Bram's Magic

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Ever since the invention of the Rubik's Cube there have been countless toys that tried to replicate the success it had, all that enthusiasm around it. It's difficult, however, to replicate not only the success but also the era that made it all possible.

Today, we have many distractions, not only in the form of other toys, but other forms of entertainment as well. Many possible Rubik's successors may pass under the radar because not many people knew about them to begin with. This is, in my opinion, what may happen to Bram's Magic. A one of a kind toy/puzzle that may be a victim of today's many distractions and a saturated market.

Put Bram's Magic in the golden 80's and you could've witnessed a major icon being born. Unfortunately, we're in 2018 and Bram's Magic is just another novelty among others. Nevertheless, that shouldn't put you off trying one of the best puzzles I've had the pleasure to play with in the last 10 years. It's that good!

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Bram's Magic is the combination of the brilliant work between two geniuses in the puzzle community, Bram Cohen and Oskar van Deventer. If you love puzzles and you don't know who they are, you probably have been living under a rock for the past 15 years or so. They're two of the most prolific puzzle designers in the world, and this puzzle may be their best work yet.

This lovely invention has everything you could ask for in a puzzle: a challenge; fun to play with; easy to understand; flawless and smooth movement; and most of all, hard to master. And yet, once you pick it up it'll be very hard to put it down. Its mesmerizing twisting movement, combined with the shapes and patterns you can create, make for a very satisfying experience, indeed.

Like any other good puzzle, there's a main goal between all that fun, and that's to try and get one of the sides all white and the other all blue. Sounds simple enough, but that's actually as hard as a puzzle can get. You'll need to understand the puzzle's movements and patterns very well before you can attempt this daunting task. One simple movement and all your previous hard work can be undone in a matter of seconds. You have to predict what a specific movement will do - what shape you must go for in order to get the pattern you want. This is one really tough puzzle... But darn if it isn't fun!

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Closing Comments:

Bram's Magic is so good, a genius couldn't come up with it on his own. That's why it was invented by two geniuses. If you don't like a tough challenge, you can just play with it as a fidget toy... for hours on end. I know I've been having a great time with it. Highly recommend it to anyone, even non-puzzlers.

Availability: Bram's Magic is available at PuzzleMaster for $24.99 CAD. A similar and cheaper version is available for $19.99 CAD, made by ThinkFun.