I just returned from the International Puzzle Party (IPP) and it was, of course, amazing. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and between the Covid pandemic and conflict in the Middle East, I hadn’t been to an IPP since 2019 – so attending this year was particularly exciting. One of the highlights of every IPP is the Puzzle Exchange in which each participant brings a puzzle that’s never been produced before and exchanges it for […]
MoreThank You! (and a Little Model #357 News)
Folks seem to like my Model #357 and I couldn’t be happier with the compliments on its solution and appearance. So here’s a big THANK YOU to all you puzzlers! It’s hard to exaggerate how good it feels to spend years on making something you think is cool, hoping that others will too, and then finding out that they do. Again, thanks! Several puzzle shops have asked if they could sell the #357s and of […]
MoreModel #357 is Ready (Updated 11/27/23)
I can’t deny that producing Model #357 has had more than its fair share of twists and turns but the main thing now is … It’s done! I assembled, tested, retested, and boxed every single one of them: Based on hearing what my customers have asked for and seeing what other puzzle makers do, I’ve decided to announce the release date well in advance so that people don’t miss out on getting one. Personally, I […]
MoreNews and Pix for Model #357
I finally have some real progress to report on Model #357. I’ve assembled about a third of them and am busily at work assembling the rest. I received the raw parts from the machine shop back in May and the quality greatly exceeded my expectations. The finish, which is bead-blasted and black anodized, looks as good as I had hoped. Have a look: So that’s the good news. The bad news is that it is […]
MoreFun with Wire EDM
I love metal mechanical puzzles (Wil Strijbos’ and RD’s for example) and I’ve designed a few of my own as well (and I promise my Model #357 will ship this year come hell or high water!) So over time I’ve become familiar with machining processes and the tolerances they can hold since they’re the key to making a metal puzzle with a good feel. A few years ago I came across a super expensive but […]
MoreBruce Patterson’s “Cube90”
If you’re a subscriber to Cubism For Fun (and if you’re not you should be!), you will recognize Bruce Patterson as the author of several puzzle design articles. A few years ago he designed a cubic puzzle of 90 interlocking pieces called Cube90 and built one from wood. I later helped with modeling the pieces so that they could be 3D printed. And here’s the result: With 90 pieces it’s probably impossible to solve by […]
MoreSquirclusion
One of the presentations at this year’s Gathering 4 Gardner event was about optical illusions, a favorite topic of mine. The presenter, Chris Robeson, showed some pictures of an art exhibit called “Squaring the Circle” by Eva Rucki’s collaborative art group, Troika. The exhibit takes up the better part of a room and is intended mainly for museums I suppose. By using parallax distortion the exhibit looks like a square from one viewpoint and like […]
MoreGathering 4 Gardner 2022
Martin Gardner is probably best known for the Mathematical Games column he wrote for Scientific American from 1956 to 1981 and for his books on recreational math. His influence on several generations of mathematicians and computer science researchers is hard to overstate and in 1993 his fans started a bi-annual Gathering 4 Gardner conference in his honor. The 14th gathering, G4G14, is currently under way here in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s a multi-day event filled with […]
MoreModel #357 Dragamundo (Updated 6/19/23)
Well here we are in November and I’d hoped to be putting Model #357 up for sale. Unfortunately, my machine shop has slipped pretty far behind schedule and they won’t be ready before year end. Best case, I receive the machined, bead-blasted, anodized parts before Christmas. I would still need to engrave, them, fill them with diabolical lock pins of various sizes and shapes, and package them. So I think it’s realistic to be thinking […]
MoreModel #357 Update
One of my favorite ways of falling asleep is to think about puzzles I’ve been working on and the design challenges they pose. Well one evening last November as I was drifting off to sleep I turned over in my mind – for the umpteen millionth time – the sequence of manipulations that solve Model #357 as well as other manipulations that a puzzler might try in their search for the solution. And to my […]
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