Trinity Infinity
Share
(Click to Enlarge)
The first time I saw the Trinity Infinity puzzle, I was impressed by its design. The way the pieces were interlocked, it sort of reminded of the Cast Coaster and Oskar's Lucky Clover.
The design is an original by Doug Engel, manufactured by Bits and Pieces and measures 11,5cm x 6,5cm (4,53" x 2,56"). The puzzle is in the shape of the mathematical symbol for infinity, and is comprised of three pieces, with two of them being identical. A nice finishing touch is the tripled colored pieces, which look very nice: one golden, another one silver and the other graphite, make a nice contrast. However, the coating quality on the puzzle's pieces leaves much to be desired. There were noticeable parts where the coating was chipped off and others had a few small dents here and there. Nothing that prevents you from having a full satisfying solving experience, but appearance-wise it does look a little bad and it's beyond understandable. The small price on the puzzle is not an excuse either, because about the same price Hanayama Cast Puzzles are very high quality when it comes to coating. I do have a Cast Marble puzzle that looks awful with bubbles in the coating finish, but that was an exception to the rule.
Now, regarding the puzzle itself... The goal is to separate the three pieces from each other and then reassemble them into their original infinity design. The first part, which is to unlock the pieces, was very easy. Two of the pieces have a gap that is large enough to pass through the piece's thickness and the middle one, the golden, is closed. With very little effort, the pieces were almost separated by themselves. The second part of the task, though, was a bit more tricky. PuzzleMaster rates it as a 6/10, and this time, at least for me, it was more like a 7/10. Probably took me around 15 to 20 minutes to finally figure out their interlocking secret. The key is having the middle piece and one of the other pieces already in their finished state, so that the third one is put in place much more easily. Apparently, PuzzleMaster doesn't have a solution for this one, but if you need any help to solve yours, let me know and I can send you a scan of the solution sheet.
(Click to Enlarge)
Closing Comments:
Despite the quality of the Trinity Infinity not being the best around, the design and its challenge, especially the second part, is worth it. It's complexity is not something that will scare away casual puzzlers, but if you're experienced with disentanglement puzzles, maybe this one isn't for you.
The Trinity Infinity can be found at PuzzleMaster for $9.99 CAD
5 comments:
Mine was in pretty poor condition when I got it as well. I actually had to clean rust off of the parts that weren't properly coated! It's always such a shame when rubbish manufacturing ruins an otherwise great puzzle design.
I see that it is a general problem. I honestly don't know why Bits and Pieces can produce a puzzle like this and think that it's ok to sell it. If I was Doug Engel, I wouldn't certainly authorize a design of mine being presented in that condition.
Cheers ;-)
I have yet to get a metal puzzle from Bits and Pieces that has been nice. I was so disgusted by their last stunt that I refuse to order from them again. My Trinity Infinity looks terrible and just falls apart. No challenge there. The Mobius Threebius-exactly the same.
Wow, and I was thinking of getting the Moebius too. In that case, I have to pass. My Trinity and Cast Marble are already enough of messed up puzzles in my collection.
Well, now those two puzzles are available on Puzzlemaster, so if you want a higher quality I suppose you could try there.
Post a Comment