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

I have a love/hate relationship with Wire Puzzles, or String Puzzles (remove the string) for that matter, as they are very closely related. I do love the fact that they can provide a tremendous challenge, and keep you guessing the solution for ages. But it's also this extreme difficulty that can keep one away from them, as frustration kicks in pretty quickly when we simply don't know what to do with them anymore.

The Silent "E" by PuzzleMaster, can be one of such puzzles, although it's not by far the most difficult wire puzzle I had the pleasure to solve.

The goal seems simple enough. You just have to remove the golden ring from the "E", but to get things complicated, the ring is trapped by an arc that's large than it's diameter. The trick is finding a way that will surpass that barrier.

One thing that's common among this type of puzzles is how devious the solution can be. With other types of puzzles, you don't always know the solution, but you know how to get there. An example of this can be an Assembly Puzzle - you're given a certain number of pieces and in order to solve it, you know you have to assemble them to fit in a frame or a box. The problem is just figuring out how to combine those pieces. It doesn't work like this with a Wire puzzle. Sometimes you just don't have a clue how you're supposed to reach the solution. You know that the ring has to come out, but the "how" is what makes these puzzles so darn difficult and so fascinating at the same time, which makes them look impossible to solve.

The rating for this one is an 8/10 on the PuzzleMaster scale (Demanding). As you can see, it's not that hard compared to others, but still tough enough to let you think for several days. It actually took me about two weeks to solve it, although they weren't entirely dedicated to it, as I tried others too.

My initial thought was that the arc that's attached to the "E" frame was just a distraction from the actual solution, but as it turns out, you do need it. You have to pass the ring around the arc, and to do that you have to get both ends as far as you can from each other within the frame. When you do this, the tip of the arc will be at the same distance from the back of the "E" and then, you just pass the ring around it and it's freed. To get a better understanding on how the solution works, you can take a look at the PuzzleMaster's solution sheet here.

If you hate someone and would like to see them extremely frustrated, I recommend offering them one of these. Wire Puzzles are among the hardest ones you can find, and as hard they may be, you do have a very satisfying feeling after solving one.

The Silent "E", and many other Wire Puzzles can be found at PuzzleMaster.

Gary Spencer-Purvis from Designersaurus Rex isn't that much known in the mechanical puzzle market right now, but his latest creation is probably going to change that. Produced by Moulding Innovations in the UK, the Dioctipoid 1.0 and 2.0 are a new Twisty Puzzle sphere, released in August 2011.

To someone unfamiliar with this type of puzzles, you twist and turn its segments in order to get the initial pattern on the sphere. To better understand this, you can take a look at the instructions on the official site here.

Each sphere has its own color scheme with colored tiles instead of stickers. Although some people prefer stickers in Twisty Puzzles, I actually think that in this case, the choice was correct. The scheme in the Dioctipoid 1.0 is comprised by four-pointed stars in six different colors (red, yellow, green, light-blue, dark-blue and purple), surrounded by white rhombi with the Dioctipoid logo in raised text using a nice ambigram (probably one of the reasons why the tiles were chosen).

In the Dioctipoid 2.0, the white rhombi were replaced by colored ones, and each star has now two of the same color, adjacent in opposite sides.

As expected in a sphere puzzle, the parts are tight together, so the segments have to be perfectly aligned to allow a smoother turning. To help you make sure of this, you'll hear a click whenever a successful twist is made, much like you're used to if you've played with Meffert's puzzles before.

Although it's a bit similar in appearance to Tony Fisher's Octaball, which is a transformation of a FTO (Face Turning Octahedron) by David Pitcher, the similarities stop there. The color scheme is different and the mechanism is quite unique. The segments move on top of some kind of rail system just above the inner solid sphere (it feels solid, because of the puzzle's weight, which feels a little hefty). Very remarkable for this type of puzzles and will certainly influence future creations by other designers.

Solving the Dioctipoid can prove to be a very hard task. To have an idea check out this comparison with the Rubik's Cube. I have them for almost a week now and still didn't manage to solve neither one. The discussion going around the puzzle community is that it's solved like a FTO or even a Rex Cube. Since I haven't solved any of those, the solving experience is very new to me, not that it's such a bad thing. 

Not having solved previous similar puzzles will give you a completely different perspective on how to tackle this tough challenge. As of now, the most I got was three completed stars, both in a straight line or around one of the "poles". The key now is to find the right strategy to finish the remainder ones.

If the Dioctipoid 1.0 is hard, then what to say about the 2.0. Instead of the stars and white rhombi, you now have to worry about two colored rhombi for each correspondent star. The colors used are the same though. A good thing is that because of the ambigram logo in the rhombus, there's no need to pay special attention to orientation. Nevertheless, the most far I got until now, was to have two opposite shapes solved. Many work to do ahead...

Having a moderate sized Twisty Puzzle collection, it sure is nice to have something different from what I've seen. Both puzzles have very nice design features, from the logo to the stylish stands already included in the package, you'll feel you're in possession of a high quality item.

To those already very used to solving these puzzles, the Dioctipoid can provide a serious challenge and on top of that, there's a competition going to win money for the fastest one. With every Dioctipoid, you will receive a card token that will guarantee you an entry to this tournament. See here for more information.

Personally, I liked the Dioctipoid 1.0 better, because of the simpler and more recognizable pattern, but I will definitely stay tuned for new versions in the near future.

A year ago, I reviewed the Dael 'O Ring - Easy Yellow, a nice Hidden Maze (Sleeve-on-Cylinder Mazes) puzzle invented by Cor Vissers and Gert Santman. In a nutshell, the Dael 'O Ring is an updated and improved version of the Dool 'O Rinth, a set of six level puzzles first released sixteen years ago. For a more detailed description, please refer to the Easy Yellow review here.

Hidden Maze puzzles aren't that common in the market, so the Dael 'O Ring series is a welcome addition to this type of puzzles. 

The first level hit the stores in the Fall of last year, with new levels being released only a few months apart. There will be six levels of difficulty as well. Starting with the Easy Yellow and followed by Simple Orange, Silly Green, Complex Blue, Crazy Red and Terrible Black, the six colors will gradually have harder levels and more complex mazes to solve.

After solving one puzzle, there's a simple feature that let's you start again immediately. With a straight path that crosses the entire maze from top to bottom, you just need to place the ring at the top of the stick and click it right into place for another go at a quicker time.

As of now (early December 2011), there are two more colors available: the Simple Orange and the Silly Green, with the last one hitting the market last October. A good thing is that they're all the same price, regardless of the color (difficulty level) you choose to buy. Although this sounds only logical, it doesn't always happen with other types of puzzles you see in the market today...

Having played with the Easy Yellow before and spending around twenty minutes or so in my first try, I already had an idea of what I would get in the next one - harder maze to navigate and most importantly, more time to solve.

Knowing the simple characteristics of the classic mazes, you can expect in a harder level, more dead-ends and probably a longer path from start to finish. This is exactly what happens in the new Simple Orange, more of everything.

The puzzle feels and behaves just like the first one. What changes is just the color and complexity of the maze, so you'll feel like a natural playing with a new level.

It took me about an hour and a half to finally see the ring out of the stick. Most of the times, I had it very close to the end, but I might as well be at the beginning and be as close. That feeling you have of almost solving it, is just a trap, as I found myself countless times in that situation. Regardless of the path I took at the beginning, the ring seem to fall in the exact same place every time.

After some time of roaming around in the maze, you'll be more familiarized with the path and which turns you should  and shouldn't take. Going back a little when you feel you're almost there, might seem a little counter-intuitive, but it's exactly what you should do.

All in all, the Simple Orange is a nice step up from the Easy Yellow. From twenty minutes to an hour and a half is certainly a bigger challenge, but still nothing too big that can build much frustration.

Nothing silly about this one... This is the third level in the series, launched just a couple of months ago and as you can imagine, it's also harder. Well, not that harder though, because it actually took me about forty minutes to get the ring out, so less than half the time spent on the previous one.

Now, the reason why it took me less time, might be related to the fact that I started solving it right after I finish the Simple Orange and I was somewhat more accustomed its particularities... Or, I was just plain lucky and found my way without getting trapped in many dead-ends.

The puzzle does seem harder than the second level, because it it's not as easy to freely navigate through the maze, which is the first thing you notice when you pick it up right after an easier one.

One thing that looks different is that there's less straight lines and much more turns. Even a dead-end seems shorter, which by the way isn't necessarily a bad thing, because you can go back just a little and find another way. What probably makes it harder is the combination of more turns and less straights with a longer path to the exit.

Although it took less time to solve, I can honestly say that it felt tougher than the previous levels. As there's less room to freely move around, it's easier to get frustrated, so I can see it gets much worse in the coming levels.

The Dael 'O Ring - Simple Orange and Silly Green were excellent challenges, and though with the second one just hitting the frontier of frustration, it's really refreshing to play with a different type of puzzle, other than the usual Assembly or Take-Apart, to name a couple of examples.

The fact that you can't see the actual maze you're trying to solve, and just relying in your sense of touch is by itself, a tremendous challenge, but after solving one of the harder levels, you do get an accomplishment and rewarding feeling that few puzzles can provide.

I enjoyed very much playing with the Easy Yellow and these two new colors are definitely worth a try. Can't wait for the new levels.

You can order the Dael 'O Ring different colors right from this online shop. Unfortunately, they're only available to a select EU countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden). Hoping it won't be long to add the rest of the World.

The Magna Cube was another great surprise for me, also from Puzzle Guru. The other one was the Houdini Dead Lock, reviewed last week. It is also part of the IQ Collection from the Family Games America, together with the Mosaic and the Labyrinth 4D, both seem very interesting as well.

This puzzle is like a Soma Cube with a "Twist". The added difficulty comes from the twenty four strategically placed magnets into the eight wooden pieces that form a 3x3 cube. Each piece can have either two, three or four magnets scattered around, although only one has two and another one four, leaving all the other six pieces with three magnets each. The tricky part is that each magnet will either repel or attract with another piece, thus making the puzzle much more difficult to solve.

Since 1933, we've seen many puzzle variations inspired by Piet Hein's seven piece Soma Cube, although some of them stand out more than others. One of the most popular is the Bedlam Cube with its thirteen pieces, but the Magna Cube is also a very nice change from the old formula and can be considered one of the best so far.

The puzzle is beautifully presented with a harder tone wooden stand, to better displayed it when solved. I say solved, because there's no way you can keep it in the stand, unless it's all tight packed correctly, otherwise you're gonna have falling pieces.

After you take the cube apart and shuffle the pieces, you have a serious challenge on your hands. Although it's not as hard as a Bedlam Cube, it does take a little patience to see some progress. One of the requirements to solve it right is that no magnet can be visible outside of the cube. It seems only logic, but there's going to be countless times when you think you're in the right path, to only notice one or two magnets seen on the outer side.

Another requirement to keep in mind is that each magnet has to be connected to another one. In other words, you can't have two magnets of a particular piece connected and leave another one loose without a counterpart on another piece. Once more, this will give to the puzzle an added level of complexity, making sure to leave you with a small headache.

One thing that it does make the puzzle a bit more easy, is that the cube only has three types of pieces (graphical representations can be done with a small 'v', an 'L' and a 'T'): 5 v's, 2 L's and a T. Knowing this, it simplifies when you need a 'v', for example, but the magnet configuration doesn't fit with the rest of the placed pieces. Then, you just need to replace that piece with the one that has the magnets in the right position.

Looking at the puzzle like this, knowing the two main requirements and taking advantage of the fact that it only has three types of pieces, you only need some experimentation with a couple of pieces and work your way up to form the cube. I'm not sure of the exact number of solutions, but I reckon it must be a very small number, given the restrictions and requirements needed to solve it.

Having played with several other Soma related puzzles, I can honestly say that this one is among my favorites, alongside the Bedlam Cube. Not only for its great presentation with the stand, but also for the challenge and the novelty of seeing something different with magnets. It can be a little time consuming though, depending on your puzzle solving skills, but then again, you'll have your money's worth.

The Magna Cube can be purchased at Puzzle Guru, as well as the others in the IQ Collection: The Mosaic and the Labyrinth 4D.

There's something about hidden mechanism puzzles that I find very appealing. The challenge of finding the secret that keeps the pieces connected and interlocked is somewhat rewarding, always leaving you with that a-ha moment when the solution is discovered.

The Cross Puzzle, by Bits and Pieces is one of such puzzles. Beautifully designed, resembling a gift-wrapped package, your objective is to separate the two pieces that comprise the puzzle.

Now, if you're like me and already solved the 'X Marks the Spot' and/or the 'Cast News' by Nobuyuki Yoshigahara, you're in luck. The concept and principle behind the puzzle is very similar to those and you'll solve it pretty quickly. If, on the contrary, you're unfamiliar with the mechanism, it can be quite tricky to solve.

A close inspection will reveal that, when shaken, the puzzle makes a rattling sound, giving away that the solution is related to this particularity. Others things you might notice is how the two pieces are joined together and the way they are locked at the middle.

Since both pieces are not that tight, you can see a little of what's going on inside. Adding how the mechanism in the middle works with that rattling inside, I'm sure it won't be that hard to solve after that. Even if you understand how to separate the pieces, it could be a bit frustrating getting the internal parts to clear the way. An easier way to do this (Spoiler ahead) is to get the puzzle to spin fast in a hard surface (like you would make a coin spin). The centrifugal force will send the internal pins to the edges, leaving the middle free. Just lift one of the pieces and there you go, the puzzle is solved. For a graphical solution click here.

The difficulty of the Cross Puzzle is rated by PuzzleMaster as a 6/10, although the Cast News, with the same mechanism is a 10/10. The only reason I can see why is because the cast puzzle has the pieces much more tight together, giving away very little information regarding its solution. The rattling is there though, and the same solution can also be applied.

In general, the Cross Puzzle is a very nice puzzle. Light and small (7 cm/2.75"), it can also be categorized as a trick puzzle,  because the solution can be interpreted as some kind of a trick, not a series of movements. When I first saw it, I didn't know that it was similar to the above mentioned puzzles, but it's another neat way of presenting a known concept.

The Cross Puzzle puzzle came from PuzzleMaster, but it's currently sold out though. If you're interested, check back later or drop an e-mail to the customer's service asking for an expected date.

I've reviewed two Trick Locks before (see here and here), but the Houdini Dead Lock is my favorite so far. It's part of 3 Puzzle Lock series from Professor Puzzle and this one is level 3, which is the hardest. The small collection can be found at Puzzle Guru in the UK.

Since I started my collection, I've been fascinated by Puzzle Locks. They have all this mystery and enigma around them that built up from centuries ago, when they first started appearing. They can be quite unique and even after you've opened a few of them, the next one will leave you, for sure just as much intrigued as the previous ones.

What makes each Puzzle Lock unique is the way or "trick" that you need to figure out to open them. Some of these locks might not even require a key to open, having an internal mechanism with one or more necessary secret moves, to  unlock them. It is said that Harry Houdini might have used these locks in his escapes, but until today there's no proof of that.

The Houdini Dead Lock, manages to make use of these tricks in a very clever way. I've spent a good half hour with it, trying in vain every possible key position you can think of. The "key" here is to pay attention to every detail about the puzzle, because not everything is quite exactly what it looks like and can also be very deceptive.

The lock comes with two keys, although you just need one to solve it. The designers were probably already predicting that one of them might get broken in one's frustration and decided to add another one just in case...

One thing you might notice about the lock is the part above the key hole. If you try to move it, it won't budge that much, except for a push from the left, but that will not get you anywhere either. To avoid spoiling your experience with the puzzle, I won't reveal the exact way to open it, which unlike other puzzles, once you know the solution, there's no reason to attempt solving it again. What I can do is give you a small hint (Spoiler ahead): The key can also be used in another way, other than using it in the key hole.

If you're already frustrated enough and for some reason gave up, you can see a solution video in the product's page at Puzzle Guru.

As I mentioned above, this is my favorite from the Trick Locks I have currently in my collection. Right now, I only own this one in the Houdini series, but I reckon I've made the right choice. It's a nice challenge, not crazy hard, but also nothing that easy you can solve in a couple of minutes. I also like the fact that it's quite hefty and good quality, definitely not something made with cheap materials.

If you haven't yet tried a Trick Lock, I strongly recommend one of this series to start. Puzzle Guru stocks all three and they're all the same price, so it's up to you to choose your level of frustration.

Links:

Rob's Puzzle Page (Trick Locks)

Popplock (German hand crafted locks)

Lock Museum

Magic Puzzles.org

Lock Collector (a lot of old trick locks)

Article about an Indian lock collector

Oskar van Deventer has invented so many puzzles over the last thirty years that he could fill up a museum with all of his creations. The one that I'm reviewing today is another great design by him, which consists of four mazes that need to be solved simultaneously.

The Medallion (originally called Four D), was initially made by George Miller in acrylic and was Oskar's exchange puzzle at the 23rd annual IPP (International Puzzle Party). It was later picked by Hanayama for mass-production and is now sold at PuzzleMaster.

The puzzle bears a slight resemblance to another one of Oskar's designs, the Cast L'œuf, comprised of two separate parts with distinct mazes to navigate, although I consider the Medallion much harder.

Built with a beautiful chrome finish and resembling a gold medal, the Medallion challenges you to solve four mazes at the same time. There's a golden disc with two mazes on the front of the puzzle and a silver one on the back. To guide the two pins through the mazes, you have to rotate the disks back and forth in order to achieve the 55 steps needed to take the puzzle apart. For that you need to work with the two discs in sync.

To complicate matters worse, the two discs have different mazes on them, so what you do in one, may allow or block your next moves. With this in mind, you need to think ahead to make sure every step has a follow up on the other side. Also, be aware that the path taken won't be one way only, meaning that, at times you may feel that you're close to the end, but you have to go back a little to unlock the other side of the maze.

Usually, most puzzles in this category (Route-Finding) are as hard to take apart as to put back together, and this one is no exception. It took me approximately one hour to do these two tasks, and I have to warn you, be sure to have the correct position of the disks in the frame when you put them back together, as they will rotate 180º from the starting point. Because I neglected this minor detail, the logo on both disks was upside down, resulting in another challenge, although I'll have to leave that to some other time...

Having solved so many Oskar's puzzles by now, I was eager to try yet another one of his tough creations and as usual, it didn't disappointed me. You always have this sense of accomplishment after solving a hard puzzle and you don't feel that you just wasted your time. It's a great high quality puzzle, very well built, like all of Hanayama's puzzles, and I recommend it to anyone in search of a demanding challenge.

The Medallion is available at PuzzleMaster for $19.99 CAD (approx. €14.20).

For a detailed solution guide, click here.

I found these nice puzzles very recently and was immediately drawn to them. The mesmerizing patterns you can create with the cubes are endless and they can be extremely addictive.

Created by Pablo Cha from Uruguay, the Motif Cubes (also known as Nueve Cubes) are made from red birch hardwood and come in two different designs, red and white.


There's no special goal for the puzzles. You are presented with nine blocks in a nice wooden base, where each one has six different designs. Each cube measures 3.4 cm (1.34") and the base is 13.8 cm (5.43"). Your task is to simply arrange the cubes and form a unique pattern. There are billions of possible combinations (68,719,476,736 to be exact), although not all of them will yield a fancy pattern, as some of them will probably result in a senseless design. It's up to you and your creativity to come up with all kinds of patterns. They don't exactly need to be symmetrical, as long as it makes sense to you.

The quality of the puzzle in general is very good, but if you're picky with imperfections, then you're going to have a tough time letting go a few of them found in the cubes. As we're dealing with a wooden object, there's going to be some cubes that will appear to have a darker tone than the others, because of the cuts in the wood. This is more noticeable in the red motif, giving the fact that the wood absorbs that color much better. After playing with them for a while, I can say that this, in no way, affects of hinders your puzzling experience. You'll look at the pattern as a hole and not by a particular block, so any discernible difference will be neutralized by the whole design. These flaws could be gone if the designer should release a version in hard painted plastic, although you'd lose the beauty that only wooden objects can provide. Maybe something for the designer to think about, in the future...

The Motif Cubes were a very nice surprise. Simple, but beautiful, easy to do and yet so addictive and relaxing. There are so many possible designs that you'll always create something new, so it will be long before you're done with them. They're the perfect object for a work desk, especially when you're in need of killing some time or just plain bored. Although there's a minor flaw here and there in the wood color, don't let that stop you from having a good and enjoyable time.

I bought the Motif Cubes from the Birdkids' website (Red and White), but they also have an eBay Store if you prefer buying from there.

Added Note: If you're unable to find inspiration, just turn to bottom of the box and you'll find there some very nice patterns to stimulate your creativity... And to complicate things just a little bit, there's no visible edges of the individual blocks in the designs, so it's more difficult to recognize which cubes are needed to match the pattern you're seeing. It's an added challenge and a different way to tackle the puzzle.