If there's one thing that I learned from almost 10 years of puzzling is to identify puzzles from the most notorious and prominent puzzle designers just by looking at them. That's what happened to one of the most recent Hanayama Cast Puzzles, the Mobius, designed by Oskar van Deventer from The Netherlands. If you don't know Oskar's creations, he is a master of mazes. Many of his puzzles involve you navigating something through a series of obstacles and paths, and the Cast Mobius is no different...well, a little different. The theme for the puzzle is "Belt" - The question is: Can you unbuckle it?

The design of the puzzle, as the name suggests, is inspired by the Möbius Strip, discovered by two mathematicians, August Ferdinand Möbius and Johann Benedict Listing. There's a ring locked inside the strip and many obstacles on its surface, which will make your job of releasing the ring that much harder. It is a level 4/6 puzzle, as rated by the manufacturer, so a moderate challenge awaits you.

The puzzle has the Hanayama distinctive feature of contrasting colors between the two pieces, with the strip being made of a material that looks like brass, and the ring made from plain old aluminum. Both pieces are well made and polished, a standard with all Hanayama puzzles.

It's hard to classify this puzzle solely as a 2D or a 3D maze. My take is that it's neither and both - Maybe the correct answer is 2.5D...

The ring has a diameter larger than the strip, so it can navigate in any direction, as long as it doesn't encounter any of the many obstacles lying around in the strip's surface. While attempting to solve the puzzle, you'll find obstacles on both sides of the strip, so you'll need to be constantly flipping the puzzle to see where you should go. Keep in mind that the exit point to release the ring is the same as the starting point.

To be honest, I didn't find this puzzle to be as challenging as the manufacturer makes it seem. The puzzle looks a little intimidating at first, but with a little trial and error you should be able to solve it in under 10 minutes or so. I think it's more a level 3 than a 4. Putting the ring back is not that challenging either. There are multiple ways to find a path to the exit, though. Some quicker than others, of course.

Solution: You can download the solution for this puzzle here.

Closing Comments:

Even though I found the Cast Mobius a little easier than I would like, I still think it's a fun puzzle to play with, and a nice challenge, especially for anyone not that familiar with puzzles. It's one of the most impressive designs in the Hanayama series, and that's a great achievement by Oskar van Deventer.

Availability: PuzzleMaster is the way to go for everything Cast Puzzles, including the beautiful Cast Mobius. All the others in the series are also available here.