(Click to Enlarge)

Mazes have intrigued and fascinated us since the dawn of civilization. In fact, the Egyptians are thought to be the first ones to come up with this incredible concept over four millennia ago (around the time of the first ancient pyramids). Mazes have come a long way since the era of the Pharaohs. They have evolved in countless different ways and have many different uses, but the approach is the same: to baffle and perplex anyone that witnesses this incredible feat of human inventiveness and ingenuity.

Many people use the terms Maze and Labyrinth interchangeably, and that's probably correct in most cases. However, personally, I prefer to use the word Maze when referring to puzzles. Why? Because a maze always has dead ends and other red herrings, commonly used in puzzles, and a labyrinth is not always used as puzzle, which implies a solving process with a beginning and an end.

Today you can see mazes everywhere in your daily life, but I want to focus particularly on the mechanical maze puzzles, the ones that you can touch and play with, the ones that make me glad I'm a puzzle enthusiast, collector, solver...and writer... There's an array of different types of mazes that can please even the most uninterested of puzzle fans. They can go from simple ball-bearing puzzles, like the popular money puzzles, for the casual puzzler, to more complex structures, like the Perplexus puzzles. Whichever type of puzzle you choose, a maze always has the ability to entertain and satisfy our needs for a good mental challenge.

With so many types of mazes available, how do you choose the best ones? It all depends on what you like most about maze puzzles. One popular type of maze, usually used as an original gift, is the money mazes. This type of puzzles have a wide range of shapes and sizes. The goal is to navigate a ball bearing through a maze and unlock the mechanism that opens the puzzle so you can retrieve what's inside. You can put inside the puzzle anything not thicker than a few sheets of paper, which can be money, gift certificates, event tickets, etc.

(Click to Enlarge)

(Click to Enlarge)

(Click to Enlarge)

(Click to Enlarge)

Double mazes are also fascinating in the sense that you have to keep in mind your progress on both of them simultaneously. There are many good examples, and Jean Claude Constantin is a craftsman that knows very well how to make a good maze puzzle, especially when two, or more, mazes are involved. His puzzles have a great complexity, and are mostly appreciated among expert puzzle enthusiasts for their unique designs and mechanisms.

(Click to Enlarge)

Final Thoughts:

Mazes have evolved so much over the centuries that it's unfathomable to even think of how they will continue to baffle us in the coming decades. Judging by what history taught us time and time again with new inventions, it's safe to say that mazes are here to stay for as long as civilization exists. It's part of we are, part of our curious minds, and it's essential to our development as an intellectual species. I sincerely hope that, after reading this, you'll be more inclined to try a maze puzzle - any maze - and see for yourself how fascinating these puzzles can really be.

Availability: Most of the puzzles above mentioned are available at PuzzleMaster.

Like many Trick Locks, you are provided with a key - A very stylish key, I might add. How the key belongs in the solution is for you to find out for yourself. Sometimes they're necessary, sometimes they're not. One thing you'll immediately notice though, is that the key interacts with some kind of magnet (or magnets) inside the puzzle. As you push the key inside one of the two keyholes and turn it, you can feel it being attracted to something and interacting with some parts of the mechanism. You'll also be able to hear some parts rattling inside, as if there were parts moving freely around the puzzle. You need to feel the shackle's movements with your hand at all times, to know when or if you've made any real progress. The shackle has three positions: neutral, half down and fully down. When you manage to get it fully down you have solved it, and you just need to pull it up and remove it.

When you finally open the puzzle you're not all done, though. You're still half way there. Now, you need to reset the mechanism and be able to close it again. After you've successfully closed it and opened it again in a matter of seconds, thus understanding the mechanism, you can finally say you've solved it. I recommend now to remove those screws and take a look at the mechanism inside - It's a thing of beauty. You'll see the clear window that will let you peer inside, but still protects the mechanism to be accidentally tampered with. You can also put the lid back at a 33º angle so the keyhole allows you to see just a tiny portion of the mechanism. You can use it as a hint for someone struggling with the solution.

As for the solution, there's no major differences from one version to another. I was able to solve the metal version first, in about 20 minutes or so, although it took me much more time to figure out how to close it and ultimately, understand its mechanism. Once I knew what to do I was able to replicate it without any problems in the plastic version. If you ask me what version do I prefer, I'll tell you without a shadow of a doubt, the metal version. But, if you ask me if the plastic version suffers in any way on how the mechanism behaves, I'll tell you absolutely not. It's just a matter of affordability.

Difficulty-wise, I found the Swing Lock slightly easier than the Burgh Lock. The metal surely made me more confident to maneuver it without worrying about breaking it - although you still need to worry about not breaking other things if you drop it on the floor. You need three steps to solve it, but to reset it I found that only one move is necessary. There are at least a couple of different ways to close the lock, but none of it involves doing the steps required to solve it in reverse. You have to be creative.

Quality-wise, the Swing Lock is two steps forward from the Burgh Lock, no question about it. It looks and feels professionally made, and while I don't have something similar to compare it to, like a Popplock, it's certainly worth its high price.

(Click to Enlarge)

Any Trick Lock collector and enthusiast will love the Swing Lock. I have solved many locks over my years of collecting and I can say that the mechanism is completely unique and original. Both puzzles function as they should, there are some good red herrings along the way to keep you from discovering the solution too soon, and whichever version you end up choosing I'll guarantee you you'll have an amazing experience with it. A must have for any puzzle collector.

Availability: You can get both metal and plastic versions at MFAVE. If at any time there's a shortage of stock, you can be placed on a waiting list by contacting Splinter directly here.

Links:

Another review and discussion about the Swing Lock

Yet another review for the Swing Lock

Back in January of this year, I reviewed the first creation of aspiring puzzle designer Splinter Spierenburgh, the MazeRoll, and was very impressed by the overall quality and design of the puzzle. The concept was highly original and had the bonus of having hundreds of different mazes to solve. It was also entered in this year's IPP Design Competition, and while it didn't receive any awards, it was still a breath of fresh air for the puzzle community, to see new concepts like these getting the attention they deserve.

For the obvious reasons stated above, I was rather excited when I received my second puzzle from Splinter, the Burgh Lock, after months of tease by pictures only. Would this new puzzle be able to surpass its predecessor? Would it be easier or harder to solve? I had all these kinds of questions, and being a big fan of Trick Locks, with seven of them already reviewed here on my blog, you can easily understand my enthusiasm.

Just like the MazeRoll, the Burgh Lock is 3D-printed from Shapeways in nylon plastic and dyed and assembled at MFAVE. The surface is rugged, and with continued use the orange color might wear off a little. It's slightly bigger than the locks I've tried so far, but not by much, measuring about 9.5 x 4.3 x 3.3cm (3.7" x 1.7" x 1.3"). It also has a different shape from what I'm used to see in other similar puzzles, more bulkier. It's clearly a sign that there's many things happening inside that hidden mechanism, so don't expect to encounter an easy puzzle, on the contrary. There's also a few red-herrings along the way to make your task just a tad bit harder.

The Burgh Lock has quite a few original characteristics that are new to me in this type of puzzles. For starters, how many Trick Locks do you know that come with two keys? No, not identical keys, distinct keys. And, if that wasn't enough already, you also have two keyholes slightly different from each other. One key for each keyhole... Seems logical, no? Well, not quite simple as black and white, but you'll understand once you finally solve it. To make things even more complex, one of the keyholes has a rotating disk, and both keyholes can be turned a good 80º in the same direction, at the same time. Too many things to worry about as you try to discover the secret to unlock the puzzle.

One of the things I was worried about, though, was how fragile the lock appeared. Every lock I have tried so far was made of metal, so there's not much you can do to easily break them. However, the fact that the Burgh Lock was made in plastic, had me worried thinking I was going to break something before I was even able to solve it. After treading carefully in the solving process for about half an hour, my mind was put at ease when I finally saw the mechanism and knew that that was nothing to be afraid of. Yes, you do need a little bit of pressure to open it, but nothing that will come close to breaking it.

The solution to open the lock is in my opinion, a stroke of genius, and it will certainly break a smile on you. That a-ha moment is surely reward enough, but seeing how the mechanism works is mind-blowing. There are two solutions slightly different from each other, but both end up with the same effect. How you reach the solution is entirely up to you, but I would be curious to know which method you used to unlock yours. Your thoughts on the puzzle itself will also be important for the designer to further improve his creations.

Closing Comments:

So, how does the Burgh Lock compare to the MazeRoll, the first design by Splinter? It's very hard to answer one or another, actually. I loved both, but they are two completely different puzzles and it would be unfair to choose one over the other. As far as difficulty goes, however, the Burgh Lock is definitely much harder and complex than the MazeRoll. If you crave for challenging puzzles, Splinter's Trick Lock is the way to go. Now, I'm not an authority on Trick Locks to make a statement on whether the Burgh Lock is one of the best puzzles of this category out there, but I can say with the utmost certainty that it was the best Trick Lock I've had the pleasure to solve so far. If I had to recommend a Trick Lock, this one would be my top choice.

If Splinter is this good with just his second design, I reckon we will be hearing a lot about him in the near future. I can't wait to see what he has in store for his next project.

Availability: The Burgh Lock is available from MFAVE in The Netherlands for about €75. Your puzzle will arrive fully assembled and dyed, ready to be played.

Links:

Splinter's Shapeways Shop

Early review for the Burgh Lock

Burgh Lock topic at TwistyPuzzles Forum

UPDATE (April 2016): It's been over three years since my original review of the MazeRoll. This time, I added a blue companion to the pale white and the result couldn't be better. Besides the obvious challenge of making different patterns using the interchangeable parts (both puzzles have identical mazes), the blue one is actually much better in terms of quality, as the small metal sphere navigates much more freely inside the maze's walls. You just need to watch out for the impossible configurations, but that's part of the challenge. You can always turn to the included challenge guide to make many different challenges, but making your own and discover how to solve them adds to the fun.

Availability: You can find the blue MazeRoll and other puzzles from Splinter Spierenburgh at MFAVE's website.

What happens when you combine a widely known concept with style? - Splinter Spierenburgh's latest maze puzzles answer this question quite gracefully. Splinter is a Dutch engineer with a great passion for mazes. Before venturing into the physical world of mechanical puzzles, he self-published an e-book with 20 mazes, which you can buy here, for just €2.

His first three puzzles (MazeRoll, MazeBall and MazeCone) are 3D-printed by Shapeways and their design is reminiscent of Egyptian patterns - simple, yet showing a visual and geometric brilliance seldom seen in puzzle design. Today, I will be focusing on the MazeRoll, which I found to be a fascinating little puzzle.

With a length of about 14cm and a 4.5cm diameter (5.5" x 1.8"), the MazeRoll is more than just a simple maze puzzle. Thanks to its clever internal mechanism and design, which I will explain in more detail below, there are exactly 384 possible combinations, although 48 of them aren't solvable. The combinations are grouped by three levels of complexity (easy, moderate and difficult), so it can easily cater to all types of puzzlers out there.

The MazeRoll consists of four disks, each with different paths that, when connected, form a unique maze.  The goal is to make the small sphere go from one end to the other. Simple, right? - What's interesting about it, though, is that the disks rotate, but not to a full 360º, because they have small pins that restrict some movements. Add to this the opportunity to rearrange the disks in dozens of different combinations and you have a real challenge in your hands.

Another great feature of the MazeRoll is that once you solve a particular maze you can easily return the ball to the start of the maze thanks to an internal straight path that goes through the entire cylinder. This way, you can try and beat your own time or someone else's.

Setting up the puzzle with a new maze couldn't be easier. The cap comes off effortlessly and the disks slide off with ease from the central shaft. Here, you can just randomly rearrange the disks to try your luck or use the MazeRoll configuration guide to choose from any of the possible 384 combinations. The disks are labelled with letters, even a 5-year-old could assemble it. There's plenty of challenges here to keep you occupied for a very long time.

I tried several different combinations in all three difficulty levels and at first I thought: "How hard can it be to navigate the ball from one end to the other? The maze looks quite easy". Soon enough, my thoughts proved to be quite wrong, actually. The overall appearance of the maze does make it look easy, and the pattern looks the same all around at first glance, but when you first try to get that small sphere through those apparently similar square spirals, you're in for a treat... The first time I tried it, as I like a good challenge, I went straight to one of the difficult mazes.

The real challenge began when I tried to pass the ball from the first disk to the second. Those internal pins that prevent the disks from rotating fully surely did their work. I hit several dead ends and had to go back and forth between the four disks until I was finally able to bring the ball to the exit. I probably took around 10 minutes or so to solve the first maze, and even though it doesn't seem much, compare that to about a minute or less it takes to solve one of the easy ones and you can see how hard it gets. With practice, though, you can reduce that time, as you become more familiar with the workings of the puzzle, but keep in mind it never gets easy, just "easier".

If you ever got frustrated by the hidden-maze puzzles out there, i.e. the Revomaze or Dael 'O Ring, the MazeRoll is recommended for you. If you just like mazes in general and can't get enough of them, then the MazeRoll is most definitely recommended for you. If you even remotely like anything that can challenge your mind and keep you busy for a while, I can't see any reason why you wouldn't like the MazeRoll. The design is flawless and the Shapeways quality is unquestionable. The price tag might be a bit high for some, especially the casual puzzlers, but to me that's the only drawback. My only request, if these puzzles ever get mass produced, is to have the choice of more colors - It would be great to have an orange/blue color combo.

Availability: You have two options if you want to get a copy of the MazeRoll or any of the other two mazes from Splinter: The first is to order directly from Shapeways. Note that these puzzles come in a model kit and you have to assemble them and make some final touches in order to make their movement smoother. It's also the cheapest option; The second option is to get them already assembled from MFAVE with all the extra work done. This is a bit more expensive and also takes more time to ship, so unless you really don't want to deal with Shapeways, go for the cheapest option.

Links:

Splinter's Mazes at Shapeways

Splinter's Mazes at MFAVE

Video on how to assemble the MazeRoll

Video demonstration of the MazeRoll

Splinter's Maze E-book

Dutch page about all things maze