Tag Archives: IPP

Tetraxis at IPP 32

During the Design competition at this year’s IPP I was able to play around with some of Jane and John Kostick’s new designs. In total there were three new designs from Jane this year, and despite not winning any awards, they are all great to play with, and much like the Tetraxis I wrote about yesterday, have a quality that makes you want to take them apart and put them back together. A lot.

This year there were many more puzzling elements to the offerings so rather than just making the complete structure, you could spend a lot of time trying to make the other structures mentioned. First up is the 3 Layer Tetraxis array.

Kostick's 3 Layer Tetraxis array on a bronze star

Kostick’s 3 Layer Tetraxis array on a bronze star

3 layer Tetraxis array

This is the largest of the three structures, measuring 4.5″ when fully assembled. (Thanks Allard for the correct size) Made from a number of exotic woods including Wenge, Maple, and at a guess Bubinga and Spalted Apple, the puzzle looks stunning. Jane’s top quality finish on the pieces is clear and the fit is excellent. As with the Tetraxis array I wrote about yesterday the pieces are embedded with magnets which hold the structure together, and help lead you to the solution.

I had a lot of fun playing with this puzzle. It has the initial appearance that it’s much harder than it looks which may have put some people off, but it’s so much fun to play with that you’re really missing out if you don’t.

There were seven challenges with the 61 sticks and blocks. None were overly difficult, however each creates a stunning structure which would look great in any display. Also it’s worth noting that all of the first three solutions can be made at the same time.

The challenges were to use the set of 61 sticks and blocks to put together seven compositions that symmetrically surround a center:

1. Using one block and the 12 longest sticks
2. Using the 12 blocks and the 12 mid-length sticks
3. Using the 24 shortest sticks
4. Combine 1 & 2
5. Combine 1 & 3
6. Combine 2 & 3
7. Combine 1, 2 & 3

Below are a few images showing some possible combinations, but I’m not going to show all the solutions, you can work them out for yourself!

Tetraxis, outer later removed.

Tetraxis, outer later removed.

The outer ‘layer’ removed showing the inner structure.

Tetraxis, inner cage

Tetraxis, inner cage

The Wenge ‘core’ disassembled leaving the inner cage. As you can see the magnets and the lattice hold the structure together without any support.

Tetraxis core

Tetraxis core

The Inner symmetric core. I love this structure.

Tetraxis

Tetraxis

Both parts of the inner core assembled separately. If you look closely, you can see the three sticks in each plane.

Tetraxis, assembling the core inside the cage.

Tetraxis, assembling the core inside the cage.

Here you can see how the inner code is nested inside the cage.

Chamfered Cube

Chamfered Cube

Chamfered Cube

Next up is the Chamfered Cube. This much smaller structure looks exactly as the name suggests, and really stands out with the pyramid shaped indents in each side of the cube. For some reason my photos of the remaining two puzzles didn’t turn out very well, so I’m having to use the competition photos from John Rausch’s site.

The goal for this puzzle is to use either set of 12 sticks to hold the 8 blocks in place at the corners of a cube and then to add the other set of sticks to make a large chamfered cube, which is the shape of the small white block that can fit in the center of the arrangement. This isn’t a difficult challenge as the shape of the ends of the sticks, and the blocks themselves guide you toward the correct solution. Made from Black Palm, Red Oak, and at a guess Chakte Viga it’s a striking looking puzzle.

Double Duals

Double Duals

Double Duals

The third entry is Double Duals. Around the same size as the Chamfered Cube, this is another stunning looking puzzle. Made from Leopardwood, and possibly red oak (not sure on the lighter wood), this puzzle is almost an inverse construction of the previous puzzle. Rather than the sticks crossing through the centre of the structure, here they form the outer shell.

The goal of the puzzle is to make a pair of complementary arrangements such that each one contains blocks and 12 sticks symmetrically surrounding a center. Then put them together so that one is inside the other, and they both surround the block without magnets. Then repeat the entire process with each set of sticks making the opposite arrangement.

The clever part here is that as is hinted at, you can swap the sticks between the inner and outer construction. It’s a clever arrangement, and really needs to be played with to be appreciated.

Other KoStick Puzzles from IPP

The competition entries weren’t the only appearance of Jane’s work over the weekend. It turns out that the IPP committee had arranged for Jane to make a very special little puzzle for each of the people who helped run and organise the events over the weekend. That came in the form of a tiny little Tetraxis puzzle.

Brian with his Kostick puzzle as thanks for helping

Brian with his Kostick puzzle as thanks for helping

Brian Pletcher was one of the people helping out and was given one of these beautiful little puzzles. as such I was lucky enough to be able to get a good look at it. It’s not a challenging assembly, however the way the blocks have been cut, there are multiple ways to assemble the pieces.

A closeup of the Tetraxis gift made by Jane Kostick

A closeup of the Tetraxis gift made by Jane Kostick

A closeup of the Tetraxis gift made by Jane Kostick

A closeup of the Tetraxis gift made by Jane Kostick


It’s a great looking puzzle, and something I’m sure the IPP organisers will be very happy to have in their collections.

There was one final puzzle from the KoStick range which I played with over the weekend, which was thanks to John Rausch pulling a tube with some of Jane’s pieces out of his pocket and handing them to me. It turns out having talked with Jane that the puzzle was a 2 Layer Tetraxis array, knows as 4P1S. Now I have no idea what the code stands for, but for me it was probably the most challenging of the Tetraxis puzzles that I played with over the weekend.

Tetraix 2 layer Array 4P1S

Tetraix 2 layer Array 4P1S

The version John had was in a single wood, however when I spoke to Jane about the puzzle she mentioned that she had two versions available. Seeing the puzzle above in Mahogany with Ebony and Holly tips I was quick to buy it from Jane. The puzzle is very similar to the Chamfered Cubes puzzle however there are no corner blocks to help with the assembly. As such this is a much harder puzzle to put together and as such I found it a lot of fun.

In total there are 24 sticks, 12 long and 12 short which need to be combined to make the shape above. It may look fairly simple, but it’s not as easy as it looks. Starting off, you make two sub-assemblies which you need to interlock, and then build up from there. Seeing how the first two interlock is the real challenge, and once they are in place, the rest comes together fairly quickly from there.

If I were to recommend one of the puzzles to get, it would be this last puzzle. I did!

Overall, Jane’s work is incredible, and really the photos don’t do it justice. It needs to be seen to be appreciated, and the movement of the pieces only really becomes magical when you have it in your hands. The wooden versions are well priced for the work that goes into them, but if you want a cheap version to be able to play with and get a feel for how the pieces interact before spending a lot of money, then I’d recommend some of the plastic versions which you can buy on their web shop.

IPP 32 – Day Three

The Third day of IPP is what some would regard as the main event. It’s the say of the Puzzle Party, a chance for puzzlers to buy new puzzles and designers and builders to sell their puzzles. I was very much looking forward to the day both to be able to pick up some new puzzles to add to my collection and also because I’d been making a few copies of the Hex Stair by Derek Bosch which I was planning to sell on the day. I also had one copy of the Unhappy Childhood I’d made last year still available so I took that too.

The day started fairly early, with the sellers getting into the room around 8.45 to be able to setup their wares before the doors opened to the throngs at 9am. I only had around a dozen puzzles with me, so it wasn’t going to take long to get organised, however I was still there early to get setup, and also to take advantage of being able to wander the room before the rest of the buyers were let in. At least that way I knew where the couple of people I really wanted to visit were and I could make a bee line for them when I got a chance. Fortunately Derek Bosch was sharing the table with me so that he could gauge interest in his Rhombic Maze Burr Puzzle which meant I’d be able to get away from my table to shop.

Me at my table at the start of the day

Me at my table at the start of the day

Thanks to Rox I was able to grab this pic of me sitting at my table. I’m talking to Derek at this point, and the black and white object in the left of the photo is his RMB. This must have been around 40 minutes into the sale as I’ve already sold a couple of the Hex Stair Puzzles. I’ve added a photo of Derek’s maze burr below. If you’re interested in a copy, then let me know and I’ll put you in touch with Derek. He’s taking orders currently, with two sizes which will be available. I’ve played around a little with the puzzle (and hope to be reviewing it soon) and I really like it. It can be configured anywhere from ~50 moves to ~400 moves to open it, all with the plates provided, so there’s certainly no end of challenges there. Derek plans to have a book with the various plate configurations so you can set it to whatever level you feel like tackling.

Derek Bosch's Rhombic Maze Burr Puzzles

Derek Bosch’s Rhombic Maze Burr Puzzles

As a seller it’s interesting to see who comes to look at what you have, and those who look but don’t touch, touch and then apologise when the puzzle separates in their hands and they then hand it back sheepishly, and those who try to get it back together. All told the puzzle on my left was picked up and handed back to be put back together most often. I certainly enjoyed the experience as a seller. I managed to sell all of the puzzles I’d brought, and also had a fair amount of interest in either slightly different sizes or sets with the same woods for a Domino Tower and a Hex Stair. All in all a pretty good day.

I’d also taken the copy of my first ever puzzle box with me (you can see it to my right in the photo) and it had a reasonable amount of attention as well, with a number of people asking when it would be available for sale. So it seems like I have some work to do to get the box working the way I wanted, and iron out the issues I have with it. Maybe there is a demand for it after all.

I did have one incident, when William Waite came to buy one of the Hex Stair’s. When I picked it up and when to show him the movement, a couple of glue joints gave, and the puzzle broke into slightly more pieces than it should have been. Clearly I couldn’t sell it, so I apologised and put the pieces in the bag I had under my table. Fortunately Stickman happened to be sitting behind me, and had a repair kit with him, just in case he needed it for any of his puzzles, and he’d also fixed a couple of broken competition entries as well.

I knew Robert had a kit with him as I’d used it to repair the copy of “Genie in the Bottle” which was made by a friend of mine as the back piece was starting to come away from the puzzle towards the bottom, through a lot of use over three days. Fortunately I was able to borrow the repair kit, and so sat and fixed up the puzzle. A little sanding to remove the old glue (since I didn’t have a razor) and then I was able to use the puzzle itself as a jig to ensure the pieces were kept in the correct locations. After about half an hour the puzzle was fine, but I decided to put it back in my bag and not sell it. I certainly didn’t want to have it break again before the glue was fully cured.

The buyers and sellers at the Puzzle Party

The buyers and sellers at the Puzzle Party

The buyers and sellers at the Puzzle Party

The buyers and sellers at the Puzzle Party

As you can see the puzzle room was full of tables with puzzles from every genre, and a lot of very eager buyers. I was fortunate to be able to get most of the puzzles I was looking to buy from the exchange, and also picked up a few copies of puzzles which were in the Design competition that I really enjoyed too. I know it seems cruel to keep teasing you with the promise of reviews, but I will start reviewing all the puzzles soon, I promise.

Toward the back of the room Rocky Chiaro was sitting with a table full of his puzzles. I managed to play with three of his bolts and solve them fairly quickly. It was great to talk to him about the puzzles, and how they’re made. He was very happy to show off his puzzles, and to know that each and every one is made by hand, no CNC machining is truly breathtaking. I was hoping to be able to get a copy of his Harley puzzle but he didn’t have any left by the time I got to his table. I’m sure I’ll be able to get one from him from the website, but I can recommend any of his puzzles. The craftsmanship is excellent, and Rocky is a great guy.

As things were winding down Chinny showed me one of his run spinning tops made from gluing together coloured pencils then turning them on his lathe. This particular one is pretty hard to keep down and will hop back up after you knock it over. Not really a puzzle, but a lot of fun, so I ended up taking that home with me too.

After five hours of buying and selling puzzles things were wrapped up and people kicked out of the room so it could be switched around for the day’s lectures. Bret Rothstein, talked about the earliest known piece of art that features a puzzle and gave some insights into what the puzzle represented and how it was viewed by the artist. He also talked about some of his own work in reproducing some old wooden puzzle designs. Markus Götz then talked through the construction and solution to his IPP31 “Berlin Wall” host puzzle which was an interesting insight into the creation and thought that goes into making a host puzzle. Johanna Hottola then talked about about Pulma-hanke/The Puzzle Project a fascinating project to bring puzzles into more people’s lives and use puzzles to help children and the general people of Finland. Finally, Eric and Martin Demaine from MIT, who talked about some of their latest puzzle-related research including problem difficulty and ended with an amusing video of a human dice rolling problem which looked like it might have been a little painful.

Some of us who were out for dinner

Some of us who were out for dinner

Saturday night is left for the puzzlers to do their own thing so we got a few good friends together and headed to one of the local places to eat. During dinner there were a few puzzles handed around which seems to be the norm for anything surrounding IPP.

The 1 Bit Puzzle from G4G10

The 1 Bit Puzzle from G4G10

One very interesting puzzle which was handed around was the 1 Bit Puzzle. This is a puzzle from the Gathering for Gardner 10 meeting. The puzzle was a tiny circuit board which had a little blinking light (hence 1 bit). The idea was to decode the blinking light to solve a puzzle. Based on the discussion, the initial blinking led you to a website. From there, you put the puzzle in the cold, and the blinking would change, leading you to put the puzzle near a radio tuned to a particular station, which led you to something else and so on. It sounded like a fantastic little puzzle, which so much being put into such a small package, and would probably have been a lot of fun to play with.


Shocking!

Shocking!

Before long someone produced my nemesis, the Rubicks cube. This one had a rather shocking secret to it though which got Brian so well, he gave out quite the shout and dropped the puzzle on the floor. Despite expecting it, it seems that this little cube packs quite the punch!

After dinner it was back to the hotel to play with more of the design puzzles. Since Brian had the key to the puzzle room, there was little chance of us missing anything! I had made pretty good progress through the puzzles, and had narrowed down my favorites so I had a pretty good idea which puzzles I’d be voting for. With only one day left I didn’t have a lot of time to finalise my decisions.

The final day holds the Awards ceremony and I’ll cover that in the next post, so come back tomorrow for that.

IPP 32 – Day Two

With the first official day of IPP 32 seeming to vanish in a flash, I was up early for the second day. Today was the day of the Puzzle Exchange. The exchange is where the participants create a new puzzle design, make a load of copies and then exchange their puzzle with every other participant. As this is my first year at IPP, I’m not allowed to take part in the exchange myself, however I had the pleasure to take the role of assistant to Diniar Namdarian.

I hadn’t managed to find Diniar to introduce myself on the first day of IPP, so I had no idea what he looked like. I had heard that he’d been spotted so at least I knew he was here. It seems that a number of the exchange participants had dropped out in the run up to the event, as it’s not easy creating 100 copies of a puzzle in time. On the day there were 79 people taking part, so that’s a lot of puzzles to be passed around. The exchange itself started at 9am and was scheduled to run until 3pm. Before going into the event, I really couldn’t see how it could take that long, but as it turned out, I couldn’t be more wrong!

I was running a few minutes late as Jen wanted to get a coffee and donut before I left her with her new friends for the day, so it was nearly 9.05 when I got into the exchange room. Apparently Diniar was wondering what had happened to me and had left a message on my hotel room phone to find out where I was. As soon as I walked in he ran over and introduced himself. I have to say he seemed a little relieved that I was in fact there.

One Circle - Two Circles by Diniar Namdarian

One Circle – Two Circles by Diniar Namdarian

So with the panic averted, Diniar showed me the puzzle he had created for the exchange, and explained how it worked and showed me the various movements possible. He also explained that I’d be his camera man for the day, as he wanted a photo of himself and each person he exchanged with. Oh, and did I mention that since his English isn’t great (but far better than my German is … I’m a little rusty) I’d be explaining and demonstrating the puzzle to everyone we were exchanging with. It became pretty obvious I’d be doing a lot of talking!

This is one of the truly fantastic parts of the exchange. Rather than just being a case of handing over a puzzle and getting one in exchange, each person tells you a little about the puzzle, the goals, and often an amazing story about the puzzle, so each exchange takes several minutes, but you get to meet and talk to some great people, and hear some stories that you’d otherwise never hear.

One circle configuration

One circle configuration

Now as it happens, before we could exchange any of the puzzles, we had to open each puzzle and check it was working correctly. So I also became Diniar’s tester. Some of the screws which hold the puzzle together had come a little loose thanks to the vibrations during transport, so we needed to tighten the screws, and make sure that all the pieces turned smoothly. Given the variations in thickness of the plastic, some were a little tight, so we put those to the side. My “spiel” about the puzzle went something like this:

“Hi, this is Diniar’s exchange puzzle. As you can see we have two rings of beads which can rotate freely (rotating beads to show this), you can also rotate the centre (rotate centre of puzzle) so that you only have one ring of beads. (spin the single circle of beads) The goal is to mix the pieces up, then return the puzzle to its starting position with each set of beads matching the colour on the frame (pointing out the colours) Red to red, Blue to Blue, White to white and so on. You’ll find that if you use four fingers to rotate the single circle it moves much easier than using one (again showing this), and when you rotate the centre, make sure you always have 4 beads in each track, having three in either side is not allowed. Now which colour puzzle would you like?”

Diniar had several different colours of puzzle made, and in was interesting to see the look on people faces as they realised that it wasn’t a straight exchange and they had to make a choice. Of course there were a few German exchangers there and in those cases Diniar took over and explained everything in German. I kept up with his comments as best as possible. After the exchange was made, I’d take a photo of Diniar and the other exchanger with their puzzles, and check off the exchange on a sheet we’d been provided with so that we could keep track of everyone we’d exchanged with. The whole process took over 5 hours! Now when you consider that some people had a much longer explanation than mine, you can probably understand why. As a thank you, Diniar kindly gave me a copy of his exchange puzzle which I’ll be reviewing soon. It’s a fun puzzle, and a nice twist to other similar styled sliding tile puzzles.

I have to admit it was a great experience, and I hope to be able to take part in the exchange myself next time… I’m going to have to start making the puzzles now to be ready in time though!

All the exchange puzzles - click for full size

All the exchange puzzles – click for full size

All the exchange puzzles - click for full size

All the exchange puzzles – click for full size

While I’d love to talk through every single exchange puzzle, as you can see there are just far too many to go through. There were a few stand out stories which were told with the puzzles, so I’ll talk about them here, and then there’s a few more puzzles that I really liked from the exchange which I hunted out on the day of the Puzzle Party to add to my collection, so I’ll talk about those later. I’m not listing these in any real order other than the order in which I remember the stories, so there’s not favoritism here.

While I’m not going to talk about Laurie Brokenshire’s exchange puzzle “Try-Cycle” made by Vinco here as I bought a copy and will review it separately, it is worth mentioning Laurie’s IPP journey each year. You might be able to guess from the puzzle name that Laurie (and his wife) are big cyclists. So much so that Laurie rides his bike to IPP each year. Now that’s not overly impressive until you realise that he flew from the UK to Alaska (3000 miles from the IPP location) and cycled from Alaska to Washington DC. Not only did he do that but he cycled to the pre-IPP trip location of the Lilly Library in Bloomington, Indiana to visit the Slocum Collection housed there. Now there was a small hiccup as it turns out there is also a Bloomington in Illinois (one state to the west, and 200 miles away), and this is where Laurie ended up … just a little off track! Now to his credit, this didn’t put him off, he just got back on the bike and carried on! Truly a fantastic (crazy?) journey to get to IPP 32. And apparently he does this every year!

Allard and Wil at the exchange

Allard and Wil at the exchange

Getting back to the exchange puzzles, Allard was assisting Wil Strijbos this year. Now it’s a little hard to tell with Wil whether he’s taking the piss or not, and as I already noted, he’s a bit of a joker so when he presented his puzzle, the story that went along with it was great …

Wil Strijbos' Exchange puzzle named "Exchange"

Wil Strijbos’ Exchange puzzle named “Exchange”

As you can see from the puzzle cards, this is based on one of Wil’s Coke bottles, however it’s in a hospital collection cup. So Wil comes us and starts telling Diniar and I about the puzzle. “It’s called exchange, and that’s my puzzle. First you have to understand the solution sheet he tells us, showing the small laminated card. Exchange – It’s my exchange puzzle, and it’s the name of my puzzle, and it’s the solution to the puzzle. The second challenge is to take the ball out of the container.” (All the while that Wil is telling us this he keeps laughing slightly manically which seems to fit his personality!).

Allard's gift

Allard’s gift

After he’s told us this he then says that there is an extra gift from Allard if we want it, and hands us a small chain link. This is the third challenge (and I’ll leave you to read what the yellow card in the first photograph says) but this is not part of the exchange, and we’re warned that there will be no written solution to the third challenge. Now I’m not entirely sure, but I’m fairly certain that there is also no written solution to either the first or second challenges. Now add to that the fact that Wil presents the puzzle as you see it in my photographs (not as seen in the solution sheet) inside the cardboard box he then tells us the last challenge is to get the puzzle out of the box! I should note that the box is taped shut using some very broad tape, and as any good puzzler knows no external tools should be required, so as yet I’ve not managed to get mine out of the box and have refrained from using a knife to do so!

Robert Sandfield had a nice and short explanation for his puzzle, The “ReBanded Dovetails” box. Apparently the Banded Box which he had exchanged previously wasn’t made well enough and some people managed to open them, so this is a ReBanded box to fix that problem! I managed to get a copy of both of his banded boxes so I’ll review them separately.

Louis Toorenburg who is a very tall gentleman with a white beard turned up to the exchange wearing a Santa hat, and had each exchanger sit on his knee for a photograph with him when he exchanged. I have to be honest that I don’t even remember what his puzzle was, but I do know there is a photo that exists somewhere of Diniar and I sitting on Santa’s lap being asked if we had been good, and being checked off the list of exchangers. It seems as an assistant I’d been bad as my name wasn’t on the list. I’m hoping no-one finds a copy of that photograph!

After an exhausting 5 hours, the exchange was done, and Diniar had a large box of puzzles to take home and play with. There were some real gems in there and I’ll try to cover them when I start reviewing the puzzles.

Given that Jen was off shopping with the girls (or so I thought), I had some time to kill before she got back so I took my daily trip to the Design Competition room to continue playing with the puzzles. By the time the room was being shut, I’d made it through around half of the puzzles with around a 95% success rate in solving them without the solution sheet. I was pretty happy with that as there are some pretty challenging puzzles in there. As it turns out, Jen had returned a little while before I headed to the puzzle room, and was sitting in the bar with the girls, and sat there watching me walk straight past her on my way to play with the puzzles! (Sorry Jen)

Eric Fuller and myself enjoying a pint and a puzzle

Eric Fuller and myself enjoying a pint and a puzzle

The evening entertainment was dinner at the IPP Banquet, with some magic performances, but I’d somehow missed that on the IPP events list, so Jen and I were not attending that particular part. As it turns out Eric Fuller also wasn’t going so we’d arranged to meet up and ended up going to Morton’s Steak House for dinner, and had a very pleasant evening, an excellent steak, a chocolate cake slice that fed three of us with some left over and I had time to pick Eric’s brain about puzzle making and just generally get to know him a bit better. From what I heard, it seems like we may have had the better option, but read Brian’s thoughts on the dinner to find out for yourself.

John Rausch trying to fold a Scottish 5 pound note into a ring

John Rausch trying to fold a Scottish 5 pound note into a ring

When we got back from dinner we ended up sitting at the bar with John Rausch and Nancy Alliegro. John ended up folding a ring out of a dollar bill having failed when he tried to use a Scottish note I had in my wallet because it was too short. I’m not entirely sure how we managed to get to the topic of folding notes, but it was great to meet John in person and be able to chat to him for a while. Jen was given the ring, and it’s now part of my puzzling collection, and another memory for me from IPP 32.

New puzzle from Jane Kostick

New puzzle from Jane Kostick

John handed me a beautiful puzzle made by Jane Kostick while we were talking as I mentioned I had some of her work. John thought I’d appreciate this one. The puzzle comes in a plastic tube, very neatly presented, and the goal is to make the shape shown above. The trouble is that unlike many of Jane’s other puzzles where there are cubes or other guides to help in assembly, there’s nothing to help with this one. You have to initially build two pairs of pieces, and interlink them, then finding the correct orientation you can continue to build the rest of the structure. I had real issues seeing the correct orientation and with a few nudges from John finally got there, but it was a tough puzzle. I have to say it may be one of my favorites from Jane, and for now John Rausch is the only one to have a copy. Needless to say I’ve since asked Jane if I can have a copy too! Jane had three entries in the Design competition this year, all of which were excellent, and definitely far more puzzling that the entry from last year. I’ll be writing more about them soon.

Overall it was another busy day where I met some more great people and I feel as though I’ve already forgotten more stories than I remember from the day. After 5 hours on my feet again, and essentially talking non-stop, I was pretty tired at the end of the day. Talking with Rox about the event who was one of the exchangers (more about her puzzle soon), she was finding her voice going, and she teaches for a living, so her job is to talk. That said I wouldn’t have changed it for the world, and highly recommend anyone going to take part, even as an assistant given how much fun the day was.

Next up is the day of the Puzzle Party itself. I’d made a few puzzles to sell so I was looking forward to the experience both being able to buy some new puzzles and also to be on the other side of the table selling. Come back tomorrow to find out how I got on.

IPP 32 – Day One

The first official day of the IPP 32 started on Thursday and many more puzzles were arriving. There was an organised tour of DC however Jen and I weren’t on the list. Originally our youngest son was coming with us, and at 14, being stuck on a bus and having to do something organised probably wasn’t going to be the best idea, so we’d not booked any of the trips. As it turns out he decided he didn’t want to go after all, so it was just Jen and I but we were too late to get on the tour. Instead we ended up doing some more sight seeing ourselves, and took in the Air and Space Museum, Native American Museum and the Art gallery.

Heading back to the hotel in the early afternoon, I spent some time in the design competition room playing with a few more of the entries I’d not played with the night before. I plan to write about each of the entries I played with so I’ll not talk about them here, just stay tuned for more posts coming soon. I did manage to solve over 50 of the 80 entries without the solutions, but there were a few I didn’t even play with. Given that I love puzzle boxes I started with those, and from there played with the puzzles that looked interesting to me. With so many puzzles to play with you really have to make some choices and perhaps even ignore some. For me I mostly passed by the twisty puzzles, as it’s not something I really enjoy (or am very good at) but that still left a lot of excellent puzzles to spend my time on.

Also in the Puzzle Design room was the Holbrook Puzzle Collection Exhibit. This included a number of superb puzzles from the Holbrook Collection. Rather than try to describe them all, just have a look at the photos below. There’s some superb puzzles in there, and also some great IPP history.

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

Holbrook collection

Collection Pictures

When the puzzle room shut for the day, I took the time to have a quick shower and freshen up before the Founder’s reception. I’ll be honest, it really wasn’t what I was expecting. Given the cost of the ‘dinner’ I expected a sit down meal with some sort of formal event organised. Instead, it was a buffet style finger food with sliders and salads. Not only that but the drinks were not on the house, and had to be bought separately. Now at this point you’re probably thinking that I’m some sort of tight Scotsman. That is far from the truth as anyone who knows me will tell you, but when you’re being asked for $4 for a glass of coke, and you don’t even get a full can for that, you can tell that things were a bit steep. Even the main bar downstairs wasn’t nearly as pricey. That said, it was more of a meet and greet with only a few words from Jerry Slocum and Chris Morgan who was this years Host.

There were even more great people to spend time with and talk to at the evenings Founder’s reception. This was the end to the first official day of IPP, and I found myself introduced to many more giants in the puzzle world including the founder of IPP, Jerry Slocum himself, Marcel Gillen, John Rausch, Robert Yarger, Eric Fuller, Tom Lensch, Gregory Benedetti, Laurie Brokenshire, Stephen Chin, James Dalgety, Scott Elliot, Rocky Chiaro, Robert Sandfield as well as meeting up with my good friend Derek Bosch and his wife Michelle who had made it in late the previous night. I realise now that despite having my camera with me all the time, I really didn’t take that many photos of all the great people I was meeting. Fortunately Rox did, so you can see all the people photos that she took instead! Of course there were many people who I know from the local puzzle meets like Stan Isaacs, Abel Garcia, Marc Pawlinger, Bram Cohen to name just a few.

It was fascinating talking to Marcel about his puzzles, and relating my experiences with his rolling pins to him. To hear him talking about the problems working in metal and that he now creates puzzles using a CNC machine and MDF! Having seen his exchange puzzle from this year’s IPP, you can be assured that even though he’s no longer making puzzles in metal, he’s still making great puzzles! The thing that really amazes you when you talk to some of the people who have been in the business of collecting or designing for a long time is that everyone is very open and approachable, and really wants to help you. The number of people who gave me advice or help is incredible, and everyone interested in what I was doing and making.

As people started to drift off myself, Peter Wiltshire, Allard and Derek Bosch with our respective other halves grabbed a few chairs and had a seat. It turns out Peter is a pretty good magician and had a few tricks up his sleeves to keep us entertained. His presentation and patter is superb, and it really took me back to they days when I used to do magic too. He had a particularly fun trick with the key from his minibar in the hotel room (or so he was telling us). A solid wooden bar which had a hone in one end and a chain passing through the hole with the key looped through the chain. Passing it behind his back the hole moved from one end of the bar to the other then back …. ok so not the real magic. The real magic was when the hole moved from the end of the bar to the centre of the bar. At all times, the chain could be pulled through the hole showing nothing tricky was going on. Peter had shown me the trick the night before and I’d been puzzling over how it was done all night. I had a pretty good idea, and from the position I was sitting in at the reception I was able to see the full mechanics of the puzzle. When Peter had finished the puzzle, he turned to me and asked if I’d had a good view of it that time, so he knew that from the position I was in I could see what was going on. That shows a lot of trust as normally a magician will not give anyone the advantage of seeing how a trick is done. It turns out I was right as to how it was done but Peter’s presentation keeps the secret perfectly.

As we were sitting one of my friends from back in California Marc Pawlinger wandered over with his son. The funny thing is that Marc lives just a few miles from me, however seems we only manage to meet up at puzzling events! Peter had another great trick with a little mouse which he showed to Marc’s son and got a great reaction. So much so that he had to show it to the adults as well who also really appreciated it. Peter also had a really nice card trick that he showed us. Both Derek and myself thought we knew how it was done, but it turns out we were both wrong. I thought I saw something as Peter was showing us, but despite being close to understanding the method, I was a little off…. That had to puzzle me until the Sunday night where Peter showed me how it was done. Thanks Peter!

With the reception over, a few of us drifted back downstairs to the bar area to continue conversations, and eventually end up in the puzzle design room again playing with more of the competition entries. There certainly are a few die hard puzzlers out there who you could find in the design room pretty much any time it was open. I’ll not mention names as you know who you are…

Next up is the day of the Puzzle Exchange.

IPP 32 – Day Zero

Over the weekend of the 9th to 12th August IPP 32 was held in Washington DC. I was lucky enough to be invited and as my first year attending IPP I’ve found it very difficult to write about it all. I have sat down several times over the last week to try to write about my experiences and have thrown away everything I wrote as rubbish. Hopefully this will be good enough, although I seriously doubt it!

IPP 32 logo

IPP 32 logo

To sum up the experience is really challenging. There were so many great people there, and so much happening, that I’m not sure I remember everything, nor could I describe half of it even if I could. It’s a completely overwhelming experience, and something I will not forget. It’s going to take a good few posts to cover all the events, so keep reading over the next few days and I’ll try my best to share my experiences. ( I’ll also note up front that I’ve avoided reading the posts from my fellow bloggers over the last week, just in case I repeat anything they’ve said!)

For anyone who doesn’t know, IPP is the International Puzzle Party. An annual invitation only event which has been taking place for 32 years now, and was originally started by Jerry Slocum, where a small number of Puzzle enthusiasts were invited to his home to share their puzzles, trade and generally talk about puzzles and the like. Today, over 400 puzzle collectors attend the party and it alternates between locations in the USA, Asia and Europe. The party includes a puzzle design competition, a puzzle exchange and a sale of puzzles. I was fortunate to be able to take part in all of the above, so I’ll talk about each and share some thoughts with you.

I arrived in DC with Jen on Tuesday fairly late on, around 10pm by the time we finally made it to the hotel. There were a few puzzle people hanging around the lobby playing with string but I didn’t talk to anyone as we had luggage to get to the room, and we were both pretty hungry, so we headed out for some food. By the time we got back the place was deserted. Given that we were still on California time, and thinking it was still 7.30pm and not 11.30pm I was a little surprised that everyone had gone to bed so early!

Getting up reasonably early the next morning so Jen and I could do some sight seeing before the IPP really got under way, we headed down for breakfast, and on coming out of the elevator, I was greeted by Jim Strayer who I didn’t recognise, but he recognised me from my blog and videos. He promptly introduced himself and his wife, and welcomed me to the IPP. I think that really set the tone for my weekend, where people were going to know me, and I was going to recognise the names, but not the faces! In fact it got better. I’m the only Scottish IPP’er. I’d be standing talking to someone and without anyone seeing my face, they’d know who I was. Sadly, Scotland didn’t get a pin on the IPP map as I’m based in California now, so I’m considered a US attendee!

The Whitehouse, complete with snipers on the roof!

The Whitehouse, complete with snipers on the roof!

With the IPP registration not opening until later in the afternoon, Jen and I went off to do some sightseeing around DC. Walking through the lobby of the hotel to head to the tube, I spot a figure walking towards me, and am promptly given a great big hug (and a few strange looks from Jen!). Rox was in the lobby with her daughter and on spotting me had to say hello.

I’ve never really been to the east coast US, as all my business trips have been over in California, so I was looking forward to seeing some of DC. I’ll not bore you with all the tourist pics, but I think the one above should be ok. I have no idea how far I walked that day, but I’ll say this much… my feet were sore, and I was ready for a shower and a seat when I get back to the hotel. The weather in DC is hot and humid. The heat I’m used to from California, but the humidity is a killer! That said I had a great day with Jen and was ready to meet some puzzling people when I got back.

Once we were freshened up, we took the trip down to the registration room and after being stopped by one or two new faces who recognised me, where we were given badges, and had our photos taken. Each year there is a souvenir book produced which includes a photo of every attendee. With that sorted out, I wandered into the lobby where Jim Strayer once again said hello and introduced me to a few other puzzle names I knew, including a few I’ve worked with quite closely over the last few months including Rob Stegman (I’ll get back to that though!).

A gift from Peter Wiltshire and the start of a new tradition?

A gift from Peter Wiltshire and the start of a new tradition?

I met Peter Wiltshire, Brett Kuehner, and I’m sure one or two others who happened to be standing around chatting, and making dinner plans. Peter who knew this was my first IPP, without even looking at my badge given discussions on the Renegades forums said he had something for me, that had a little story to go with it. It turns out that when Peter attended his first IPP, Ginda Fisher had given him a copy of a little puzzle he’d made as a gift for people at IPP. I’ll not give away more that that other than to say that Peter told me that the info about the puzzle, the designer, and the name of the puzzle were all inside, and would probably help me open it.

Something of a welcome to IPP and a way to make the new guy feel welcome. So Peter tells me that he wants to give me a copy of his puzzle gift since it’s my first IPP, and hopes that at some point in the future I’ll be able to do the same. I’m quite flattered by the offer and think it’s a great idea. Peter’s puzzle is superb, as I find out later when he hands me the copy, and I hope that I’ll be able to give someone else a puzzle of my own in the future!

With enough of a crowd gathered, we depart to the local mall for some food, and end up taking two tables to fit all of us in. I end up sitting at a table with Dor Tietz, Yael Meron and two other veteran IPPer’s that I can’t even remember now (it was nearly 2 weeks ago). We had a great chat over dinner about many things, not just puzzle related, and both Jen and I are made to feel very welcome. With appetites quenched, we returned to the hotel lobby and ended up standing around chatting with a few new faces who’d shown up.

As I stood there chatting a familiar name came up and introduced himself, having recognised my voice (I did say it was going to be a bit of a theme for me). Allard Walker tapped me on the shoulder and said hi. Little introduction was needed as I recognised him instantly, and we both introduced our respective other halves, who hit it off instantly. It seems that Gillian, Jen and Leslie (Peter’s wife) all share similar interests, and started making their own plans, which meant I didn’t feel as guilty spending so much time puzzling or talking about puzzles.

Amazing Card folding gift

Amazing Card folding gift

Allard hands me a small gift. One of Louis Coolen’s impossible cards which you can read all about over here and I seriously suggest that you do. The card is superb. I’d seen some of Louis’ early attempts at card folding, and I knew he was getting pretty good at this, but really nothing does the card justice. It’s a work of art, and a truly beautiful item. I’m very happy to have added this to my collection, so thanks Allard and Louis!

Shortly thereafter Wil Strijbos appears and Allard who knows Wil quite well asks me “You know who this is don’t you?” I have to reply that I don’t (since Wil isn’t wearing a name badge, and doesn’t throughout the whole weekend). We’re quickly introduced, and Wil hands Allard some metal rods asking for help. Apparently, customs took apart his peppermint twist puzzle, and Wil’s not had time to put it back together. However knowing that Allard has a copy and has solved it, he just asks Allard to put it back together. Allard takes the pieces and sits down next to where we’re standing and starts trying to put the pieces together. As I watch I ask if there’s a trick to which I’m told yes and Allard shows us how to best go about putting it together. After a couple of minutes, Allard looks up and asks Wil if he’s having him on. It seems that Wil is a bit of a joker, and Allard knows this! (As it happens, Wil is joking as he’s already shown Peter and myself that fifth piece which is needed to put the puzzle together. Allard suspects something is up, but all Wil has in his hands is a small black kitten with glowing blue eyes which makes noise. Wil finally gives in after Allard concedes that the four pieces he has don’t go together, and gives him the fifth piece. With the puzzle back together, Wil tries to give Allard the puzzle as a gift, but Allard isn’t going to take it. I should probably have offered Wil some money for it, but really I wasn’t thinking!

Finding a table in the hotel lobby Peter, Allard myself and our other halves sat and had a drink while the boys talked puzzles, and the girls talked about something else entirely less boring to them! Allard pulls out a copy of Louis’ Amazing Box #3, which was great fun to play with, and I really look forward to seeing what else he produces, as he’ll be making some great puzzles before long I assure you! I take a trip up to my room to get Allard his copy of the Hex Stair puzzle he’d ordered which is passed around the table (Rob Stegman and Jim Strayer have joined us by this point) and all have a shot of the Amazing box, and the Hex Stair which they seemed to enjoy. He also puzzled out a copy of Wil’s Washer Cylinder which he handed to Peter and we taunted him as he explored that for a while.

As we’re sitting Nick Baxter spots me and tells me that the competition room has been opened if I’m interested in looking at the design entries. Rather excitedly, I go back to the table and let the guys know, and we promptly decant to the puzzle room, since it’s not officially opened till the Thursday, so we take the opportunity to get a first look at the puzzles. Jen and the ladies leave us to it, as we excitedly hurry to see new puzzles.

Playing with a cats cradle

Playing with a cats cradle

While in the puzzle room Brett Kuehner’s father was wandering around and Brian, his wife Kellian and I ended up talking to him about the Cats Cradle. You’ll remember that I mentioned the puzzlers playing with string when I arrived on the Tuesday night. Well it turns out this is why. Brett’s dad was explaining that he’d sit in a shopping mall somewhere and play with a cradle in the hope that people would come up and ask him about it. Turns out that lots of people do, but mostly people his age who remember playing with one as children. He’d show them a few possible patterns, and learn one in return. His parting gift was to give them the string and ask them to then teach a child a few patterns. I didn’t end up getting a string but I do remember playing with one as a child (although I was never very good) so perhaps I should pick one up again and learn once more. Here you can see Kellian getting to see how to check a heartbeat, with the string wrapped round your ears!

Brian Pletcher playing with "Ze House of Mouse Ze Duong"

Brian Pletcher playing with “Ze House of Mouse Ze Duong”

It’s in the puzzle room as I’m looking for the next puzzle I want to play with that I spot Brian Pletcher sitting and introduce myself. I’ve followed Brian’s blog for a long time, and recently worked with him on the Black Letter labs puzzles, so it was great to meet another of the puzzlers I knew but had never met in person.

I ended up sitting playing with puzzles until it was just Brian and I left in the room and we were sitting talking about a couple of the puzzles we’d played with. At 1.30 am we called it a night and Brian locked up the puzzle room. All in all a fantastic first day to my IPP, and only the start of a truly memorable weekend.

Next up, the Design Competition is officially started and IPP Day 1. I’ll post more pics there I promise!

Hex Stair (Part 3) – Finishing

After the quick interlude as I prepare for IPP, here’s the third part of the Hex Stair saga. Despite only having 11 puzzles made in the last month, it feels like I’ve been working on this project a fair bit longer. Still seeing all the puzzles finished and ready to go to IPP with me I’m really pleased with the results.

A Collection of Hex Stair's (and a couple of Domino Towers too)

A Collection of Hex Stair’s (and a couple of Domino Towers too)

Another view of the set of puzzles finished and ready to go

Another view of the set of puzzles finished and ready to go

I’m not sure how anyone else views the finishing process, but for me it starts long before you ever get out a brush or some lacquer. Much of the look of a finished puzzle, or any wooden object really comes from the choices you make when you’re putting it together. There are subtle details which really help to ‘finish’ a project. For the Hex Stair (and the Domino Tower) puzzles, adding the very slight 45 degree bevel to the edges of the pieces really adds to the overall look. Without it, the puzzle looks incomplete. So for me that’s the first part in the finishing process. After each of the blocks are cut to size, I add a tiny bevel to each piece. It’s a time consuming process, but without it the pieces just lack that little edge that they’d otherwise have.

The puzzles pre-finishing.  Here they are unsanded.

The puzzles pre-finishing. Here they are unsanded.

Getting ready, each of the puzzles are assembled, as I will be sanding only the outside of the pieces. The reason for this is that I send a lot of time ensuring that the pieces are all the exact same size, to ensure a tight fit on the assembled puzzle. If I were to sand the pieces, then I’d lose that fit, and the puzzle would become too loose, or not fit at all! You’ll remember that I aim for one thousandth of an inch tolerance between pieces. Sanding will remove much more than that!

Each grit will be used from lowest to highest.

Each grit will be used from lowest to highest.

Given the finish I get from the blade of the saw, you could ask why sand the puzzle at all? The main reason is the feel of the puzzle in your hands when it’s sanded. Although the puzzle if perfectly dimensioned, the feel of the wood can still be a little rough. By working up through the various grit of sandpaper, we’ll take the wood to being silky smooth to the touch, and make it something that you’ll want to hold. Given that I’m starting off with something which is close to a finished surface, I’ll start sanding at 220 grit, then move up to 320, 400, and eventually 600 grit. The last two grits are more polishing the wood than removing imperfections, so very light passes are all that’s required at that stage.

First pass sanding is done, and the dust needs cleaned off before continuing

First pass sanding is done, and the dust needs cleaned off before continuing

With each of the sides, and both top and bottom sanded, the puzzle is left coated in a fine sawdust. You’ll notice that I’m working with the sandpaper attached to my granite block. I work the puzzle across the paper rather than take the paper in my hand and bring it to the puzzle. The former ensure that the surface is dead flat, and I don’t over sand any particular area, where there latter, the different pressure from my fingers would lead to imperfections. Before moving to the next grit, the dust has to be taken off, otherwise it will be ground into the surface of the wood, and you will end up working harder to get the surface you’re looking for. To do this I use two processes. First up, I have an air compressor with a fine nozzle on it. Using that at about 60 PSI, I blow most of the dust off the surface, taking care to ensure I get any dust out of the pores of the wood. On wood like the Paduak I’m using which has fairly deep pores, the air easily clears them out.

The Tacky Cloth used to remove dust from the surface.

The Tacky Cloth used to remove dust from the surface.

Once I’ve blown the dust and cobwebs away, I use a Tacky cloth to take care of anything that’s left on the surface. The Tacky cloth is has an almost waxy feel to it, and does a great job of taking anything loose off the surface. With that done, I can continue up through the grit until I finally reach 600. All in all it takes about forty minutes per puzzle, but since I was working with all the puzzles, around 3 hours in total.

The puzzle sanded up to 600 grit.

The puzzle sanded up to 600 grit.

It may be a little hard to tell the difference from the photograph, but this is the puzzle sanded up to 600 grit. The real difference is in the feel of the wood. Now much smoother, the finish is almost like glass.

The Satin Laquer for finishing

The Satin Laquer for finishing

Watco Finishing Wax

Watco Finishing Wax

Next up in the process is to apply the finish. I use a three stage process currently. First up is to apply a couple of thin coats of lacquer. I mix the lacquer 50/50 with thinner, and apply two coats to the puzzle pieces. Working with the lacquer thinned like this, I have found I don’t end up with runs or drips. Given the size of the pieces I’m working with I use a small brush to apply the finish which could leave brush stokes with a thicker mixture. Each coat is applied and allowed to dry overnight before adding the next coat in the morning.

End of day one in the finishing process

End of day one in the finishing process

It takes around 20 minutes per puzzle to apply a coat of finish, and then it’s left to dry. I’ll show side by side photos below, so you can see the difference after each stage. It will probably not be too obvious, however the before and after shot shows worlds of difference!

First coat applied, and the pieces left to dry

First coat applied, and the pieces left to dry

After the two coats of lacquer are applied, I take a good look at each of the pieces. Sometimes the wood absorbs the lacquer more in certain areas, and the finish can appear uneven. If that’s the case, I’ll go back and apply a third, or even fourth coat of lacquer until the wood has absorbed the lacquer evenly. After each coat, the lacquer is left to soak in for around thirty minutes, and then I’ll come back and rub off any excess with a clean cloth. If the lacquer pools on the surface, it will dry hard and uneven, which can affect the fit of the puzzle, and certainly doesn’t make it look any better!

Once I’m happy, I’ll apply a liberal coat of the Watco finishing wax. This helps the pieces to slide past each other, and adds another layer of protection for the puzzle. After all these will be played with, so I want the wood to be protected. I leave the wax on the puzzle for around 15-20 minutes, then with another clean cloth, rub the excess off. Part of this process I also buff the pieces as I work the wax into the surface, but mostly I’m removing the excess.

Renaissance Wax is used to apply the final coat to the finish

Renaissance Wax is used to apply the final coat to the finish

The final part to the finishing process is to apply a coat of Renaissance Wax. This incredible substance (which is not cheap!) brings up an amazing shine on the wood. Applying it leaves the wood with a slightly tacky feel, and a finish which is less than mirror. I apply the wax as evenly as possible, and then let it sit for 20 minutes. After that I take a clean cloth and start buffing the surface. It takes about 20 minutes per puzzle, but the wax really polishes up the surface and starts to make the wood shine.


The Ren Wax gets inside the puzzle, and needs to be cleaned out

The Ren Wax gets inside the puzzle, and needs to be cleaned out

After the initial buffing, I take the puzzle apart, as the wax gets pushed into every little gap. This needs to be cleaned out before the puzzle is re-assembled and given another buffing. All told the process takes nearly 45 minutes per puzzle, but as you will see below, the results are worth every minute of it!

The finished finish, next to an unfinished piece

The finished finish, next to an unfinished piece

As you can see the difference from start to finish is dramatic. The surface ends up being quite reflective, and really brings out the grain in the wood. It may take ~4 hours per puzzle but the results speak for themselves.

The images below show each stage of the process compared with the unfinished puzzle. It may not be too easy to see the difference, as the changes are subtle.

Both coats of lacquer applied to the piece on the right

Both coats of lacquer applied to the piece on the right

The coat of wax applied to the piece on the right.

The coat of wax applied to the piece on the right.


I hope you’ve enjoyed the writeup of my finishing process. I freely admit that I’m no expert, and I’m learning as I go, however several of my readers have asked so hopefully this is useful to you. This is by no means the definitive guide to finishing, and certainly isn’t appropriate for all applications, however it does work for me when finishing puzzles, and I’m happy with the results. From the feedback I’ve had from those who’ve bought my puzzles, they seem to agree that I’m doing something right!