Philos, a German puzzle manufacturer, has a very interesting series of original wooden sliding puzzles designed by the Japanese Hirokazu Iwasawa, the Jam Puzzles. I chose to review the easier of the four, the Triangular Jam Puzzle.

What I like about Philos’ puzzles is that they’re very high quality. The tray and the pieces are very well built and polished for a clean and smooth surface. This particular one is made from Beech wood, tray and the three lighter pieces, and the darker triangle is made from Cassia Siamea wood. The dimensions of the tray are about 15cm [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Wood Puzzles

Double Maze is a series of 40 maze puzzles. As you can see, the object is to get both orange balls to the white target at the same time.

Notice the yellow lines? That enables you to move one ball while the other ball is held in place.

Double Maze is not terribly hard. I’ve solved all of the levels. #40 was very difficult.

You have the option to create your own levels and share them. I have not explored this too much. But I have noticed that some people created levels that were humorously too easy.

Gary at� [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, iPhone/iPad Puzzle Games

The puzzle I’m going to talk about today is the Cast Keyring. Oskar van Deventer designed this puzzle and I received it from Puzzle Master. If you need the solution then check out the Puzzle Master solution webpage. There is also a video solution on youtube. Please note that you can also find this puzzle at other online stores. The Puzzle Master store rates this a 6 out of 10 as far as difficulty. In other words, it’s not super hard. I would agree that it wasn’t very difficult but that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun. The [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Metal Puzzles

Today’s puzzle is a little different in a sense that it’s not really a puzzle, albeit it puzzles your mind just as much as any other puzzle. It’s not a magic trick either, although some folks will think of it that way. It’s called the Wide and Long Puzzle and it’s simply an optical illusion that plays with perspective very well.

There has been many versions of this puzzle, but the one I have here, made of wood, was manufactured by Jean Claude Constantin and looks stunning. The concept is no more than two pieces of wood, part [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Wood Puzzles

The object of Twin Beams: plant 2 trees in every park so that each row and column has exactly two trees.  Also, two trees cannot be adjacent to each other – vertically, horizontally or diagonally. I’ve seen this type of puzzle before.  Most recently in ’63 Logic Games’ which is another puzzle app. They call that game Parks. Nicola Salmoria contacted me recently about his new app Twin Beams with a really long explanation of everything: how much time he put into it, how he borrowed the concept etc. Bottom Line: there are 10,000 levels: 2500 at each level.  The easy levels are [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, iPhone/iPad Puzzle Games

I’ve had a revelation this week that I wanted to share it with you. I’ve come to terms with being utterly confused while solving a puzzle and I’ve learned that it is ok to dwell there for a while. I say for a while because entering a state of insanity is acceptable for the creative process involved in problem solving but it isn’t preferred when you are checking out of your local grocery store and the cashier asks if you are ok. She asked if I was ok because I was rolling my eyes and twirling my hands like an [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Maze Puzzles, Metal Puzzles

Since Hanayama started to produce the Cast series, back in 1983, they’ve revived several classic designs from the turn of the 20th century, so that a new generation of puzzle enthusiasts could enjoy them as well. The Cast Devil, also known as the Devil’s Claws since 1905, is another great design brought back by Nob Yoshigahara, in 1994, with Hanayama’s top-notch quality. The key word for the Devil is “Claws”.

From the official picture, the puzzle looks smaller than it actually is, so I was pleasantly surprised when I first saw it. Made with an unusually thick [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Metal Puzzles