the lower right of the lid. This one is quite a bit smaller than the other boxes, which makes sense given the name.

I would sugest purchasing Fake Box by the Karakuri Creation Group instead: it has the same mechanism and is much nicer looking.

The last puzzle is Bolt, also by CMC puzzles. It is pretty small, about two inches long. Unlike the other puzzles, this is not a box. The goal is to remove the metal bolt from the wooden stick.

Since this one was pretty small, the number of ways that it could work seemed fairly limited. I tried a few of the usual things that I try, and none of them worked. After studying it for a bit, I was able to figure out the solution.

It is pretty clever, and I like the compact size. It would be a good one to carry in your pocket or something, but it is a bit difficult to give to non-puzzlers. I think most will find this to be quite difficult! I think this is my favorite of these five puzzles.

Overall, I was not very impressed by the puzzle boxes from CMC, but they have a number of other types of puzzles that look pretty interesting. I would just steer clear of these particular puzzle boxes, but I enjoyed Bolt and would recommend it.

A big thanks again to Jeff for loaning me all of these puzzles! They are back in California with Jeff now, along with a number of the puzzle I recently picked up while in Japan, so you can look forward to his posts about those on MagicPuzzles.org soon.