(Click to Enlarge)

My latest acquisition is more than a simple puzzle. Invented by Boaz Leicht, the DBox is a construction set that allows you to create on you own endless challenges and solve many existing puzzles. If you're not already convinced, keep reading.

I'm sure many of you are familiar with the LiveCube concept, also a similar construction set. Now, I don't have a LiveCube set to compare the two. However, judging from the comments of my fellow puzzle blogger Brian Pletcher, who tried both sets, the DBox cube connections are more stable, as they are twisted together instead of just pressed together.

A DBox set comes with 32 unit cubes. From those, 24 are connector cubes and the remaining eight are receptors. Each unit cube measures 2.5cm (1") and they come in two colors, yellow and blue. Each connector cube has a pin and five holes. They easily attach with each other by connecting two units and twisting them 90º to form a tight bond. Detaching the cubes is equally simple and easy. The receptors have holes in all sides and are used in each segment, for a total of eight. By creating segments of two or more units in any configuration desired, you can create pretty much anything from 2D to 3D challenges.

The possibilities of the DBox are endless and I could be here all day trying to describe each and every one of them. Instead, I'm just going to highlight a few of them and direct you to where you can find many more, so you can get a fresh new challenge whenever you like. Also, each DBox comes with a 30 page booklet that gives you a very good sense of what you can do with your puzzle set. A great source for many other challenges is the "Puzzle Will Be Played..." website. Here, there are literally dozens of puzzles that can be easily built with your DBox set.

2D Challenges:

(Click to Enlarge) - 5x5 Grid Common to Many 2D Challenges

First, I'll start with the 2D Challenges. Many of these are simple and ideal to getting accustomed to the DBox.

The biggest square grid you can do with one DBox set is a 5x5 with 25 units (above), or a 6x5 rectangular grid, if you use 30 units, or even an 8x4 if you use all of them. From these grids, there are many ways to dissect them in multiple flat segments and create countless puzzles. To get the most out of these, try it with another player. Each one of you dissects a given shape into a few segments and gives it to the other to solve it. For an added difficulty, build the segments in a checkered pattern so that the solution to the challenge is also a checkered grid. Below, you can see a couple of these 2D Challenges, that can be solved into a 5x5 grid.

Besides the 2D dissections, you can also create 2D pattern matching puzzles. In the photos below, you can see one of such puzzles thought up by me. Given the eight square segments as seen from the picture, try to place them side-by-side, forming one of those two shapes, so that each unit cube is next to another one of the same color (the arrangement of the segments in the first picture shows the color rules). This is relatively easy to accomplish, however, if you want to add a little more complexity, try to build this concept, but with a second set. The higher number of segments will surely create a tougher challenge.

3D Challenges:

(Click to Enlarge) - 3x3 Cube

The 3D challenges can be a little tougher, but also much more rewarding when you solve them. Here, the variety of challenges is far greater than 2D, so there's plenty to try before you even start to get tired of them.

Probably, the most obvious 3D puzzle you can build with your set is the classic Soma Cube by Piet Hein, with seven pieces or segments. The Nob's Cube or the Impuzzables (Red Impuzzable is shown in one of the photos) are other interesting choices of a 3x3 cube dissection that you can try as well. Below, in the pictures are a few examples of these.

Of Course, a 3x3 cube isn't all you can do as a 3D puzzle. You can also build 3D structures, as shown below. The pictured example is a Step-Star puzzle sculpture by Tom Longtin.

(Click to Enlarge) - Step-Star

You can find on the DBox website or on their Youtube Channel, other interesting challenges or strategy games, many of which suited for two players. One of these is called Symmetrix Duo. The basic rules are as follows: Check the shape chart at the bottom of this page. The players agree on a shape that will be used as the challenge. After distributing the unit cubes as 12 connectors and 4 receptors to each player, you are then required to build 4 segments of your choice that will build the correspondent shape of the current challenge and pass them scrambled to your opponent. The first to solve the shape, wins. For other Strategy Games, check out this page. Stay tuned to their Youtube channel, as they release occasionally competitions where you can win a few prizes, with money included.

To DBox is available at Amazon for about $25 USD.

Closing Comments:

The DBox puzzle is an ambitious and fascinating concept. The diversity of puzzles and challenges you can create is staggering and I believe you won't find many other puzzles out there that are so cost-effective. Just imagine if you had to buy all the puzzles you can easily build with your set. It's an overwhelming thought. The DBox is a powerful game tool that will surely keep you entertained for many months to come without the slightest sign of boredom. If you do get tired of all existing challenges out there, why not create your own puzzles? - If you do, you can share your creation with the DBox community by sending them an e-mail.

My only advice? - If you can afford it, buy two sets, as it will widen much more the number of possible challenges (4x4 cubes, for example)... As if the available ones weren't enough already.

(Click to Enlarge)

Update (March 16): A week ago, I reviewed Bill Cutler's Splitting Headache, although a couple of days ago, I learned that this puzzle is not exactly a true replica of the original design. Note that the copy available from Brilliant Puzzles is not manufactured by the designer. The difference lies in a single piece and it's enough to ruin the solving experience Bill wanted for his puzzle. To avoid spoiling the challenge for you, I'll just mention that it has to do with the checkerboard pattern. If you have this copy, it's possible to fix it with this method, otherwise I would urge you to get an original copy from Bill himself. It's more expensive, but you get what you paid for, the puzzle as it should be. Below are two pictures that show the difference in the troubling piece. The left photo shows the incorrect piece and the right one, the correct. What follows is the original review published a week ago.


The Complex Cube is one of my favorite puzzles, currently available at Brilliant Puzzles. Designed by Bill Cutler in 1991, it was originally called Splitting Headache, because as the designer claims, you must use both sides of your brain to solve it - Your left side is responsible for logical thinking and your right side for solving problems intuitively. It was Bill Cutler's exchange puzzle at IPP 11.

The puzzle has nine pieces in a checkered pattern and your task is to build a cube with them. What appears as a simple 3x3 cube is in fact a mixture of half cubes with whole cubes. The pieces are all different, although two pairs are similar in configuration, differing only in color pattern or mirror effect. Another curious aspect of the pieces is that most of them are a combination of three unit cubes, again with the exception of two pieces, that have an area of 3.5 and 2.5 unit cubes each.  This is definitely a complex cube.

(Click to Enlarge) - The 9 Pieces

The presentation of the puzzle is stunning and has a very attractive design. It comes in a beautiful wooden stand with two square plexiglass sheets on both sides. The stand is not very practical for assembling though, so it's better to solve the puzzle on a table and use it only as display once solved.

The quality is also superb, one of the best I've seen in a while. The wooden pieces are carefully polished and beveled on the edges, and look like they've been glazed with a transparent coating, enhancing the contrasting two-toned colors and leaving them with a very smooth surface.

(Click to Enlarge)

Given the peculiar nature of the pieces, I was expecting the puzzle to be a tough challenge... And so it was. It took me about an hour and a half straight, with no interruptions, to see the cube shape finally done. Forget the checkered pattern. While it may be used as a guide to see which pieces can be used in a specific place, it won't help you much in simplifying your job.

My strategy, or better, the one that finally paid off, was to separate the pieces in two groups and start with the most complex ones. I then checked which ones could be joined together, while maintaining the 3x3 limits. Easier said than done, but I'm sure you get my point. After a few unsuccessful attempts and a splitting headache, the puzzle was solved.

The Complex Cube is available at Brilliant Puzzles for a very affordable $12.95 USD.

(Click to Enlarge)

Closing Comments:

The Splitting Headache is most certainly among Bill Cutler's best designs. A very challenging puzzle, coupled with an amazing presentation and sublime quality, definitely makes for an absolute must to any puzzle collection.

(Click to Enlarge)

Continuing with puzzles that have multiple challenges to solve, today's featured puzzled is the Dee Cube by Dee's Invention Corporation in Canada.

The puzzle is comprised by fifteen different pieces that can be assembled into a 4x4x4 cube (read the comments for extra info), but there's much more to it than just building your average cube, as with the Dee Cube's pieces, there are literally thousands of 3D shapes you can create (as of now, there are 59 known shapes).

(Click to Enlarge) - All 15 Pieces

A nice feature of the Dee Cube is that among the fifteen pieces, there are seven that can be used to build the classic 3x3x3 Soma Cube. Since it's a smaller cube than the 4x4x4, it's easier to assemble, in theory... I actually think it's harder, but maybe that's just me. Knowing that there are more than 6000 shapes built by the Soma Cube pieces, then imagine what you can build with a Dee Cube.

I was pleasantly surprised by the size of the puzzle, which is bigger than I thought. It comes packaged in a rectangular shape with 8x4x2 unit cubes (same in inches and 20cm x 10cm x 5cm) and the pieces are made from solid plain wood. There's a smaller size available, with the same number of pieces, packaged in a 3" cube (7.6cm).

My first challenge right after I took it apart was to assemble the cube. This proved to be quite an easy task, as I mainly stacked together the pieces with just the four unit limit in mind and it was done in a couple of minutes. I think the shape of some pieces makes it easier to assemble. However, the easiness of the puzzle stops with the cube shape, though.

(Click to Enlarge) - 4x4x4 Cube

As I started to attempt solving other shapes, I could see how frustrating some of them could be. It's easy when you only have to think about a cube form, but it can be seriously tough to get the right pieces in the right places. There are a some shapes easier than others, so in the beginning, it's best to tackle the easiest  first and when you master them, move on to the harder ones.

(Click to Enlarge) - "A"

One simple shape, or two actually, are the Wall and Tower. These can be used as a training for higher difficulty levels. To assemble these two shapes, you'll be using all fifteen pieces, so start by separating the 2D pieces from the 3D ones. Next, from the two groups, build the Wall followed by the Tower. While the Tower is a little bit harder to solve than the Wall, you should be able to assemble both within 10 minutes or so. After this, the other shapes won't look that much difficult.

(Click to Enlarge) - Tower & Wall

Another thing that you can try for yourself is creating your own shapes. Now, unless you build something just by stacking pieces and ending up with a random solid shape, this is much harder to accomplish than you'd think. If you think of a particular shape and want to assemble it with all the pieces, you have to account for the total number of unit cubes necessary to build it. Designing and planning are necessary, but it's definitely an interesting challenge.

If you need an incentive to create new shapes, then you got one. There's currently a contest going on the Dee Cube's website for the person that can build as many new figures as possible. There's over $500 in the prize fund, but it can go up to $1000. To know more, check out this page.

Closing Comments:

Having so many shapes to solve is a big plus for the Dee Cube. There's something for every level of play, depending on your solving skills. However, the minimalist packaging with the loose pieces is something that could have been improved. A plastic container, for example, because when you're done with the puzzle there's nothing for you to store the pieces in. Other than that, I can definitely recommend the Dee Cube to anyone interested in Soma-type puzzles.

(Click to Enlarge)

Today, I'm reviewing another Swiss made puzzle, the SwissMad. It's a Slide Puzzle designed by Olivier Pahud and it was entered at the 24th IPP Design Competition, back in 2004.

The SwissMad has twelve tiles, six red and six white and two sliding platforms that move vertically. Now, the interesting part is that the puzzle is double-sided, so on the backside you also have the same number of tiles and two sliding platforms as well. The only difference is that they move in the perpendicular direction in relation to the front side. Each platform movement can slide the equivalent of two tiles, up and down or left and right, depending on the side you're maneuvering.

At first, you might get a little confused about how the puzzle works, but with time and practice it does become much  easier to recognize how a movement is going to affect the other side and vice versa. The SwissMad sort of reminds me about the Svetnashki. I know the number of tiles are not the same and the concepts are different, but I can see a similarity in the pattern making principle. Both are great puzzles.

What I like about this sliding puzzle is that there are many goals and challenges for you to try and solve. The most basic one is to just think about a specific pattern and recreate it in one of the puzzle's sides. For a harder challenge, try to recreate one of the eight predetermined patterns (engraved at the corners of both sides) and see if you can solve its possible combinations on the other side at the same time. This is what the puzzle is all about. Every movement that you perform on one side, affects the tiles on the other side as well, making it extremely difficult to build a pattern on one side, while keeping the other from scrambling. For example, one red tile can have a counterpart on the opposite side being either red or white. When you're moving a particular tile, you have to take into account which color you need for the pattern on the other side, red or white. This will require a good strategy and planning ahead. For a more in depth look on this kind of challenge, see this page.

Besides those challenges, there are many others to keep you busy. You can build a total of thirteen different symmetrical patterns. For an added difficulty, try to find which of these are possible to build on both sides at the same time. Not an easy task.

(Click to Enlarge) - Symmetrical Pattern

For extra patterns, you can create designs that represent each and every letter of the alphabet, as well as the numbers from 0 to 9 and some punctuation marks. You can check out all these patterns here. You don't have to restrain yourself to the same square orientation. If you rotate the puzzle 45º and look at it as a rhombus, there are other nice patterns you can build (See below). There's a cool virtual version here, if you want to try it before buying the actual physical puzzle.

My SwissMad puzzle came from the SwissMade.com website. They have all kinds of other cool Swiss made products as well. While you're on that, I recommend trying their premium Swiss chocolate bars, which are considered one of the best chocolates in the world.

Closing Comments:

A slide puzzle combined with the challenge of pattern-making. How much more could a puzzle enthusiast ask? There's plenty of challenges to keep you entertained for hours and plus, the size of the puzzle makes it portable enough to carry it with you anywhere.

(Click to Enlarge)

Today's post is my ninth review for a Jean Claude Constantin's puzzle. By now, I have lost count of the number of his designs I have in my collection, but my guess is that it's between 20 to 25, and that's probably not even a quarter of all his creations.

Now, regarding the actual Fact puzzle. The white square gives you a sense of the piece's units (2cm [.8"]). The clever part about this puzzle is that the rectangular tray area looks as a 6x5 unit grid, while in fact it's not exactly 6 units (12cm [4.72"]), but more like 5.9 units (11.7cm [4.61"]), and here lies the interesting fact - There's no way to pack all the pieces with a right angle inside the tray. You have to find a more unconventional method.

I got this puzzle roughly a couple of months ago and at the time, I remember it took me around five minutes to solve it. I had probably a little bit of help by lady luck, but still impressive for this kind of puzzle and a 7/10 in PuzzleMaster's rating scale. After I've solved it, I put the pieces back into their original state and stored it. Just before starting to write the review, I thought I'd give it another go to have a fresh perspective on its concept. With all the puzzles I've been reviewing in these past weeks, I had completely forgotten the solution. This time around, it took me 15 minutes or so to finally solve it. I guess lady luck was out and about...

I won't tell you exactly how to solve it, but I can give you a hint: the A is the key piece you have to worry about. You can see the solution here, but I advise against it if you want to try it for yourself, as ultimately, that's the beauty of solving puzzles.

The Fact puzzle came from PuzzleMaster and costs about $20 CAD. There is a similar version of this puzzle, also by Constantin and it's called Wetten, Dass (German for "wanna bet that"), but it has two different challenges with a movable arrow and as it appears from the photo, an extra piece as well.

Closing Comments:

After all these Constantin's puzzles and reviews, I'm yet to find one of his designs I didn't like. The Fact puzzle is a great example of what a good packing puzzle should offer you as a puzzle enthusiast - A deceptive solution and a rewarding feeling of accomplishment of something apparently tough to do.

Links:

(Click to Enlarge)

Naef Spiele is a Swiss company that carries a wide range of toys and puzzles, crafted with high-level quality and great design features. One of their products, the Mosaik, is a great example of such excellence. It's a Pattern Puzzle designed by Kathrin Kiener and there's no particular goal. Depending on your creativity, you can create thousands of colorful designs and patterns with the colored blocks.

As obviously suggested by its name, the puzzle has an outstanding array of colors distributed in three different mosaic blocks. Each cube has four different colors - four of its faces have a single color and the other two opposite faces have two colors tones separated diagonally, from the existing four colors. So, in total, there are 18 different color arrangements in 36 blocks placed in a 6x6 grid. Definitely a lot of room for creativity here.

(Click to Enlarge) - Left: All 18 color arrangements inside the tray

Each wooden block measure 2.5cm in length (about 1"), with the colors carefully applied and the tray, with a stylish black finish measures 17cm (6.70"). Worth noting are the cut tolerances in each block. They are so well crafted that they fit perfectly side by side inside the tray. You only notice the block edges because of the color difference between them. Now, as you would expect from colored wooden blocks, there are a few noticeable tiny blemishes here and there, but nothing that will ruin the overall look of a finished pattern.

If you ever played with a pattern puzzle like this, you know that it's possible to build all kinds of designs with the blocks. Most puzzles have various shapes printed on a single block, sometimes one for each face. With the Mosaik, it's not like that, as you only have two possibilities. You either have a two-toned diagonally pattern or a single colored face. However, while it lacks from shape variety, it most certainly compensates with a rainbow of colors.

Building a pattern is a joy and extremely fun. There are so much color possibilities that even thinking of a new pattern is a challenge in itself. Most of the times, I'd start with just a four block combination and then would continue from there, depending on how I felt the pattern was looking out.

If 36 blocks aren't enough for you though, there is a solution... Naef Spiele also has available a version of the Mosaik puzzle that comes with an incredible 100 blocks. I can only imagine how long it takes to build a pattern with this number of blocks - probably about half an hour, as I need about 10 minutes or so to build one with my 36 block version.

Naef Spiele has a few more pattern puzzles like this as well, also with very interesting designs: The Ikamo, with round patterns in red, blue, green and yellow; The Imago, which allows you to create beautiful optical-illusion patterns and finally, The Versi, with straight line patterns, in black and white colors only.

Closing Comments:

In my collection, I have a couple of puzzles like the Mosaik, although they're much smaller and come in a 3x3 grid. However, I feel like the Mosaik is a totally different puzzle. Its quality is superb and unmatched, which is expected from a Swiss made product, not to mention the mesmerizing patterns one can create out of the colorful blocks. Although the puzzle is not exactly what you would call a tough challenge, even though that's not what it's supposed to be in the first place, it does heighten your sense of creativity. I guess a big part of me always liked to play with blocks, so maybe that's why I enjoyed this puzzle so much. Not bad for 36 colored blocks...

More Patterns:

(Click to Enlarge)

Packing Puzzles are easily one of the most rich categories within the mechanical puzzles realm, with so many different designs that even a collector, like myself, can discover a new puzzle every now and then.

The Zoo Jigsaw is one of my recent discoveries, even though they've been around for a while, but being a Packing Puzzle enthusiast as I am, I had to include it in my latest Brilliant Puzzles order.

The puzzle is comprised by eight different animals (a bison, a deer, a raccoon, a fox, a wild cat, a rabbit, a duck and a squirrel) with varying sizes and you have to pack them all in a squared wooden frame with 15.3cm in length (≈  6"). Each animal-shaped wooden piece is beautifully hand-crafted with the utmost detail with a scroll saw. I like the darker wood tone seen in most of the pieces, which gives the puzzle a much more attractive appearance.

(Click to Enlarge)

Solving the Zoo Jigsaw wasn't very hard. It took me about 10 minutes or so, but I liked the clever way some pieces fit together. There are noticeable parts in some of the pieces that perfectly fit with others, bringing the difficulty level down a bit, although it can still be challenging. The pieces are double sided, meaning that you can flip them and try to place them in a different way, thus rising the number of possibilities.

To my knowledge, the puzzle appears to have a single solution, giving the particular nature of the pieces. I have solved it multiple times and always came to the same solution. The first time I solved it, I checked with the provided solution and the only difference was that the pieces were mirrored, but that still counts as the same solution.

As of now, Brilliant Puzzles only carry this design of picture frame themed packing puzzles, even though I've seen a few others around, so I'm hoping to see more like these in the near future.

Closing Comments:

The Zoo Jigsaw was a very welcoming addition to my puzzle collection, for its uniqueness and originality. It wasn't a really tough challenge, but it's very fun and enjoyable to solve. It's definitely recommended to anyone with a slight interest in puzzles.

SOLUTION BELOW:

This is my 17th Random Pick from My Collection.

Ever since the release of the Babylon Tower and the Missing Link in the early 80's, there have been countless versions of this type of puzzles. Some were great, others not so much... The Eni Puzzles, that I am reviewing today, belong in the former category rather than the latter, in my opinion.

This type of puzzles can be seen simply as a natural evolution from the classic 2D slide tile puzzles. Invented by a Korean father/son collaboration, JongMan Kim and JeeSoo Kim, the Eni Puzzles (or Kim's Column) were made available in several different versions, varying in sizes and colors. Besides sizes and colors, you can also choose from the tile finish, braille or numbers.

From the two color schemes available, bold or pastel, I decided to go for the bold, as I already have a pastel colored puzzle, the Babylon Tower. For size, I went for the "Mini", although it's actually the most complex one with eight rows and eight columns. Compared with this, the other two versions, the "Braille" and the "Keychain", have five and four rows respectively, also with eight columns each.

Design-wise, the puzzle is very well done. The tiles have raised contours for a better manipulation and I like its size, which is smaller than I was expecting (about 6cm height [2.36"]). 

There are several challenges for you to solve, other than just scramble and get it back to the same pattern. With the puzzle, comes already included a leaflet with a few patterns to solve. If you have patience, you can also try your own designs, for a more satisfying experience. 

With eight columns and a color for each one, solving the puzzle might sound a little intimidating at first, but if you're experienced with any of the other puzzles from this category, it'll be second nature. Being a collector, but also a puzzle solver as well, I sort of found it a little boring at times. I'll explain better: For anyone accustomed to these puzzles, the solving process is simple and repetitive, so when you have so many tiles and you're trying to solve a particular challenge or a predetermined pattern, it can get pretty tedious after a while. My advice is to solve from one challenge to another without returning it to the original pattern first (single color for each column). That way it makes more sense and it's not so repetitious.

I got my Eni Puzzle from the TwistyPuzzle Store in Canada for $11 CAD. They also have the other versions available. I noticed from the Eni Puzzle's official website that they now have a cool Black & White version, although I haven't seen it for sale anywhere.

Having tried several puzzles similar in concept, the Eni Puzzle is a very nice addition to this category. While it has some plus features, like the variety of available versions and different difficulty levels and challenges, I still prefer my old Babylon Tower. It's hard to explain, but I know a certain puzzle lady that most certainly agrees with me...