Puzzle designer Jean Claude Constantin from Germany has an extraordinary collection of mechanical puzzles with his name on them. Ranging from Packing Puzzles to Wire Puzzles, he has such a wide variety of original designs, I bet you have one in your collection that you probably didn’t even know it was designed by him.

Mad in China (no, it’s not a typo), pun intended, will drive you mad and it’s one of those examples of Constantin’s genius.

The puzzle is a classic Packing problem, where you have to fit a given number of pieces into a tray, when [Read More...]

I like this one a lot. It looks like the whole picture is moving around. I know they are just staying in one spot but they sure do look like they are moving. I will get my eyes checked later.

For more optical illusions like this go to eyetricks.com.

Happy puzzling.

The game is called Unblock Me Free.  The game can be played on either the Android or the iPhone systems.  There is also a non free version for the iPhone.  In this review I will cover the Android version.

Since I like challenging puzzles of any kind, I was drawn to games like this.  For me there is nothing like sitting down and finding a few pieces on a board with one challenge to be solved.  Take the one piece and move it out of the play area.  This all [Read More...]

I remember seeing a man who had made an optical illusion into a wood carving.  It was much like this one but not as complicated.  Took a lot of looking to figure out just how he did it.  I tip my hat to anyone who can make this into reality.  Happy puzzling.

I have reviewed many great puzzles by the German designer Jean Claude Constantin and the Glühbirne (German for Light Bulb) is no exception.

As of now, this is my favorite Wire/String Puzzle. The design concept and theme is so original and funny, it captures a puzzler’s attention right away. The wire frame in the shape of a light bulb is perfectly achieved. In fact, it’s just about the same size as a standard light bulb and the goal is to remove the wooden plug and rope from its wire frame.

The puzzle itself is not very difficult [Read More...]

Matthew Klundt, of Terrible Games, recently sent me a promo code to play-test his puzzle app Woodhead.

Woodhead is a sliding tiles puzzle that uses the principle of: a tile will slide all the way until it hits a wall or solid object. We’ve seen several dozen of these types of puzzles before. A favorite is Blockhouse.

Woodhead has some old and new, interesting elements.

1. The object is to swipe Woodhead to the exit and picking up jewels first. Nothing new here.

2. On some levels, Woodhead must first pick up a key to unlock a door. We’ve seen [Read More...]

I can remember seeing this optical illusion at an indoor golf course that I used to go to.  They had optical illusions all over the walls.  I would spend all my time, in between hitting the golf ball, looking at them and wondering how they would make them.  This one has an added twist to it though.  There is an extra face.  So just how many do you see?

For more optical illusions like this go to eyetricks.com.

Happy puzzling.