I was recently asked how many puzzles I had in my collection and I realized I had no idea. So I figured if I was going to go to the trouble of taking them all out of their boxes and actually count them, I might as well take some pictures too.
Here’s my kitchen table over-run by puzzles:
As you can see, there are some old classics in there, like an original 1980 Ernő Rubik cube and an IMP puzzle (now known as the “Fifteen Puzzle”) from the 1930’s. The most recent addition is Wil Stribos’ “First Box” puzzle – the blue cube in the upper left. That was a fun sequential discovery puzzle, beautifully made from anodized aluminum.
Strictly speaking, not all of those are puzzles. The three black and white toys on the bottom left are just fun to manipulate or make shapes with. And the white rectangular puzzle on the right, sitting next to the black calculator looking thing (a super cool Vulcan Electronics XL 25!), is a Rubik’s Magic puzzle that I modified. Normally, it has paper inserts printed with a pattern of rings; I replaced those with a pattern of semi-circles that I think makes it look more interesting even when it isn’t solved.
OK, coffee break’s over! Back to working on Model #808.