The Cerebral Rings by Mag-Nif is actually a version of a puzzle believed to be around since the 17th century. It is said that the original, or an early version was found among the effects of astronomer Johannes Kepler. It is not clear, however, if he is the actual designer of the puzzle or if it was one of his colleagues.

This is an interlocking puzzle made by just three identical pieces. They are so well joined that you need the correct sequence of red buttons (one of four positions) in order to separate the pieces. The puzzle consists of a circle made by six stacks of rings, which at first sight seem to be impossible to separate. The buttons, or plungers, can be pushed up or down along the length of the stack to allow the pieces to be unlocked and separated. The movement of the puzzle is quite smooth, but it releases this strange paste that is probably used as lubricant. You will need to wash your hands afterwards, that's for sure.

The solution is quite intriguing, since there isn't any indication or any form of a hint as to whether you're pushing the buttons in the right positions or not. It's a bit frustrating at first, because the puzzle doesn't give you any feedback - It's like going through a labyrinth completely blind. Even though this seems discouraging and intimidating, I actually found it easier than I was expecting.

The Cerebral Rings are described as having hundreds of possible combinations but only 8 solutions. I wasn't able to find all eight, but found two without much effort just by fiddling with the puzzle for about half an hour. As you move the buttons around you have to keep checking by trying to pull the pieces apart until they give in. I found that trying to put the puzzle together as one piece is a little easier, but still a challenge. If you don't change the positions of the buttons it's easy enough, but if you do move the buttons after you separate the pieces it can be quite difficult to put it back together.

Closing Comments:

The Cerebral Rings by Mag-Nif is a different kind of interlocking puzzle, but it's an interesting one. I wouldn't say it's a great puzzle, because of the lack of feedback it gives as you're trying to solve it, but considering the design and how different it is from everything else out there, it's definitely worth a try.

Availability: You can buy a copy of the Cerebral Rings at Brilliant Puzzles for about $15 USD.

Links:

Mag-Nif's Official Website

On the Level, by Mag-Nif, is an interesting twist on edge-matching puzzles. If you're familiar with this type of puzzles, most of them are comprised by flat pieces with different colors or patterns. On the Level is a bit different by taking the edge-matching concept to the "next level". Instead of flat pieces, the puzzle consists of nine tiles, each with three different levels, featuring all nine possible configurations.

Although the edge-matching concept is very simple to understand, I found this puzzle a bit confusing at first. I didn't know exactly how the pieces were supposed to be placed. The trick here is to look at the puzzle as if you were seeing it from the top with three different color tones: the highest level being a lighter tone and the lowest level the darker tone.

The goal is to have each level of a particular piece match the same levels of its adjacent neighbors, while the outside edges of the 9-piece square match the opposite edge levels. You can see one of the possible solutions below, but there are many more.

The pieces also have curious arrangements. Six of them are pairs of mirrored images of each other and the remaining three are mixed combinations of opposite level heights. It might not help you much finding a solution, but it's nice to know your puzzle a little better.

Once you understand how the puzzle works it's not very difficult to find a solution. In fact, many of the possible solutions derive from others by simply removing the end columns or rows and placing them on opposite sides. Take a look at Jaap Scherphuis' site. He's done a great analysis on this puzzle.

Closing Comments:

Even though the idea of the puzzle is quite original and fun to solve, its design could have been a little more thought out, as the colors are too bland with the black tray and the green pieces. Other than that, On the Level is a welcome addition to the edge-matching family. Its multiple solutions will sure keep you busy for a while.

Availability: You can get the On the Level puzzle at Brilliant Puzzles for about $15 USD. You can also find there two others from Mag-Nif, The Brain and the Cerebral Rings.

The Brain is a very interesting puzzle, using the Gray Code concept (after Frank Gray) or reflected binary code, which is a binary numeral system. It's produced by the American company Mag-Nif and dates back from 1973. It's still sold today and is actually one their most successful brainteasers to date.

The objective of the puzzle consists of getting all of its eight pegs out, but to achieve that you have to do a sequence of 170 correct moves. Sounds scary, but don't be intimidated by the big number. This may take some time to get used to if you're a casual puzzler, but it becomes quite easy and simple once you understand the logic.

Limiting your movements is a stack of disks that are locked and with every step, you will unlock them one by one until you have all the pegs out. Each peg is numbered from 1 to 8 and they can only have one of two possible positions. When they're closer to the center, they have a value of 0 or In, and when they're outwards, they have a value of 1 or Out. To move a specific peg, you need to make sure that you have the immediate lower numbered peg out and all the remaining lower ones in. This process is exactly the same until you have all the pegs out.

Solving the puzzle will depend on how fast is your understanding of this logic is. It took me about 20 minutes or so to solve it and to get all pegs in again, it took less than 10 minutes, because I had the process all memorized by then. A similar puzzle based on this concept, the Spin Out, actually took me much more time to figure it out. Probably because at the time (three years ago), I was more inexperienced with these type of puzzles...

The current design of The Brain is pretty much the same from the original version, but the color has now been changed from black to red and the transparent plastic has a black and silver glitter effect. I don't have the older version to compare, but from what I've seen in photos, I like the appearance of this one better.

The Brain is a great example on how to turn an otherwise boring mathematical problem, into an interesting challenge and very fun to solve. It's a shame there's not many puzzles out there that use the Gray Code. I, most certainly, would love to try other puzzles like these. Besides this one and the Spin Out, I only have the Chinese Rings and Tower of Hanoi.

The Brain can be purchased at SeriousPuzzles.com.

The Saturn puzzle is made and distributed by the Mag-Nif company. They sell other puzzles as well.

The puzzle itself has eight segments around the middle of a sphere mechanism. They are numbered from 1 to 8 on both sides, so when you rotate them (only four at a time with 180º around the center), they get scrambled with the opposite four numbers of the other side. The disc can also be easily rotated around the center. 

I have to say, the puzzle turns very well, not only the disc, but also the half turns, which rotates like a breeze.

It has close similarities with the Brainball, which has two rotating slices instead of just one, thus a bit more difficult. As Jaap says in the puzzle description, solving wise, is similar to the Topspin and Masterball, so if you're familiar with these, you're not going to have trouble mastering the Saturn.

Regarding the looks of the puzzle, and contrary to some people, I love it. It actually resembles the planet Saturn. In fact, when I purchased it from a TwistyPuzzles.com member, I had the opportunity to buy the Brainball instead, but I chose this one, as it looked much nicer. This doesn't change the fact that I still want to get a Brainball in the near future, though, because it's a bit more challenging than the Saturn and it's a different puzzle after all, for collecting purposes.

The Saturn can be purchased directly at Mag-Nif's website for only $10.