Physicist Wayne Daniel is the inventor of this fantastic puzzle. The All Five puzzle is actually a 5-in-1 puzzle containing the 5 platonic solids - An icosahedron (20 faces), a dodecahedron (12 faces), four octahedra (8 faces), an hexahedron or cube (6 faces) and nine tetrahedra (4 faces).

Inside the package, with the puzzles, comes a DVD with special features, such as a presentation on how the puzzle is built and how it is solved, also with the history behind the platonic solids and the mathematics involved. Featured as well, is an interesting biography of the inventor.

The puzzle contains a total of 37 pieces (when first developed in 2004, it consisted of 41) and the idea is to build each smaller puzzle (solid) so that it fits into the immediate larger one, reminiscent of a matryoshka doll. Essentially an Assembly/Packing puzzle, each solid will fit perfectly into the corresponding one, without leaving a single empty space.

The larger solid, the icosahedron, comes in five pieces, all different. It's a bit complex, but not that difficult to assemble. I love the stripes pattern on this particular solid, which is the one you only see when the whole puzzle is solved.

The next puzzle is the dodecahedron, with only three pieces, that will nest inside the icosahedron. With such  a small number of parts, this is an easy one to solve. Worth noting though, is the different wood work used on this particular solid, in order to differentiate between the pieces of another one, which is a nice touch, not to have all puzzles with the same appearance.

Following the dodecahedron is the cube, an hexahedron with six jigsaw-like pieces, similar to what you see in a Happy Cube. This might seem a little hard at first to solve, but with only six pieces and careful observation, it becomes easier to spot if a piece will connect to another or not, because of the indentations on each piece (no two pieces are the same). The's only one solution to solve the cube.

The hardest part of the All Five puzzle is to fill the cube, but first, you have to fill the largest tetrahedron, that will also fit inside the cube, which is very easy to solve by the way, with only two pieces.

The large tetrahedron is filled by the smaller octahedron found in the puzzle, and four smaller tetrahedra. It's not hard to come up with this solution, but since it's probably the first you'll solve, it might be a little tricky, with all those smaller pieces around, to complicate things.

When you have the large tetrahedron solved, it's time to place it into the cube and find a way to get all the remaining small pieces inside as well. The smaller pieces with a stripe pattern are what makes this stage of the whole puzzle, much more complex and devious. 

If you take a closer look, each four stripe pieces form an octahedron, when correctly put together, but they won't be grouped like this in the actual solution. Instead, alternated with the remaining four tetrahedra, they will fit perfectly around the larger stripe tetrahedron, already inside the cube.

After the cube is filled with the smaller solids, the puzzle will now be much easier to assemble, because the hardest part is already solved.

The All Five is a fascinating puzzle and a work of art. What makes it so extraordinary is the harmonious relationship between each solid and the way which is presented to you. Each puzzle is very well elaborated, most are somewhat easy to solve, with the exception of one. After all, it wouldn't be so fun having to solve only easy puzzles...

The All Five is available at SeriousPuzzles.com for $43.95 USD.

I don't know why, but I love laser-cut puzzles. Maybe it's because of their precision cut lines and beauty of the small pieces, which is harder to achieve with other types of puzzles. My latest acquisition deservedly falls into this category.

The Paradigm Puzzles are a really nice small collection of six wooden Packing Puzzles by Family Games America and designed by William Waite. They are beautifully laser-cut into these intricate patterns and vary in difficulty. The one I have, Interlace Square is based on an Arabic pattern and it's the hardest of the six (classified as 9/10).

The puzzle comes with its own 10.8 x 10.8 cm (4.25") tray with 13 pieces, all different from each other. This adds an extra degree of difficulty, as you can't separate them into similar groups. Even though it's hard to solve, there are numerous possible solutions. Finding one may be the trickiest part, though...

I suggest that you spend a couple of minutes just to study the puzzle in its solved state, before dumping the pieces on the table. When you first attempt to solve the puzzle, it's hard to visualize the whole pattern, so that's why it's better to know how the puzzle looks like when solved. You do have a picture of the puzzle, engraved on the back of the tray, but this becomes hard to look at when you're putting the pieces and attempt to flip it.

There's a few tips you can use to solve the Interlace Square: 

- One of them is that each piece appears to be usable on both sides, but that's actually not true. Only the front side of a piece is valid, because the backside doesn't have the lines of the pattern engraved on it, so that's half of the possibilities cut down.

- Another small detail on the pieces that you can take advantage is the natural lines on the wood, which are well defined straight lines and will help you figure out the correct orientation, which will be just two instead of four. If you're stuck and want to find and easier solution, you can disregard this.

The puzzle took me a good 40-45 minutes to solve. Placing the first piece was the hardest part, but after that, you begin to understand how the pieces connect to each other and the rest will follow in no time. I had to solve it a second time later, after I took the pieces again to take pictures and this time around, it was much faster at about 10 minutes. Not bad for a second try...

The Interlace Square is not only a beautiful puzzle to look at, but a good challenge as well. The complex lines on the pattern are what makes it so difficult and at the same time, really fun to solve. Recommended for the Packing type enthusiasts.

The Paradigm Collection can be found at SeriousPuzzles.com for a reasonable $14.95 USD.

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.

Having been collecting mechanical puzzles for more than three years now (which is nothing compared to other collectors out there), I still love the fact that I can stumble upon some very interesting puzzles, while browsing through Rob's Puzzle Page.

Even though they were launched in 2007, the "Mozaniac - Multiple Picture Puzzle System"  puzzles were a very nice surprise to me. This original invention by Daniel Young from Paradoxy Products, makes a clever use of a very simple system. They were also entered at the IPP 28 as "Mozaniac Numbers".

Made of a thick and flexible type of paper (similar to high-quality playing cards), the same six pieces can be manipulated to show four different pictures. The way to achieve this is simply by connecting and interlocking the pieces together in a way that can reveal or hide some of its parts, leaving only the ones you need to solve a specific image.

The puzzles come with their own display card with a frame-like appearance, this way making it easier to be put in a desk. Shown in the front are the four possibilities for that particular puzzle, inside there's a solution and at the back, a brief explanation of the basic moves you need to learn.

Every piece is cut about halfway into quarters, allowing them to slide into each other in several different ways. Each of them can have up to three parts of the same picture in it. Both sides of the pieces are printed, and even though you have one particular configuration on one side (showing three parts of the same image, for example), doesn't mean that it can be equivalent on the other side as well. This is also true for a finished picture. In other words, if you complete a puzzle, the opposite side won't have a solved one too.

There are several options available for you to choose. From the ones I got, the hardest and trickiest of them is the none other than the "Tricky Numbers". Yes, the name says it all. The fact that the number two has the opposite color scheme from the others, will play a major part in understanding which parts are from the "2" and which ones are from the other three numbers. Likewise challenging is "Men With Moustaches", because they're only in black and white, and identifying different parts that way is not an immediate process.

On the other hand, the easier one to start, if you want to get more accustomed to the puzzles , is the "Colored Numbers". The same background and different color for each number, makes it pretty easy to recognize the patterns and spot how every piece should connect. 

My favorite from all of the Mozaniac's puzzles though, is the "Four Elements", featured with paintings. It was the one that caught my attention the most, when I saw them on Daniel's website, mainly because of Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night", one of the most fascinating paintings of all time. The material feels a bit different from the others as well, with a thin-film layer over the thick paper, making it look shinier.

Paradoxy Products can also make custom Mozaniac puzzles with your own images. This is excellent for corporate gifts with a company logo, or to make something unique and special that only you will have, like family pictures, for example. For more information on this, drop an e-mail to Paradoxy customer's support.

Closing Comments:

You might be thinking how the puzzles will look like with a lot of use, given the fact that the material is basically paper and could tear around the cut lines. Well, I've had them for less than a week, but unless you force the connections too much, they'll be fine for quite some time, because the material despite being paper, it's very flexible and resistant.

Although I've seen before the sliding system on flat paper to build 3D objects, it's the first time I've played with it like this. Getting four different pictures out of only six pieces, is something you may find hard to believe at first, but once you understand how it's done, you'll be surprised and hooked as well.

You can get the Mozaniac's puzzles directly from their website or at SeriousPuzzles.com.

The Isis Adventure from Sonic Games has set the bar quite high for the puzzle game industry. From the same inventor, Andrew Reeves, comes a new interactive electronic puzzle.

The iball3 is a very interesting puzzle game that exercises your memory, at the same time that tests your patience. The object of the puzzle is to turn on the six lights to the same color, before the LED display reaches 0. It almost looks like you're trying to disarm a bomb before the timer runs out... But there's more to it.

The transparent blue-colored ball has six buttons that can show either red, green or blue lights in level one and four colors in level two. Every time you start a game, there's a new light sequence you have to memorize and solve within 90 seconds. Solve the first level in 20 seconds or less and you advance to level two, where you'll have 60 seconds to to get an i-code and be entered in worldwide leader board.

Inside the package comes a very cool stand to display the iball3 and an extra 3-battery pack (the puzzle requires 3 batteries to run). Now that's something you don't see everyday! Most of the times, battery-powered games don't even come with a starting set, let alone a spare one. Perhaps the developers thought ahead of the extreme use the puzzle would have and were nice enough to include a spare set.

When you first turn on the iball3, it could be a while before you start understanding what you're supposed to do. Memorizing the color sequence for six buttons can be quite tricky, so practice until you get the hang of it, and before you know it, you have spent more than an hour without even thinking about putting it down.

For you to have an idea, think about the electronic game "Simon", from the 70's. Even I wasn't born back then, but I'm sure you've heard about it. With Simon, you also had to memorize a sequence and then repeat it, but the iball3 is much more complex than that. There's a strategy involved and it requires a lot of concentration.

Every time you press a button, assuming you're in level one, you will get one of the three possible colors lighten up. To proceed, press another one of the remaining 5 buttons. If you turn on the same color as the first button, you have now two equal colors lighten up, but if you're wrong, both lights go off and you have to start up again, until you get all six buttons of the same color. 

Do keep in mind that each button has its own color sequence. If you get a green light in one particular button and after that, you get a blue light on the exact same button, doesn't mean that you'll light up a blue light after a green one, on any of the other buttons. It's completely random and the sequence resets if you didn't solve it in time.

After a while, when you're more familiarized with the puzzle, it won't be hard to get to the second level. The hard part is solving level two in time to get the i-code, in order to enter the leader boards (such feat is yet to be accomplished). Now instead of red, green and blue, you'll also have to worry about memorizing a fourth color added to the sequence. The fourth color is actually no more than a combination of both red and blue lights, turned on at the same time on a particular button, giving you a slight purple color.

If you didn't have enough motivation already, to keep trying and solving level two to enter the leader boards, there's a special red Elite iball3 up for grabs, for those who can solve it in under 9 seconds. The Elite iball3 has three levels and five lights. To enter level three you have to solve the second level within 30 seconds - that's half of what you need to get the i-code in a regular iball3.

I only have three electronic games in my collection (iball3 included), and the reason I don't have more is because it gets quite repetitive very quickly once the novelty wears off, so unless it's for collecting purposes, it's hard to come up with many reasons to buy them.

This is different with the iball3, at least for now... The reason for this, is the clever implementation of the leader boards. Even if you're feeling tired of it already, there's always the incentive of keep going and try to beat a certain record.

Overall, the iball3 was a pleasant surprise and very different from what I've seen around. It's extremely addictive once you understand the main goal, but to reach such heights, you'll experience a few moments of frustration, so keep practicing and have patience. You'll get there eventually....

EDIT: Now also available from SeriousPuzzles.com

After a few months of hiatus, I'm back with more puzzle reviews... And there's nothing better than return with a great set of puzzles, the Dice Box Series.

This is a collection of six Assembly puzzles designed and produced by MI-Toys, which is based in China and founded in 1992. The design of the puzzles is very elegant, with six polished wooden boxes, each depicting a real dotted dice. Each box has its own corresponding number with silver dots from 1 to 6 on the lid, so you'll know what puzzle's inside.

They range in difficulty from * - one star (easy) to **** - four stars (genius). Oddly, none of the six puzzles has a difficulty of one star, leaving only three possible levels: three boxes have ** - Difficult; two boxes have *** - Unbelievable and there's only one with **** - Genius.

Let's start by Dice Box #1 - Polyominoes

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This puzzle has nine identical pieces, all with an area of 2x2 squares. The goal is similar to the classic Soma Cube, which is to take out all the pieces inside the box, scramble them up and form a cube so that they fit inside the box, allowing the lid to close. 

The difficulty for this one is ** - Difficult, although "Difficult" might be a bit of a stretch, since the puzzle is rather easy to solve. Given the fact that all the pieces are identical, there's no added twist for placing a piece with the wrong orientation or position, since they're all the same. Nevertheless, it's an ideal one to start with, preparing you for the other ones ahead...

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Dice Box #2 - Cubes with Holes & Pins

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Also with difficulty **, I think this one should've been classified with * - Easy, as I found it to be the easiest one in the series. You have eight cubes that when correctly connected, they form a large cube. Each little cube has three adjacent faces that can have pins or holes and the other three faces are all flat. They can be divided into four groups of two pieces with the same configuration: two with three pins; two pins and one hole; one pin and two holes and finally two pieces with three adjacent holes. With the pieces all carefully separated into these four groups,  you can easily solve it, always bearing in mind that the three flat adjacent faces point outwards, thus making a perfect cube.

A nice way to make this puzzle harder could be, to have a 3x3 cube with nine pieces, instead of a 2x2 one. Probably the resulting pieces would've been too small and hard to manipulate, judging by the size of the box (7x7x7 cm). Perhaps an idea to consider by a craftsman, for some other puzzle.

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Dice Box #3 - Holes & Balls

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This is the third and last Dice Box with a difficulty of **, although I consider this one the hardest of the three. You're given twelve rectangular pieces, each having a combination of two out of three possibilities: a semi-sphere, a hole or an indentation, giving you a total of eight different configurations. Some pieces can have one or two of the same possibilities, adding some level of complexity.

Solving the puzzle might seem a bit hard at first, but if you separate the pieces into groups, it gets easier. You can start by excluding the two pieces that have a semi-sphere on each side and knowing also that orientation-wise, you can't place at the bottom a semi-sphere or a two-indentation piece facing down, you're left with fewer options. The rest might be solvable with a bit of trial and error, but do this by phases, meaning that if you can't fit the last three or four pieces, don't start over from the bottom, but instead replace a couple of pieces from the middle layers and work your way up from there.

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Dice Box #4 - Stacked Sticks

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Now, it gets a bit trickier. The fourth box is a level *** - Unbelievable, but if you managed to solve the previous three, it shouldn't be that hard. There's a total of sixteen sticks making a 4x4 cube, but the twist is that they're glued together in five different pieces with very odd shapes made with three sticks each, plus one loose stick. I recommend saving the single stick for last, because if you try to use it earlier it will only add complexity instead of simplifying the puzzle. The difficulty in the puzzle lies in the many different possibilities you have to connect the pieces, due to their shapes. 

One tip you can use for solving is that, since the finished cube has to fit in a 4x4 area, two connected pieces that have a length of 5 or more squares won't do, thus leaving less possible combinations. As this situation will occur several times, you just need to experiment a little with the pieces and you'll eventually solve it. I'm not 100% certain, but given the unique configuration of the solved puzzle and the way that each piece connects to an exact orientation of the other, I believe this one has only one solution...

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Dice Box #5 - Rod by Rod

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The Rod by Rod Box is also the same difficulty as the previous one, but like the first three, I think there's a slight higher level of complexity, mainly because of the number of pieces involved. Actually, from the six puzzles, this box is the one with most pieces, with a total of eighteen. They're divided into six groups with three identical rods each, and every single one is carved with two or three indentations that can be on the top or bottom.

Solving the puzzle is like building a raft with logs. You need to match perfectly every rod into the indentations of the other ones below, in a six layer cube with three pieces each. Sounds tough, right? That's because it is... Starting isn't hard, all you need to do is to put on the box three rods to make the first layer. For that you need three pieces that don't have indentations on the bottom, so that it doesn't leave gaps. Knowing that only half of the pieces meet that criteria, you can put the other half aside for now. After that, you just need to continue building your "raft", always taking into account what pieces you have left, because they will determine how you place them on the box. 

As previously noted in the Holes & Balls description, if you get stuck in the last couple of layers of the puzzle, don't start from the beginning again, just remove a few rods and replace them by other pieces, as most of the times, half of the puzzle is already solved.

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Dice Box #6 - Half Cubes

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As we got from puzzle box 1 to 6, the difficulty was also increasing, so as you can imagine this is the hardest one, with ****.

The puzzle has eleven pieces, all different from each other and with the exception of one piece, they're possible combinations of three smaller unit right triangles. The other piece has just an area of two unit triangles. The goal, as the other ones, is to rearrange all the pieces so that they form a cube. It can also be related to the Soma Cube, except the Soma Cube is made from only seven different pieces, and I believe it is also easier because of that, as less pieces means less possible combinations.

Honestly, I don't know why they called the puzzle Half Cubes... If they're referring to the unit triangles, then they should've called it "Half Squares", because two right triangles make a square, not a cube, but I guess that's for another discussion...

Solving this one was a pain. The pieces have all these strange configurations and manage to connect them can be a bit frustrating. There's four flat pieces and the rest are glued in the other shapes, so I recommend to start with the last ones and leave the flats to the final stage of assembly. It took me a while to solve it, but on the last try I made it in around 5 minutes. The trick is nothing of extraordinary... When you see yourself taking more than half an hour with no results, leave the puzzle for a few hours or maybe a day or two, and when you return, you're going to have a fresher perspective on how to tackle the problem. This also applies to every other difficult puzzle you're having trouble with, because the mind always thinks clearer when it have rested.

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Closing Comments:

After solving the six Dice Boxes, I can highly recommend them to anyone, especially to the puzzle collectors. The set is a great addition to any collection, even if you're not that into Assembly puzzles, because its appearance and presentation stands out for the designers originality and creativity in creating something unique.

I think that the difficulty rating should've been made differently, though. If I had to order them from the easiest to the hardest, I'd say (in box numbers): 2-1-3-4-5-6 or actually use a rating system from * to *****, to better differentiate the puzzles, as three levels seems not enough. In this way I'd classify them as (from #1 to #6) *, **, ***, ***, ****, *****.

If you're interested in purchase the set or just one, there are a few places you can get them. Unless you want to buy them as wholesale, the MI-Toys website isn't an option. If you search on eBay for "Dice Box" and select the subcategory "Jigsaws & Puzzles", there's currently a couple of sellers that have them in stock, although just one of them has the complete set. You can also take a look at Amazon or SeriousPuzzles, both of them have the complete set also. PuzzleMaster has a few available as well. If you're like me and live in Portugal, you can order them from the "Papagaio sem Penas" store.