Continuing my Roscreative puzzle reviews, this week I will talk about the Rudenko Mosaic, a very original Slide Puzzle designed by Valery Rudenko (English). Refer to the Rudenko Disc and Rudenko Matryoshka reviews for more detailed information about each one.

The Rudenko Mosaic, as stated above, is a 10 x 12cm (4" x 4.7") slide puzzle with 16 tiles, each one containing a fragment of a whole picture that you need to scramble and rearrange. What's more interesting is that the Mosaic is a double-sided challenge. Just flip it over and you have another puzzle.

This is Roscreative's puzzle with more versions available on their website. As far as I know, there's currently 12 different Rudenko Mosaic puzzles, ranging from a wide variety of themes and pictures. From all those versions, the one that got the most of my attention was the Rudenko Mosaic - St. Basil's Cathedral, one of the most famous Russian Landmarks. Since this is a Russian puzzle, I thought it was a fitting choice. On the backside is a colorful mosaic with four colors to make several different patterns.

What distinguishes the Rudenko Mosaic from other slide puzzles is the way you play it. The concept is totally new. You have four parallel rows connected at one end by a column and one extra space for a tile. Think of this column as a common hub between all four rows. When you need one of the tiles to be placed in a different row, it has to pass through that column at the right.

Compared to the more classic slide puzzles, I would say it's a bit easier to solve and less complex. The learning curve is probably around 5 to 10 minutes. After that, it doesn't offer much challenge, but it doesn't stop it from being a very fun puzzle to play with.

The main side has basically two states, scrambled and solved. However, the backside with colored tiles has dozens of them, and to me, as a pattern making fan, it's the most fun part. There's no right or wrong with this challenge, as it's up to you how many different patterns you can create. There are four examples at the bottom of puzzle, but the number of possibilities is huge, e.g., vertical or horizontal strips, diagonals, etc.

From my experience with the puzzle in the past few weeks, and unless I'm missing something, the top right tile (viewed from the colored tiles side) is impossible to be swapped for another one. Every other tile can pretty much be placed anywhere in the matrix, but the top right corner. For that, it would be needed another extra space at the top left corner of the puzzle, just like the bottom left one. Nevertheless, there's still plenty of patterns you can do, just keep in mind that whatever pattern you think of, it has to include a red tile at the top right.

(Click to Enlarge)

Video: Youtube video made by Roscreative.

Closing Comments:

I liked every Rudenko puzzle so far, but the Mosaic has to be one of my favorites. It's a mixture of original concept, never seen before in slide puzzles, with the possibility of pattern making, something that I love about puzzles.

The wide variety of themes you can choose from is also big plus, because you don't have to get this exact copy. For example, if you like airplanes or anything related to the military, the Rudenko Mosaic - Victory Weapon (English) is the right choice for you. Of course, if you're a collector like myself and if you can get all them, that's even better.

Availability: You can buy Rudenko puzzles at Hendrik Haak's Puzzle Shop, from Germany or Labirint.ru in Russia (English translation here). For wholesale, contact Roscreative directly.

Now available on PuzzleMaster as well.

English translation of Rudenko Mosaic's page

English translation of Roscreative website

Russian Magazine Article about Valery Rudenko (English Translation)

Russian Newspaper Article about Valery Rudenko (English Translation)