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Brainwright has been issuing lots of great puzzles lately. I commend their creative department for discovering and bringing these magnificent puzzles to the masses, which otherwise could remain unknown for many of us. Fortunately for me, I already know about Kate Jones' work and her fantastic contributions to the puzzle community over the last few decades. First produced by Kadon Enterprises, the Iamond Hex puzzle is now reissued with a new look, more affordable, but all that made it a great puzzle is still present in all its glory.
Made with 12 dissimilar acrylic pieces in three colors (yellow, red and blue), the Iamond Hex puzzle features all kinds of shapes made possible by joining six equilateral triangles at different angles (hence the name Hex). No two pieces are the same and they all interact with each other in different ways. This makes the puzzle quite versatile, so you can create countless patterns and figures beyond the main puzzle featured in the provided tray.
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There are many solutions for the main petal-shaped puzzle. By mixing and combining the colors in different patterns, you can find a total of 55 solutions, some of which are very difficult to solve, like getting all three colors grouped. Kate Jones' puzzles are always a joy to play with, because of their many solutions and possible shapes you can create with the puzzle's given pieces - They give you a lot of bang for your buck, and are worth every penny.
The Iamond Hex comes packed with lots of challenges, like symmetrical shapes and other interesting puzzles using only some of the pieces. For example, with just four pieces you can create double-sized models of each of the 12 hexiamonds. Which pieces to use will of course be up to you to find out. An even more difficult challenge is to make a tripled model of 9 of the hexiamonds, since three of them are not possible. Doing all of them will certainly keep you busy for a while, if you don't give up by then.
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The most interesting challenges, however, are the symmetrical shapes you can create out of the tray. There are hundreds of possibilities to discover, and included in the booklet are 15 for you to solve. Be warned, though, these are very difficult, because you won't have the tray to guide you by limiting the edges of your puzzles. This is why the symmetrical shapes are so challenging, but also so addicting.
Finally, if you like to play strategy games, you can play a couple of them, included in the booklet. Rules and explanation of the games are easy to understand, so anyone will be able to enjoy playing with friends.
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Closing Comments:
Whether you like to play solo or with someone, you can be certain that you will thoroughly enjoy Brainwright's Iamond Hex. There are hundreds of challenges and solutions here to make any puzzle fan happy for a while, and for under $20, it's difficult to find a better choice to occupy your free time in the next few weeks.
Availability: I got my copy of the Iamond Hex puzzle from PuzzleMaster, which is available for just $16.99. Check out many other interesting puzzles from Brainwright.
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