After five weeks reviewing the different puzzles available from Roscreative, by Valery Rudenko (English), I finally reach the last puzzle, the Rudenko Clips.

First released in June 2010, along with the Doser, Mosaic and Matryoshka, the Clips puzzle is another great implementation of the Tower of Hanoi concept. This small and very simple puzzle has seven clips in three different colors and measures 8 x 6cm (about 3" x 2.4"). The rules are also simple, but with a big exception: It's not possible to cheat.

I would have preferred if it were seven different colored clips instead of just three, but there's a reason for that. You can play other types of game with different rules: Besides getting all clips from one sector to another, you can also get clips in all three sectors with different colors. For example, get only red clips in sector 3, green clips in sector 2 and yellow clips in sector 1. Below left is one example and on the right, a table with other examples.

(Click to Enlarge) - Other possible playable games

The puzzle has three sectors and you have to move all the clips from one sector to another, one at a time. The same rules from the Tower of Hanoi apply, in other words, you can move a bigger clip onto a smaller one, but not the other way around... And here's the interesting part: even if you wanted to cheat, and tried to move a smaller clip on top of a bigger one, it's physically impossible. Another obstacle at moving clips the wrong way is the separation of the sectors, which prevents more than one clip to pass through at the same time.

The design of the puzzle is fantastic, something worth praising. The simple concept is great at hiding the complexity involved in it, and the thought that went into the making of a cheat-proof puzzle is just amazing. A nice feature is that the puzzle is double-sided, meaning that it can be used by both left-handed and right-handed people. It's a great feature for me, being left-handed to be able to enjoy the puzzle in the same way. Another nice design feature is that the clips aren't perfect rectangles; they have a subtle slight narrower diameter towards the top, which allows them not to tangle so much with with the other clips when you're moving them.

(Click to Enlarge)

Solving the Rudenko Clips requires a lot of patience and concentration on your part. The puzzle has five levels of difficulty, so you can start by moving just three clips to another sector and then work your way up until you reach the seven clips.

Just for you to have an idea of the steps and level of complexity in this puzzle, the Rudenko Disc and Rudenko Matryoshka (both related to the Tower of Hanoi as well) required a minimum of 127 moves from one sector to another, and the Rudenko Clips require a staggering 729 steps, mainly because of the limitations when moving clips from one sector to another.

(Click to Enlarge)

My take on this whopping number of steps is that it's not much harder than the less complex puzzles. It just takes more time to solve and requires much more concentration, especially not to lose your train of thought, and believe me, you will most certainly lose it. I had to gather my thoughts a few times and check where I was, before venturing any further. The other puzzles took about 10, 15 minutes to be solved in the first time, but this one took more than an hour. My advice to you when solving it is that it's best to solve it in one go and not to leave it half solved for another day, because it can be difficult picking up where you left off.

I added below two interesting documents about the Rudenko Clips, one explaining in more detail the facts about the puzzle in relation to the Tower of Hanoi.

Video: Youtube video with the designer, Valery Rudenko, showing the Clips puzzle.

Closing Comments:

The Rudenko Clips is definitely not for the casual player. It can be frustrating at times, particularly if you're close to the end and lose your concentration, but at the same time, it's a wonderful challenge and very rewarding when you finally solve it. Would recommend it to any sequential puzzle fan.

... And there you have it. Five great Russian puzzles from Roscreative and all designed by Valery Rudenko. My favorites were the Disc and Mosaic, but the others are not far behind. They're all fantastic collector's items.

Availability: You can buy Rudenko puzzles at Hendrik Haak's Puzzle Shop, from Germany or Labirint.ru in Russia (English translation here). For wholesale, contact Roscreative directly.

Now available on PuzzleMaster as well.

Links: 

English translation of Rudenko Clips' page

English translation of Roscreative website

Russian Magazine Article about Valery Rudenko (English Translation)

Russian Newspaper Article about Valery Rudenko (English Translation)

Today, I'm going to describe the fourth puzzle from Roscreative, the Rudenko Doser, designed by Valery Rudenko (English). Check out the three previous reviews here, here and here. Only one left...

The Rudenko Doser is unlike any other puzzle you've seen. This very original design reminiscent of an hourglass is based on the task of mathematician Siméon Poisson for measuring liquids. There are three vessels: the main one is connected to the two smaller vessels with taps to open and close the flow of "liquid" (represented by a green sand-like material). The puzzle is double-sided, as the smaller vessels are marked with capacities of 5 and 3 liters on one side and 7 and 5 liters on the other. There's also a tap between the smaller vessels to pour "liquid" from one to another.

(Click to Enlarge) - Hard Side

As mentioned above, there are multiple tasks for you to try and solve, more specifically, three on each side: On the easy side, with marks for 5 and 3 liters, you have to successfully measure 2, 1, and 4 liters; On the hard side, with the 7 and 5 liters, you need to correctly measure 3, 4, and 1 liters. These number sequences are in order from easier to harder. Also, note that the marks are just representations of the actual measurements, as the puzzle is relatively small, at about 9 x 9cm (3.5").

Solving the puzzle's challenges is not that difficult, even the ones on the harder side. Most of the tasks require multiple dosages in each vessel to get to the desired measurement, so the hard part might be to plan in advance how you will distribute the "liquid" back and forth. As an example, I'll describe below one of the easier tasks for you to get an idea on how to solve them, but the other ones follow the same exact logic, only lengthier.

(Click to Enlarge) - Both Vessels Full

So, one of the challenges is to accurately measure 2 liters with the 5 and 3 liter vessels. The first step is to completely fill the 5 liter vessel. When you're done, rotate the puzzle counter-clockwise by 90º and open the green tap, the one between the two smaller vessels. This action will allow you to fill the 3 liter vessel, leaving the rest of the "liquid" in the 5 liter one. What you see left in the 5 liter container is the exact measure of 2 liters. The other challenges won't be that simple, though, but still solvable within 5 minutes each. It took me less than half an hour to solve all six tasks.

Video: To have a better idea of how the puzzle works, check out this video with Mr. Rudenko.

Closing Comments:

If you loved mathematics related tasks or computer science projects in school, then you're certainly going to enjoy the Rudenko Doser. What I liked most about it was the hourglass appearance - It's definitely quite a unique design. Be careful when maneuvering the puzzle, though, as it tends to shed some of its green sand particles here and there. Nevertheless, it's a great looking puzzle and I can surely recommend it to any puzzle enthusiast.

Availability: You can buy Rudenko puzzles at Hendrik Haak's Puzzle Shop, from Germany or Labirint.ru in Russia (English translation here). For wholesale, contact Roscreative directly.

Now available on PuzzleMaster as well.

Links: 

English translation of Rudenko Doser's page

English translation of Roscreative website

Russian Magazine Article about Valery Rudenko (English Translation)

Russian Newspaper Article about Valery Rudenko (English Translation)

Continuing my Roscreative puzzle reviews, this week I will talk about the Rudenko Mosaic, a very original Slide Puzzle designed by Valery Rudenko (English). Refer to the Rudenko Disc and Rudenko Matryoshka reviews for more detailed information about each one.

The Rudenko Mosaic, as stated above, is a 10 x 12cm (4" x 4.7") slide puzzle with 16 tiles, each one containing a fragment of a whole picture that you need to scramble and rearrange. What's more interesting is that the Mosaic is a double-sided challenge. Just flip it over and you have another puzzle.

This is Roscreative's puzzle with more versions available on their website. As far as I know, there's currently 12 different Rudenko Mosaic puzzles, ranging from a wide variety of themes and pictures. From all those versions, the one that got the most of my attention was the Rudenko Mosaic - St. Basil's Cathedral, one of the most famous Russian Landmarks. Since this is a Russian puzzle, I thought it was a fitting choice. On the backside is a colorful mosaic with four colors to make several different patterns.

What distinguishes the Rudenko Mosaic from other slide puzzles is the way you play it. The concept is totally new. You have four parallel rows connected at one end by a column and one extra space for a tile. Think of this column as a common hub between all four rows. When you need one of the tiles to be placed in a different row, it has to pass through that column at the right.

Compared to the more classic slide puzzles, I would say it's a bit easier to solve and less complex. The learning curve is probably around 5 to 10 minutes. After that, it doesn't offer much challenge, but it doesn't stop it from being a very fun puzzle to play with.

The main side has basically two states, scrambled and solved. However, the backside with colored tiles has dozens of them, and to me, as a pattern making fan, it's the most fun part. There's no right or wrong with this challenge, as it's up to you how many different patterns you can create. There are four examples at the bottom of puzzle, but the number of possibilities is huge, e.g., vertical or horizontal strips, diagonals, etc.

From my experience with the puzzle in the past few weeks, and unless I'm missing something, the top right tile (viewed from the colored tiles side) is impossible to be swapped for another one. Every other tile can pretty much be placed anywhere in the matrix, but the top right corner. For that, it would be needed another extra space at the top left corner of the puzzle, just like the bottom left one. Nevertheless, there's still plenty of patterns you can do, just keep in mind that whatever pattern you think of, it has to include a red tile at the top right.

(Click to Enlarge)

Video: Youtube video made by Roscreative.

Closing Comments:

I liked every Rudenko puzzle so far, but the Mosaic has to be one of my favorites. It's a mixture of original concept, never seen before in slide puzzles, with the possibility of pattern making, something that I love about puzzles.

The wide variety of themes you can choose from is also big plus, because you don't have to get this exact copy. For example, if you like airplanes or anything related to the military, the Rudenko Mosaic - Victory Weapon (English) is the right choice for you. Of course, if you're a collector like myself and if you can get all them, that's even better.

Availability: You can buy Rudenko puzzles at Hendrik Haak's Puzzle Shop, from Germany or Labirint.ru in Russia (English translation here). For wholesale, contact Roscreative directly.

Now available on PuzzleMaster as well.

English translation of Rudenko Mosaic's page

English translation of Roscreative website

Russian Magazine Article about Valery Rudenko (English Translation)

Russian Newspaper Article about Valery Rudenko (English Translation)

(Click to Enlarge)

Last week, I started a series of reviews that will show the five main puzzles from the Russian game company Roscreative. The first review was for the Rudenko Disc and this week, I will review the Rudenko Matryoshka.

As many of you should know, the Matryoshka is a symbol of Russian culture, first carved in 1890. This interesting concept of nesting a set of dolls with decreasing sizes, one inside the other, is very well implemented on this design by Valery Rudenko (English).

Just like all the other Roscreative puzzles, the Rudenko Matryoshka comes in a blister packaging  and the puzzle itself measures 11 x 9cm (4.3" x 3.5"). It has a protective transparent cover that can be slid, becoming a support for the puzzle.

(Click to Enlarge) - All 7 Matryoshkas (The Illegal Movements Shown are Only for Display Purposes)

Related to the Tower of Hanoi concept, the Rudenko Matryoshka, a Sequential Movement puzzle (gray code), consists of a set of seven Matryoshka dolls and has three sectors. A nice subtle design feature is that each of the seven dolls is painted with a different colored head kerchief. The instructions of the puzzle have a nice analogy of the puzzle in relation to the Matryoshka: The sectors, or rooms are connected by paths and the family of Matryoshkas that live in one of these rooms has to be moved to another room, while following a couple of rules: You can only move one Matryoshka at a time; You may place a bigger Matryoshka over a smaller one, however, you can't do the other way around, which is to have a smaller doll on top of a bigger one. If you're not that familiar with this type of puzzles, there's actually 5 levels of difficulty. This way, you can  practice first with just three dolls, increasing then one by one until you have reached all seven Matryoshkas.

Side note: Curiously enough, the Tower of Hanoi had the complete opposite rule for the discs - You were only allowed to place a smaller disc on top of a bigger one.

Compared to the Rudenko Disc, I think the Matryoshka puzzle is a bit easier and simpler, because it doesn't  restrain that much your movements. Nevertheless, it does have a clever mechanism that prevents certain types of movements. As you can see from a photograph below, I show a type of movement not allowed by this mechanism: When you move any doll from one sector to another, they pass through an horizontal white bar that will stay upwards until you make the doll pass again and place it on the other sector. Only then, the bar will go downwards and allow the next doll to pass. This also signals an illegal move.

(Click to Enlarge) - Blocking Mechanism

This is a type of puzzle that with practice develops your algorithmic way of thinking. At first, it may take you some time to get familiarized with the solving process, but as you repeatedly solve it again and again, you'll understand better the movements. A nice way to verify your progress is to count, each time, all the steps it took you to solve it. If the number of steps decreases with time, it's a sign you're getting better at it. For reference, the minimum number of movements necessary to solve the puzzle is 127 - exactly the same as the Rudenko Disc. I have explained this in the previous review with this formula: 2ⁿ-1, where n is the number of dolls. This way, you get 2⁷-1=127.

Video: Youtube video made by Roscreative.

The Matryoshka theme is a perfect fit for this sequential movement concept. With a great modern design and true to his country's symbols, Valery Rudenko has made, in my opinion, one of the best Tower of Hanoi implementations I've had the pleasure to play with. Even if you own a Tower of Hanoi puzzle, the Rudenko Matryoshka is definitely worth a try.

For years, Russians have been known for creating many extraordinary things, and mechanical puzzles are certainly among them. Since I started my collection, I've seen some great classic puzzles coming from Russia, particularly from the 80's. However, the puzzle I have here is very recent, released in April 2011, and it's as equally brilliant as its older predecessors.

The Rudenko Disc, a Sequential Movement puzzle (more specifically, Gray Code) invented by Valery Rudenko, will be the first of five puzzle reviews in the coming few weeks, all from the Russian game company Roscreative.

The puzzle comes in a blister packaging and measures 10cm (about 4") in diameter, so it's smaller enough to carry around anywhere. It has a transparent cover to protect from dust and consists of a disc with seven colored chips (no stickers) and three sections, each with colored circles indicating the correct order for their corresponding chips. The object is to rearrange the chips, one at a time, by color in any of the three sections. The colors, as you can see for yourself, are ordered just like in a rainbow - from violet to red (smaller to larger bow).

Side note: Did you know that when you see a double rainbow in the sky, the second rainbow has its colors in reverse? - It goes from smaller red bow to larger violet bow, it's wider than the main rainbow and it's also dimmer.

Back to the Rudenko Disc... The mechanics of the puzzle are easy to understand, but can take some time to master. The puzzle is set to develop an algorithmic way of thinking, while promoting logic and creative skills. It takes a minimum of 127 movements to get all chips from one section to another. To get to that number, all it takes is a simple formula "2ⁿ-1", where n is the number of chips -> 2⁷-1=127.


Sequential puzzles date back, at least from a couple of centuries ago, when French mathematician Édouard Lucas invented the Tower of Hanoi puzzle in 1883. The Rudenko Disc is a little different though, because it has some movement restrictions. The chips can move only to their correspondent color circles in any desired section, but can't move any further. For example, a yellow chip can pass through the red and orange circles until it's blocked when it reaches its yellow circle. Beyond that point, it's useless to force any more movement. Perhaps a more similar concept is the Panex puzzle, which also uses some movement restriction.

The particular movement characteristics of the Rudenko Disc are what makes it so interesting. When I first started playing with it, I didn't know exactly how the puzzle worked, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it had more to it than I was expecting. The chips move from one section to another to their correspondent color circle and you feel them click into place by some sort of clever locking mechanism that prevents them from going further than they're supposed to.


Since I had previously solved a few sequential movement puzzles, it wasn't so hard solving this one, although it took me about 15 minutes to solve it in my first attempt. Now, after a little more practicing, I can do it in under 5 minutes. Once you understand the method to get the chips from one section to another, all it takes is some coordination and attention so you won't lose your chain of thought. When you master these skills, it's just a matter of keep practicing to see how fast you can solve it.

The puzzle comes with instructions and an algorithm to move the chips from the middle section to the left section, unfortunately they are all in Russian. Nevertheless, I was sent English instructions as well and this way, the algorithm is understamble. If you don't get yours in English, just send me an e-mail and I'll send you a scan of mine.


From what I gathered, there's only one European online store that sells most of the Rudenko puzzles, which is Hendrik Haak's Puzzle Shop, in Germany. I believe the Roscreative website only takes wholesale orders, but you can send them an e-mail and ask for a quote.

Now available on PuzzleMaster as well.

Update (March 16): I was told that there is an online Russian store that sells all Rudenko puzzles and has international shipment. The website is all in Russian, but you can check here its English translation. Unfortunately, they don't accept Paypal, but you can pay by credit card or bank transfer.

Here's a video made by Roscreative about the Rudenko Disc.

Closing Comments:

The Rudenko Disc is a very welcoming addition to the sequential puzzles category. Its original and appealing design makes it one of a kind and its fascinating concept with the locking mechanism is definitely a joy to play with.

Links:

English translation of Rudenko Disc's page

English translation of Roscreative website

Russian Magazine Article about Valery Rudenko (English Translation)

Russian Newspaper Article about Valery Rudenko (English Translation)