Scott's Wonders 1: Stewart Coffin's Involution Puzzle

Puzzle: Involution
Designer: Stewart Coffin
Craftsmen: Scott Peterson

ST: ~15 min by Kevin Standard

How time pass by! I am ashamed to have not kept my promise! Weeks wheeze by without me even realizing it. I really appreciate people like Gabriel, Kevin and Allard who manages to pick up a steady posting pace-their posts aren't quick, sloppy one either. Please do forgive me, and to make up I'll present you today with a design from Stewart Coffin: The Involution.

Around the end of last year I discovered the Rosebud surfing in the puzzle blog-dom (they do a great job of bankrupting puzzlers, you know who you are! And no, this amateur is not good enough to be one of them!). I found out more about the puzzle with the help of two good puzzle friends Oli and Kevin, then eventually got in contact with Scott Peterson, who was long known in the puzzling world as a professional craftsmen since 2003. (Neil have visited Scott and made a blog post about it here) As it happens Scott has made a small batch of Rosebuds in the past, and those who received them were more than happy. I was warned it didn't come cheap, though. For a craftsmen like Scott it's more than reasonable-but having nearly bankrupted myself by the latest Wil order it's not good! 

The Involution puzzle
(The pictures really do bad
advertising for Scott-especially mine!
You need to see it for yourself!)

Scott responded quickly with a big yes, then several days later delicious pictures of the puzzle followed. I was so impressed that I asked him if he's got any other goodies to spare? More pictures came and eventually I settled on a beautiful Involution which really stands out from the rest in the stream of pictures. That particular copy for those interested was made from Bubinga and Ziricote for the corners, two types of wood fitting together just fine! Some time passed before payment were sent largely because of a delay on my part (sorry Scott!), after which the puzzles were quickly sent and received. 

First thing I noticed was the size of the package. The Involution, the larger of the two, was about 7 cm across, but the package it came in was more than three times as high! Most of that space were inhabited by foam bits showing Scott really cared for giving the puzzles a safe voyage across. Digging through the cushioners I got out two plastic wrappings showing various kinds of woods in their finest. Since the puzzles were some of my first wooden ones at the time I don't really know what to expect but Scott's given the puzzle care down to the last detail including very nice lacquers and rounded edges.

Involution pieces

So taking the puzzles out, I toyed with the Rosebud for a bit (more of that later if odds go in favor) before launching myself to the Involution. Something worth mentioning was that Stewart Coffin had designed the -volution (yes, and -volute... you picky fellows) puzzles in such a way so the pieces form a kind of windmill pattern on every side when assembled. Clever! To design a puzzle like that with this pattern to keep in mind was nothing small-I still fail at even getting anything to interlock!

A close-up of the infamous key piece that
have caught many a puzzlers unwary...

Down to the solving, it's a interlocking cube with a seemingly low level of 1.2.1.1.1, though always remember not to judge a puzzle by it's level! Puzzling-wise it wasn't hard, but certainly interesting. For example: how do one usually start solving a interlocking cube? The normal way was to take out the key piece, which gives a problem right away. As Allard has observed, the pieces Scott crafted had such accuracy to the point that there is virtually no gap, movement or anything that can help you find where the first piece is. I spent a solid five minutes just to find it! The thing almost zinged across the room when I got it out! 

A shot of the puzzle half solved
(and a wink for those who solved it)

Next comes a move that reminds me of these sneaky coordinate motion puzzles where it's the right grip or nothing... Down the road the puzzle throws at you pieces not quite where you'd think they'll come out, movement sending you off to the wrong direction, and a rotation to keep it all good fun. A combination of Coffin genius and Scott's skills also made it possible to pick up the puzzle at any stage of solving and it won't be easy to figure out the next piece.

Definitely a superb puzzle gain. It's a great design, and having it made by Scott pushed it up to the highest display shelfs. The Involution along with many other Famous geometric designs from various designers is also available from Scott in superb quality with a pm to him in the renegades forum. Or if you're not a member, just ask one of the many kind puzzlers out there like I did-I'm sure they be willing to help you out.

I give up in shame...
Hopefully only for now.

End note: If you're wondering why I didn't review the Rosebud first which started it all, the poor thing was taken apart for images and stayed that way since.

Houdini's Torture Cell puzzle

Puzzle: Houdini's Torture Cell

Brand: MrPuzzle

Designer: Brian Young

ST: ~30 m

Opening Bat

Back in December 2010, 50 copies of a limited edition puzzle called the Opening Bat was released. It is a mammoth sequential discovery puzzle that, according to Brian's own words, "As far as sequential discovery puzzles go this one's on steroids!" Taking ten years to design. The Opening Bat is a gigantic puzzle with "multiple puzzles in one", and has just everything to win it countless awards. I regret to this day having not brought it while I still have the money. It is one of the best puzzles ever made/designed. Being such a puzzle king it's not going to come out cheap, and with only 50 copies many puzzler missed out on the fun. Brian received amazing feedbacks for this puzzle- 

"...this is an awesome puzzle!...As far as sequential discovery puzzles go, this one will be hard to top!" - Brian Pletcher

"the One to Rule Them All...definitely a very cool puzzle...much more elaborate than any sequential discovery puzzle I’ve seen" - Jeff

"Brian has done a great job and there's clearly a lot of time and care went into the puzzle. Hat's off to you sir, it's a great puzzle!" - Neil Hutchison

"an Opening Bat is never going to disappear in among a collection of puzzles – it is going to stand out...Brian Young, you ought to be proud of this, very proud!" - Allard Walker

Well, Brian felt that it's too good an idea for just an limited edition and remakes the last part. And here the Houdini's Torture Cell is born!

Houdini's Torture Cell

With the sob-story of missing out the Bat still in my mind, I was keen to not miss the Torture Cell when it came out-and the result of that is having it sitting on my desk right now. The puzzle was sold out literally days after I've brought it-Phew!

Houdini's Torture Cell is a sequential discovery puzzle just like it's older brother, where you'll have to follow a number of steps in order, and all you need to solve the puzzle (tools) is contained within the puzzle itself. It was themed around Houdini's Water Chamber-whereas the wooden peg represents poor Houdini hanging upside-down in the water chamber (a.k.a Torture Cell), and your job is to rescue the great escape artist from it's fate.

Now, as I said previously, the puzzle was a remade of a part of the Opening Bat-but Brian has made modifications to it that made it a much easier puzzle by using acrylic. Being able to see what's going on lowered the difficulty of the puzzle-but hasn't lowered it's rating. Actually, many puzzlers reviewed the puzzle as one of their favorites!

So why is that? I say that it's a fun puzzle to fiddle with, you're aware of progress and little A-HA moments-And finally you make that last step and Houdini is out! All that and the clever mechanism made it a very good puzzle.

A not-so-good looking

Houdini out of his chamber

So upon receiving the puzzle you see Houdini and a ball bearing in the Cell, and a stand beneath it. I've been giving this to lots of people and the first thing they wanted to do is always wanting to get that ball up that stand-Hilarious-(Believe me, you're NEVER going to get it sitting there by dexterity alone!)-Than finally getting Houdini out with a satisfying motion. I wasn't known to be much of a experienced puzzler-and although made the right discovery did not use it the right way! It took me a LONG time to figure out what was to be done. Sadly the step can be easily flunked with random shakings-It is not the solution! The real motion is much more elegant. Finally after spending half an hour at this puzzle I got him out-Sense of achievement!

A fun puzzle to fiddle with, MOST people finds the solution pretty quickly and the solve was rewarding. At the time it was already sold out but if you ever come across one of those it's definitely worth a go.