Free the Key

Puzzle: Free the Key
Brand: Puzzlemaster
Inventor: Oscar van Deventer

ST: ~15 min

Been quiet around here recently - I do apologize for this, and I hope to improve my posting rate from now on. Well, here is a post to change the situation.

Free the Key

Free the key was a puzzle that came with several others from Puzzlemaster back when I first started puzzling, but haven't decided to write about it until now. It came simply in a blue plastic package that tells you the name, it's difficulty rating, and (helpfully) states that the objective is to remove the disk from the aluminum key. Taking it out you can see some marks on the parts that gives hints about the building quality - but isn't too troubling considering the cheap price. The thing felt quite sturdy, and would've done some damage if it had an encounter with one's foot!

This puzzle is another well known Oscar design, and as with quite a large portion of his designs this is a maze puzzle. It was in my opinion quite something unique, taking keys to be the theme. As you can see there's several notches on the disks which interacts with the key to create a fairly complicated maze, containing several dead-ends along the way to trip you up.

Job done!

So taking the puzzle you start manipulating the disk and in minutes was close to the end-only to be stopped in your tracks two-thirds from the end. Trying again only results being stuck in the same place. Time to explore a bit! After a while you'd find some more avenues to get into, enabling more fiddling - Suffice to say the solution wasn't trivial, requires you a bit logical thinking and planning before getting the job done. A neat little puzzle that would keep you thinking for a while.

Again a great design by Oscar-and I think I have an idea of why both reviews on it's puzzlemaster page gave it a five-star rating. You can get a copy of the puzzle from either Puzzlemaster, or Sloyd for a reasonable price.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast O'Gear

Puzzle: Cast O'Gear

Brand: Hanayama

Inventor: Oscar Van Deventer

ST (solve time): ~1-2 h

Cast O'gear

This is the Cast O'gear, one of my first puzzles. It has a level three rating on the Hanayama scale, so it will be a fairly moderate challenge. As with most of my first Hanayamas, they were available from a nearby store for me-lucky me eh? It consists of two parts (the same for most hanayamas isn't it?), a gear with five point like a star, and a box with strange holes on each of its six faces.


Just looking at it, one isn't likely to figure out how this puzzle works until you actually have a go with it. Basically, the gear doesn't just came off when you lift it, but can be turned to other faces. It can rotate 90 degrees in one specific direction on any faces, so it can walk over all faces of the box. However, its movements are limited, because some of the sides are straight, and not curved. To cut a long story short, this is a somehow complicated 3-D maze.


Two of the gears have a part of them being thinner than usual, and this is the key to the solution. One of the face is different than the others, and getting the correct point of the gear to the correct face in the correct direction will free the star. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. There's two ways to solve a maze puzzle-to use the trial-and-error method, or try to make logic out of it and make a map. As with this puzzle, it can be solved using a mathematical approach-I'll explain it later.

Opened-Not enough!

So I got this puzzle. Opened the package. Lost total order in about five minutes. Just randomly fiddled with the gear with no idea what I am doing. After sometime I put it down to rest, and to clear my mind. Thinking I should keep order, I tried a more logical approach. I managed to return the puzzle to it's starting position, then labeled the six sides with symbols. So I recorded (with a paper) all my moves in my second try-half an hour later it lay in two pieces. 100% luck. From now on I used the paper as the answer to the puzzle, following the long sequence whenever I wanted to solve it, and went barsec if a friend scrambles it up.

Satisfied!
My scribble notes about O'gear's route

Well in total not satisfied! And (not learning my lesson obviously) picked up my puzzle after two days. This time, I tried to create a map of the puzzle. (picture coming) It clearly shows me the possible ways. Then, I figured that if the gear has five points and the box, six sides, going over the box with the gear will eventually have all possible combinations together. Trial 1 created. To my surprise it didn't work! I've got the correct point of the gear to the correct face in the Wrong direction! Now oscar throws in another twist! Think (c) Allard... And trial 2 was here to flip the gear 180 degrees. (if you are interested I will email you the trials but I won't write it here as to not spoil the experience for others.) Using the combination, the gear was opened and I won't ever worry again if it was scrambled.


Okay, if you are not asleep yet, my last paragrappppph..
This puzzle was a nice maze, with a great concept. No waste of your money on this one! The top face has two holes that holds the puzzle nicely together, and a great coffee table piece it will be.


There!

P.S The puzzle is available from Puzzle Master here.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast Ring I

Puzzle: Cast Ring I

Brand: Hanayama

Inventor: Bram Cohen & Oscar Van Deventer

ST (solve time): FAILED

Cast Ring I

Yes... Another puzzle from Hanayama. Since this brand led me into exploring puzzles, I brought most of my first puzzles in this series.

This is the Cast Ring I, with the shape of a ring (obviously) combined with four rings, and was rated a four in the hanayama scale. Unlike most Hanayama puzzles, the goal of this puzzle was mainly focused on putting it back together, since the puzzle just falls apart by itself.

I brought this puzzle along with Cast Spiral in a nearby puzzle store. After the experience with Marble, I was then attracted into puzzles and brought this one shortly after. I was quite surprised when i got it, since it was called ring-I have somehow expected it to be smaller. Actually, the size was too big for a ring, but small for a bracelet-I would really appreciate if the size was somehow adjusted so it could double up as an accessory (As the case with some other ring puzzles and some Hanayama puzzles). Okay, enough opinions, down to my experience. This being my second-only puzzle, I didn’t expect it to fall apart in my hands. After panicking, I worked to put it back together. Here I give a warning-THE PUZZLE FALLS APART SO BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU OPENED IT! Not having enough time to examine the puzzle, I used the picture on the box to know what the solved state was, which isn’t a lot of help. After a while I gave up, and peeked at the solution. (God forgave me! I was only a junior at the time!) With the beginning position ready, I was able to put it back. It seemes that i gained too much confidence on my success with the Marble-I’ll have to be careful afterwards!

The opened puzzle

Overall not a bad puzzle, looks great on a shelf-but be sure to remind people who are tempted to try of the puzzle’s looseness!

I brought it from a nearby store, but you can buy it from Puzzlemaster here.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast Marble

Puzzle: Cast Marble

Brand: Hanayama

Inventor: Bram Cohen & Oscar Van Deventer

ST (solve time): ~30 m

Cast Marble

Ok, this is my first blog post so I think I would just start reviewing with my first puzzle. This is the Cast Marble, shaped like a round marble trapped inside a square. At first sight it might seem impossible to get the ball out, but after further examination you'll find that it's actually made of four pieces-two formed the outside cube, and two formed the steel ball. The puzzle had a nice metal finish, which you can tell by how smooth the parts turn and move along.

Before I discovered the Marble, my interest in puzzles were really inactive, since I'm never so into puzzles and haven't did a lot of research (Which I'm starting to do now). I've thought that puzzles were boring wire stuff that ended up with a jumbled mess on your hand, but the Marble in a store really caught up my attention. Since it has a reasonable price, I just bought it-Which proves to be a right choice. Now I'm really exploring the puzzle world in a full new prospective! Thank you Marble!

Opened

The first thing you'll notice when you opened the package is that the two outer parts of the puzzle tends to move in a sideway motion. Don't get trapped! It does let you see and understand the puzzle better-but has nothing to do with the solution. Since I haven't had a puzzle in years, I fiddled with the puzzle with 0% experience. Finally after five minutes I put it down and looked at the [SPOILER] package box for hints. And I did find one indeed! Using the hint, I was able to solve it in a fairly quick time. The solution was precise, but one was able to find it using logic. Looking at others' experience with Marble, I found that even if anyone is able to solve it, they tend to forget how they opened it, thus having trouble in assembling. The same thing happened to me-It isn't until ten minutes later did I put it back into it's original position. Also, the four pieces were hard to manipulate, so usually in the first few times of reassembling another person was needed to help assemble the puzzle. After some practice one can be able to assemble the puzzle by himself. (Thanks Louis!)

Overall a fun puzzle-I recommand this to everybody. A really attractive one on a bookshelf. The only letdown is that the outer part tends to catch fingerprints, and the paint wears off, so may the cleaning cloth be with you!

I brought it from a store in my city, but you can buy it from Puzzlemaster here.