Chip by Hiroyuki Oka

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Chip was created as a Christmas Present in 2007 for the Karakuri group members by Hiroyuki Oka. It’s name comes from the small ‘chip’ of wood which is stuck to the top of the box by a magnet. This is the last of the Puzzle boxes Derek Bosch recently lent me to solve.

Chip by Hiroyuki Oka

Chip by Hiroyuki Oka

Here is what Hiroyuki Oka has to say about this puzzle box:

This is one of the Secret Boxes. At first, you need to move a device to open the box.. But you can’t see the mechanism from the outside. Maybe you can find the place of the device with the attached small wood plate.

Made from Walnut, Katsura Agathis, Rengas and Magnolia, there’s a lot going on in this box. The inlay is nicely done, and adds detail to an otherwise plain box. The checker board chip made from a number of small cubes laminated together is a nice touch as this didn’t have to be such an ornate part of the puzzle. The box is a slightly squashed cube measuring approximately 3.5″ x 3.5″ 2.75″.

As the description hints, there is a hidden mechanism in this box, and the small chip attached to the box is the clue to finding it. There’s nothing hidden about the fact that the chip is held in place by a magnet as its visible when you flip the piece over.

Initially, none of the panels on the box will move at all, so whatever is keeping the box locked needs to be moved before anything else will happen. Having had a few other puzzles in the past where magnets have been used, I tried all sorts of ideas like flipping the piece over to repel the magnets, hoping this might move the device and let me open the box, but I was having little success.

With a closer inspection of the box, and a lot of searching I found what I was looking for and what the description hits at. After that it was a fairly simple sequence to open the box requiring only 5 moves.

I think I spent around 20 minutes on this puzzle to open it and while I do like it, it’s not one of my favourites. The walls of the box are just a little too thin for my liking, to the point that the base has a degree of flex if you press it, even gently, with your fingers. (And most people familiar with Japanese puzzle boxes will use several fingers and press gently while pushing panels to see what moves.)

A nice box, and I am grateful to Derek Bosch for lending it to me so I could solve it.

P.S. Happy 4th of July to all my friends reading in the US. American flag

Free Dial by Shiro Tajima

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Free Dial by Shiro Tajima was his Karakuri Group Christmas Present in 2005, and is another of the puzzle boxes Derek Bosch recently leant me.

Free Dial by Shiro Tajima

Free Dial by Shiro Tajima

The description of this simple looking box is anything but plain. I love reading the descriptions the designers give their puzzles. So often it reveals either something about the puzzle, or the designer.

Actually in this tiny box is loaded the enchanted power! Try! Let’s turn the red dial in the front of the box. What happened? Probably it will be fantastic things. You might have a romance, might receive a message from somebody that lives far off in the Universe, or…?

Made from Japanese Raisin tree, Chanchin and Walnut, this box measures approximately 2 3/4″ x 2 1/2″ x 2 1/2″. The big red button on the front is fairly appealing, but no matter how hard you push it’s not going to depress. When Derek gave me this box I assumed that the slightly wider plate was the top, however the Shiro Tajima’s page on the Karakuri website shows it as the bottom. Personally, I think I prefer it as the top.

Free Dial by Shiro Tajima

Free Dial upside down

I’m giving nothing away by telling you that the button will spin fairly freely, and that the plate just slides off. There’s no mechanism, no lock, nothing clever here. It just slides right off.

Free Dial by Shiro Tajima

Free Dial by Shiro Tajima

Unfortunately that really doesn’t help much. You’re left looking at a plain top to the box, and you can see the very top of the red dial. After playing on and off with this box, I wasn’t having a huge deal of success. That said, I had a fairly good day of solving puzzles, having finally cracked the Box with a tree so I had picked this back up that night, and in an ‘Aha’ moment, saw how to solve this one. All in all I spent around 30 minutes puzzling over this box.

It’s a beautifully simple puzzle, and as with most puzzles, you have everything you need in your hands to open it, if only you can think enough outside the box to see it. In this case, thinking on top of the box may help as well. The thing I like about this puzzle is that everything is on display. There is nothing hidden, so no clever tricks or hidden mechanisms that you have to feel your way around.

The opening of the box is quite special and rather unexpected. It could easily elude you unless you pay close attention to what you see, and for that reason I really like it. This is a great little puzzle and I highly recommend playing with one if you get the chance. Given that this was a Karakuri Christmas present, there aren’t that many around, but it may appear at auction occasionally, so keep your eyes open.

Oskar’s Matchboxes

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Oskar’s Matchboxes is another puzzle designed by Oskar Van Deventer. This seems like a simple enough puzzle, where five matchboxes have their sleeves and drawers attached at interesting angles to create five unique pieces. The goal is to close all five matchboxes. Have a look here for Brian’s review.

Oskar's Matchboxes Puzzle by Eric Fuller

Oskar's Matchboxes Puzzle by Eric Fuller

I recently won a copy of Oskar’s Matchboxes, made by Eric Fuller in 2010, on the recent Cubic Dissection Marketplace auction. This is a beautifully made version using (as best I can tell) Mahogany and Maple. Overall, the puzzle is approximately 3.5″ in size, making for a very compact version.

Matchbox Diagram

Diagram of each of the pieces

The diagram on the right shows how each of the matchboxes should be attached. The dimensions of the boxes are fairly important, they need to be on a 3:2:1 scale in order for the puzzle to work correctly. There have been a number of versions of the puzzle made, including short runs by Trevor Wood, Tom Lensch and Eric Fuller. Each of those has a different appearance as the creator can make the boxes in whatever style they desire, as long as it remains inside the dimensions listed. Recently Philos Games has started creating a mass manufactured version of the puzzle which you can buy directly or at Puzzle Master or Amazon.

When I received this puzzle, Eric’s description states that there are two solutions, however I was aware that Trevor Wood claims there are three solutions. I set myself a challenge to find all three solutions or prove that there were only two. When I received the puzzle, it was already in the solved state, so I took it apart, shuffled the pieces and starting trying to put it back together. After about an hour I had the five boxes back together. This is a tough puzzle, and is very easy to get lost trying to solve it. A systematic approach will serve you best when trying to solve this, as randomly lifting pieces is unlikely to be successful.

With one solution found, I started looking for the others. After another 15 minutes, I found a way to change the location of only one piece and still solve the puzzle. Having done this, I had to take photographs of the two solutions to prove to myself that they were indeed different. The two solutions are mirror images of each other, so easy to miss that they are different. (You can click this link to see all solutions)

So two down. Could I find the third? As it happens, I had come across the third solution while trying to solve the puzzle for the first time, however it is not possible to create this third solution with Eric’s version of the puzzle. At this point, you might think I’d give up and accept that it wasn’t possible to create the third solution. Well, I’m not the sort of person that gives up. I wanted to create a version where all three solutions were possible. As Trevor Wood points out, the dimensions of the puzzle, and exact placement of the drawers is required to be able to create all three solutions.

One thing that made me want to create my own version was this image of the Philos Puzzle in the solved state (thanks to Brian Pletcher for the image). If you look at the image on the Puzzle Master site, you’ll see that it is solved in the same way as I have it solved, but here is a completely different solution, this one much flatter than the two possible using Eric’s version!

Off to the store I went to buy some matchboxes. (As a side note, you have no idea how difficult it seems to be to buy a standard matchbox in San Jose!) With a pack of 10 matchboxes in my hand I took out my tape, and started joining the sleeves and drawers together to match the diagram above, while creating an ever increasing pile of matches on my workbench.

Homemade version of Oskar's Matchboxes

Homemade version of Oskar's Matchboxes

The result speaks for itself (see the link below as I have not included the solutions by default so you can discover them for yourself!). The third solution which was not possible with the very high quality version from Eric Fuller.

If you want to see all three solutions, click here, and browse the images. Note, these won’t appear if you click any of the other images so if you don’t want to compare the solutions, you’re not going to be exposed to them accidentally.

As an additional challenge, try putting the matches back into the boxes when you solve the puzzle. After all, they are matchboxes, and should still be able to store the matches. I went ahead and did just that, and realised that the puzzle becomes harder. Given the interesting orientation of the drawers, the order in which you close them now becomes even more important, as it;s not possible to put them together in all orders since the matches will fall out (unless you have 4 hands!)

This is a fun project, and fairly simple as long as you get matchboxes with the correct scale. Have a go, and let me know how you get on. Alternatively, pick up a copy of the Philos version and have a go at finding all three solutions yourself.

The Svetnashki Optical Puzzle

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While browsing the Puzzle Master store, I came across this interesting puzzle by Russian inventor Vladimir Krasnoukhov. The Puzzle is a variation of the classic fifteen sliding tile puzzle however instead of trying to create an image or sequence of numbers, you play with light. Thanks to Puzzle Master for sending me this puzzle to review.

Svetnashki Optical Puzzle

Svetnashki Optical Puzzle in the bag it arrives in.

The idea behind the puzzle is quite simple. Using perspex which has been polarised either up/down or left/right, an invisible grid is formed. The back of the puzzle is a 2×2 grid where each alternate quarter is polarised differently, and then the fifteen 1×1 sliding tiles are polarised in alternate orientations. As the pieces slide across the back grid, their colour will change from transparent to opaque.

The challenge is made somewhat more difficult due to the top sheet of perspex which holds the pieces in place but also restricts your ability to touch any of the corner pieces and the four centre pieces. As a result you have to tilt and rotate the puzzle to move the pieces around instead of just pushing any individual piece where you want it to go. It’s a nice idea, and the pieces move around freely enough that you don’t feel frustrated.

One possible solved state

One possible solved state with all tiles clear

One possible solved state

One possible solved state with all tiles black


Given the nature of the puzzle, there is more than one ‘solved’ state possible. You can make the puzzle entirely clear or entirely opaque, there really is no right or wrong answer, and as such it gives it far more flexibility and replay value than a standard sliding tile puzzle with a fixed picture printed on the surface.

Creating patterns in the Puzzle

Creating patterns in the Puzzle

A Checkerboard pattern

A Checkerboard pattern


Add to that, the ability to create as many patterns using the light and dark as you care to imagine, and the possibilities, while not endless are certainly large. Creating the checker board pattern on the right is just one example, but there are many more just waiting to be discovered.

Puzzle Master rates the puzzle as a Level 7 – Challenging (out of 10), however I don’t really see it being quite as difficult. Perhaps the amount of fun you can have with this puzzle makes it seem less difficult. I was able to move between each of the solved states in a few minutes, and was able to create a number of simple patterns quite quickly as well. To my mind this is a case where fun outweighs difficulty and is less important.

Puzzle Master sells a number of colours including both the larger and smaller versions of the 4×4 puzzle and the double layered version, you can order different sizes and custom colours from the manufacturer directly. Svetnashki Optical Puzzle On their website, they have 4×6 and 6×6 versions available if you’re looking for an added challenge, or to be able to create more patterns.

Overall, this is an excellent little puzzle/toy and I highly recommend it for all ages and skill levels. I’ve had a lot of fun just randomly spinning it and seeing which patterns are created. While I’m not normally a fan of sliding tile puzzles, this one really has caught my attention, and I have to say I really enjoy playing with it.

Aluminium Cross by Wil Strijbos

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As I mentioned previously, I was lucky enough to be able to pick up a copy of this re-run of Wil Strijbos’ first ever puzzle design, the Aluminium Cross. John Devost over at Puzzle Paradise had been in touch with Wil to get a few for the US collectors, and I bought mine through John. Wil Strijbos is a fairly well known puzzle designer, creator and collector from the Netherlands. He has a huge collection of puzzles, and has been designing puzzles himself for quite some time.

Wil has a number of glass bottle puzzles (which Oli has reviewed here and Allard over here) and nut/bolt puzzles he designs and makes, but perhaps his most notable works are his aluminium puzzles. Just by looking at these puzzles, it’s easy to see why, they really do look good, they’re well finished and are just a little different to many other puzzles on the market today. You can read Allard’s review of Wil’s Aluminium puzzles over on his blog and Kevin’s over on PuzzleMad. Since Wil makes these by hand, there’s never a huge number of puzzles available, however he does take requests, and has a catalogue of other puzzles for you to buy while waiting on one of his puzzles.

Aluminium Cross by Wil Strijbos

Aluminium Cross by Wil Strijbos

The Aluminium Cross was created back in 1980, when Wil was invited to meet Mr James Dalgety from Pentangle Puzzles after writing to Pentangle about their puzzles. He felt that with such an invite he should create something to take with him. Back in 1980 he made only a few samples of the puzzle, and it has taken 32 years for him to make it available on a larger scale. Looking at the puzzle, it doesn’t look very challenging. There are two bars of aluminium and two rods going through them, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to take apart? It’s at this point it’s worth noting that when Wil announced the availability of this puzzle again, he showed pictures of the puzzle open and closed. That’s right … he shows the puzzle open. Anyone who is able to show you their puzzle solved, and it still be a challenge to take it apart has a good puzzle on their hands. For that reason I don’t hesitate to do the same in this review and show you the same as Wil did.

Aluminium Cross by Wil Strijbos

Aluminium Cross by Wil Strijbos

Even having seen the puzzle already apart, I can confirm that there are no clues there. If anything all it does is serve to intrigue and confuse. I know having seen the images from Wil himself it just made me want one even more.

When I received the puzzle, my parents were over from Scotland on Vacation, and my Dad who is also a puzzler was quite interested as well. At first, everything is locked solid and none of the pieces will slide. Over dinner, I sat and played as we talked and gradually by twisting and turning the puzzle, first one bar moved, then after more work I could remove it. Yet more work was required to finally take the two parts of the cross apart and see how the puzzle was constructed. I will admit that I wasn’t paying as much attention as I normally do when solving a puzzle given that I was enjoying dinner with my family.

To my surprise I had taken the puzzle apart in under 15 minutes. And that is where the fun started. I had to put the puzzle back to the start, so my Dad could open it. I then spent the next 40 minutes trying to work out how I had taken it apart to be able to put it back to the starting position, and ended up having to take it apart again several times to see how each of the elements interacted. My input to the dinner conversation was significantly less than it had been while I was opening the puzzle, and there were a few grunts as the puzzle eluded my attempts to reassemble it. This puzzle is just as challenging to restore to its original state as it is to take apart.

In all there are six elements to the puzzle which need to be understood to solve it. It’s a great puzzle, and as a first design it makes my efforts seem fairly meagre. Having handed the puzzle to my Dad, he opened it fairly quickly, but ended up handing it back to me to put back together. I’ve given it to a few other friends and they have all enjoyed playing with it and agree that it’s a great puzzle.

The first run of the Aluminium Cross sold out very quickly, but I know Wil has batch two ready and I have no doubt that if they continue to sell well he’ll make more.

I’ll be reviewing Wil’s other aluminium puzzles soon, so stay tuned for more from Wil Strijbos. If you’d like to purchase any of Wil’s puzzles, or find out what other puzzles he has in stock, feel free to get in touch, and I’ll send you Wil’s details. He currently doesn’t have a website, but does maintain a mailing list with lots of info.

The Strijbos Metals

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Despite the slightly cryptic title, many puzzlers will already know what I’m talking about. Hailing from the Netherlands, William Strijbos is a name familiar to many puzzlers. His aluminium puzzles are probably his best known, but by no means his only puzzles. Wil also designs bolt puzzles as well as a fair share of coke and whisky bottle puzzles as well.

Wil's Aluminium Puzzles

The collection of Aluminium puzzles from Wil Strijbos

I recently purchased Wil’s Cross puzzle from John Devost through Puzzle Paradise and at the same time had ordered Wil’s Aluminium burrs and his Aluminium Cylinder directly from Wil.

I’ve had the Cross for a few weeks now, but at the weekend, the rest of the items arrived from Wil. As much as Wil knows about designing puzzles, he also has a good supply of packing tape, as there was no box visible on his package, it was so well covered in tape. Guess Wil was expecting rain as this one was watertight!

I’ll be reviewing all of these fairly soon, so keep an eye out for that, but until then, rest assured that these are excellent puzzles, and well worth owning. If you are interested, drop me a message and I can pass on Wil’s details.

If you’re interested, despite the identical external appearance, the Burr on the left is the 10 move burr which is a version of the ‘Piston Puzzle’ by Peter Marineau and the one on the right is a version of ‘Gaby Games’ designed by Phillipe Dubois.

All the puzzles are incredibly high quality, and beautifully made. Well worth having in the collection. While the Burr’s are not new designs, their construction from Aluminium does add to their appeal, and the fit is excellent, making them worthy of note.