Start on the cube in the top left corner, and find the shortest route to the cube in the bottom right corner, by making a series of horizontal or vertical jumps between two cubes that have a colour in common.

However, in this maze there’s an additional restriction: you may not make a U-turn by jumping straight back in the direction you’ve just come from.

Here’s an example. From the starting cube you can jump down to either of the cubes below it. However, from the cube in the middle of the leftmost column you are not then allowed to [Read More...]

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...]

Hello puzzlers!!! Back for extreme close ups and bad jokes I see. Well I can’t really see you…. Or can I. I’m looking at you one eyed purple people eater. As you can tell, I carefully plan my intros. So, the puzzle hidden behind door number three is called Two Keys by Jean Claude Constantin. In a nutshell, this puzzle is what happens when a laser gun asks an innocent piece of wood for all its money and the wood refuses…. Ok ok what I mean is that the wood is laser cut to form the two mazes found on [Read More...]

This is a harder version of the jumping mazes (see Jumping Mazes). Start on the 3 in the top left corner, and jump three squares horizontally or vertically to a new square. The number on that square then gives you the size of the next jump, and so on.

Continue making horizontal or vertical jumps until you reach a circle, when you should switch to moving diagonally. Continue moving diagonally until you reach another circle, in which case revert to moving horizontally or vertically, and so on.

Find your way to the bottom right corner in the smallest number [Read More...]

This is a review about the Medallion Puzzle designed by Oskar van Deventer and manufactured by the Japanese puzzle company named Hanayama. This version of the puzzle is also exclusively licensed to the Puzzle Master company. The Objective of this puzzle is to free the puzzle pieces through navigating a series of mazes. When I started this puzzle, I tried to move the two pegs found in the center of the puzzle. I won’t go into the solution method but let’s just say that an alternative approach is required. The puzzle has four mazes. The two mazes on the gold [Read More...]

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...]

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...]