The Lunatic Lock is designed by Gary Foshee and this particular edition is produced by PuzzleMaster.

There’s a wide range of trick locks in the market today, some are cheaper and others can be quite expensive, like this one. The Lunatic Lock falls into the category of the cheaper ones, but don’t be fooled, you’ll get more than you paid for, as the puzzle can be extremely frustrating to open. It’s made of aluminum, which is cheaper to produce, but doesn’t look very good as a finish, because it has these brushed strokes and it looks [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Metal Puzzles

The Xmatrix are a new type of Dexterity 3D maze puzzles, invented by the designer Jeremy Goode and are available for purchase since November 2010. The Xmatrix Quadrus was entered at the 2010 30th IPP and the Xmatrix Qubus was later entered at the 2011 31st IPP Design Competitions.

First Impression

Right out of the box, I was very impressed by the Xmatrix design. The golden and silver frames look extremely elegant and the mazes on both puzzles seem a little complex, especially the larger version. The packaging used is different for each version: on the Quadrus [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Maze Puzzles

The Star of David is yet another puzzle produced entirely and sold exclusively at PuzzleMaster. For many more PuzzleMaster’s wooden puzzles, check the following list.

The name of the puzzle comes from the resemblance, in shape, to the Jewish symbol, known in Hebrew as the “Shield of David”, which is a hexagram composed by two equilateral triangles.

The design is cleverly done with the use of two different wood colors, enhancing the beautiful contrast seen in the middle of both sides. This easy technique of using two or more colors of wood can maximize the elegance of [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Wood Puzzles

Robrecht Louage is a puzzle designer from Belgium. His latest design, the 4 Steps Visible Lock, has earned him the Jury Grand Prize at the 31st IPP Puzzle Design Competirion, held last year in Berlin, Germany.

The puzzle is made of acrylic and a material called trespa. There are four steel balls, two for each different size and it measures 11.5cm Length x 6.5cm Width x 2.5cm Height (4.53″x2.56″x0.98″).

The 4 Visual Tricks Puzzle, as it was first called and suggested by its name, consists of four distinct movements that keep a coin well locked inside. Your [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Wood Puzzles

Once in a while I like to torture myself with a Wire Puzzle. Most of the times they drive me nuts while I try in vain to find a solution. Others, however, are not that frustrating and give me an incentive for tougher levels. The puzzle that I’m reviewing today, the Iron Maiden is fortunately one of those examples.

The Iron Maiden is an original design by Tucker-Jones House from 1982 and the version I have, more affordable, is produced by PuzzleMaster. While it’s cheaper, it’s still a good quality puzzle, so you’ll get the full [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Metal Puzzles

My torturous adventure with wire puzzles continues this week with another fiendish puzzle, the Sidewinder. This is made by PuzzleMaster and it’s one of the hardest puzzles that I’ve tried so far. The goal is to remove the red string.

On top of being a very difficult puzzle to solve, the Sidewinder is a mixture of wire and string. If that’s not enough to scare you off, you’re one brave puzzler. Many of my previous attempts with string based puzzles have ended in complete disaster with some hard to disentangle knots. Because of this, whenever I face a [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Metal Puzzles

Oskar van Deventer has invented so many puzzles over the last thirty years that he could fill up a museum with all of his creations. The one that I’m reviewing today is another great design by him, which consists of four mazes that need to be solved simultaneously.

The Medallion (originally called Four D), was initially made by George Miller in acrylic and was Oskar’s exchange puzzle at the 23rd annual IPP (International Puzzle Party). It was later picked by Hanayama for mass-production and is now sold at PuzzleMaster.

The puzzle bears a slight resemblance to [Read More...]

Category: All Puzzles, Maze Puzzles, Metal Puzzles