PUZZLEDDD

I have produced a couple more of Drawer Box, in dark blue and red this time. It looks good ! After this series, I will produce a modified version of the design. Same principle but with a couple of new surprises !

Drawer Box - IPP+ edition Presented to IPP2019, with one additional surprise and a new look !            Limited series - Only 5 copies at this stage for purchasing ! SOLD OUT! I will plan for a next batch in a few weeks.

I have finally completed all small fixes and tests with family and friends. Everything seems to work fine ! Next step is testing with a serious puzzler (more serious than me at least !). I keep my fingers crossed. Testing has been successfully completed, with a good feedback and a good recommendation for improvement. Thank you Michel ! This puzzle is definitely more difficult than what you could expect (level 6/6) !

I have completed the 3D printing of the latest prototype of Swiss Cheese and Grape. I am quite happy with the result, it looks good! A few things still to be fixed (the box is too loose...) but it seems to be working ! I have printed a series of 4. I still need to play with it and test to verify, but if I haven’t done any mistake, now there is a unique solution for each configuration (1 main one and 3 additional as bonus). Next step is testing (hoping final testing) with 2 members of the puzzling community. I always start with self testing and the family & friends testing, but nothing like going through real puzzlers!

Since IPP#39, the look and colors of Drawer Box have been revisited: more rounded, with a pattern on the top. Also I have added a final step with a coin (an old French centime coin) hidden in one of the drawers. It's a nice touch at the end of the puzzle. I love puzzles with a surprise at the end. See below a 3D view of the new look: It's now ready for 3D printing. I want to try a new filament, Silk PLA, more shiny than the standard one I use, with 2 colours, one for the box and one for the drawer covers and the pattern on top. It should look nice ! There is quite a lot of post-processing for gluing and verifying that everything moves smoothly, so I start with only a small series of 5. Probably ready for ordering mid-October !

Swiss Cheese and Grape sent for 3D printing ! 4 copies, for final testing by the puzzling community at the end of September ! (PS: I hope that I did not make any mistake in my last corrections...It's always a bit frustrating to find out a blunder in 3D print after having waited a couple of weeks...)            

After Drawer Box, I started in May a new design, based on a completely different concept and completely different style. Swiss Cheese and Grape is a mix of packing puzzle and maze. You have to rearrange the different pieces in the right order to create a maze so that a steel marble can be dropped from the top, go through all five pieces and get out at the bottom of the box. . Timeline: The first design had been modeled in 3D in June 2019. I use OpenScad for all my puzzles. First 3D print in July... Useless as usual for a first print... Second 3D print in August. Functional, even if there are a few defects to fix. Testing in progress : my kids and wife found more solutions than expected ! So back to the drawing board (and the keyboard) but I know now what needs to be fixed and how to do it. On top of that, I have an idea for a bonus experience ! I have even written a program to test all solutions (my own version of swiss cheese tools for those of you who know bu...

Drawer Box is a puzzle box, with 3 drawers. The objective is to pull out all three drawers and find the coin which is hidden in the box. The puzzle is 3D printed in PLA, an eco-friendly plastic. The coin is a French 5 cents coin, from the eighties, before the euro replaced the franc. The puzzle is moderately difficult. You can expect a few Ah Ha moments during the disassembly. But expect as well some challenge in the reassembly. An early version has been presented to IPP in 2019. I take that opportunity to thank in particular Oskar van Deventer and Jean-Baptiste from Arteludes who have given me some very precious feedback. IPP 2019 entry Teaser video on YouTube (no spoiler)

I have always been passionated about puzzles. I like all kind of puzzles, in particular interlocking puzzles, but not only. I have a real passion for coordinated motion puzzles, which I find fascinating, and for puzzle boxes, with multiple steps for solving. I have a small collection of puzzles, not a huge one, and I consider myself as fairly good solver, but in no way an expert solver, as I know some. At some point in my puzzling experience, I played with the idea of designing and building puzzles of my own creation. I started to design and build a puzzle box in wood. The concept was good, and it worked. However I was not fully satisfied with my craftsmanship, and the quality of the build was not as good as the quality of the design. In other words, my hands and tools were not really apt to render what I had imagined in my mind. So I started to explore 3D printing to create puzzles, improving my skills with 3D modelling and 3D printing. Early work remained at the stage of prot...