Happy Anniversary! – The End Of Another ZenPuzzler Year

It’s the end of another ZenPuzzler year!  And a full year it was without missing a single week.  This year had a wide variety of puzzles made from a variety of materials.  A new reoccurring series of posts this year covered the No Problem Puzzles by Symen Hovinga and Theo Geerinck that are being released over time due to the loss of Symen.  If you have been keeping good track of the releases, you know that I am getting quite a bit behind in posting about them.

I’m also getting behind in everything, including posting, solving, and designing.  In an attempt to find a better balance, my plan is to spend less time blogging to dedicate more time to solving and designing.  Going forward, I expect the posts to be shorter and less frequent.  I’m sorry to have to disappoint my 4 readers.

As in prior years, I have created a list of the posts and the puzzles that are mentioned in those posts for this past year.  The name of each post is linked to the post entry so that you can easily jump to it by clicking on the name.  

29 APR 26 – Dark and Foreboding – ApocalypTIC

• ApocalypTIC by Richard Gain & Andrew Crowell

22 APR 26 – Venatio Formicarum – Ant Hunt

• Ant Hunt by Boaz Feldman

15 APR 26 – 3-Pronged Puzzling Approach – TritanIC Series (1-6)

• TritanIC by Andrew Crowell
• TritanIC 2 by Andrew Crowell
• TritanIC 3 by Andrew Crowell
• TritanIC 4 by Andrew Crowell
• TritanIC 5 by Andrew Crowell
• TritanIC 6 by Andrew Crowell

8 APR 26 – Stuffing Puzzles – Xmas Stocking

• Xmas Stocking by Osanori Yamamoto

1 APR 26 – April’s First Puzzle – Smelling of (M̶)Bums

• Smelling of (M̶)Bums

25 MAR 26 – Forever In the Rough – 10 of Diamonds

• 10 of Diamonds by László Molnár

18 MAR 26 – Getting Everything Back Together – HolisTIC

• HolisTIC by Andrew Crowell

11 MAR 26 – No Problem Puzzles, Update #8

• Chain Stitch by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Nineveh by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Quintessence by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Rhomble by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga

4 MAR 26 – Decadent – Triple Dip

• Triple Dip by George Sicherman 

26 FEB 26 – A Spirited Journey – Templars Cross

• Templars Cross by Andrew Crowell

18 FEB 26 – Oh! – Fudge

• Fudge by Takuro Kawasaki

11 FEB 26 – Magical Slant On Puzzling – Diagonal Twins

• Diagonal Twins by Yasuhiro Hashimoto

4 FEB 26 – Little Nightmares – Six Face

• Six Face by Andrew Crowell

28 JAN 26 – No Problem Puzzles, Update #7

• Squeezy by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• I Box by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Mecon by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Multiplex by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga

21 JAN 26 – King Of Red Herrings – Neptune

• Neptune by Osanori Yamamoto

14 JAN 26 – Missing The Point – Aztec Pyramid Of The Sun

• Aztec Pyramid Of The Sun by iDventure 

7 JAN 26 – Tubular Boxification – Tube It In 2

• Tube It In 2 by William Hu

31 Dec 25 – Holiday Puzzling – Christmas Advent Calendar

24 Dec 25 – No Problem Puzzles, Update #6 

• 3OPc by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Pyre by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• 7 Spiders by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Hexatanglers by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Jigsaw Box by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga17 Dec 25 – 

14 Dec 25 – Crafty Sunflower – Release #2

• Flower Coaster by Serhiy Grabarchuk
• Checkered Chairs by Serhiy Grabarchuk
• 12 Logs by Serhiy Grabarchuk

10 Dec 25 – Life, The Universe, And Everything – 42

• 42 by Joe Turner

3 Dec 25 – Better Than TV – Widescreen

• Widescreen by Alexander Magyarics

26 Nov 25 – Avoiding The Dangers Of Wood – Splinter 12

• Splinter 12 by Nan Ma

19 Nov 25 – Merlon the Magician Apparently Fortified – Embrasures 

• Embrasures by Alexander Magyarics

12 Nov 25 – No Problem Puzzles, Update #5

• Push-Pull by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Hash^3 by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Trio, White Cat by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Pakze! by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• T On Top by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga

5 Nov 25 – Cranial Conundrum – Skull Puzzle

• Skull Puzzle by DaveMakesStuff

29 Oct 25 – Plastic Picnic Plates – Three Plates Burr

• Three Plates Burr by mad gardener

22 Oct 25 – Oh! – Omicron

• Omicron by Girish Sharma

15 Oct 25 – Round Bevels – Petit Albert

• Petit Albert by Volker Latussek

8 Oct 25 – Two Lips Are Better Than One – Tulip 1

• Tulip 1 by Osanori Yamamoto

1 Oct 25 – No Problem Puzzles, Update #4

• Black Cat, White Cat by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Pizza Panne by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Donut Perplex Junior by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Twist Them In by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga

24 Sep 25 – 2-Maze Challenges, Double – CrossRoad

• CrossRoad designed by Brian Kren

17 Sep 25 – Puzzle or Just Puzzley? – Treasure Box

• Treasure Box by ROKR

10 Sep 25 – The Case Of The Perplexing Orange Spaghetti – Orange Perplex

• Orange Perplex by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga

3 Sep 25 – Flattenry Will Get You Nowhere – Soma Tray

• Soma Tray by Rick Eason

27 Aug 25 – No Problem Puzzles, Update #3

• Boon by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Sliding Doors by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Pivot Window by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Orange Perplex by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Salmiak by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Vixen’s Antlers by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga

20 Aug 25 – No Force Required – Gentle Interlock

• Gentle Interlock by Junichi Yananose

13 Aug 25 – In Mint Condition – Dr. Bell's Curiously Warped Mints

• Dr. Bell's Curiously Warped Mints by George Bell

6 Aug 25 – A Solid Challenge? – NotchedTIC

• NotchedTIC by Andrew Crowell

30 Jul 25 – Mixolometragrobology – Get in the Spirit!

• Get in the Spirit! by Steve Canfield & Lee Krasnow

23 Jul 25 – Monumental – Markus’ Tetrahedron

• Markus’ Tetrahedron by Markus Götz

16 Jul 25 – No Problem Puzzles, Update #2

• Turn Around by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Unmatch Box by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Quinta Cuboids by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Dizygotic by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga

9 Jul 25 – Engage! – Clutch 4

• Clutch 4 by Girish Sharma

2 Jul 25 – F In L – Eleven L’s Puzzle

• Eleven L’s Puzzle

25 Jun 25 – Preserving a Legacy – No Problem Puzzles

• Sandbox by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• Swinging Lid Tray by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga
• U2 Frame by Theo Geerinck & Symen Hovinga

18 Jun 25 – Amazingly Non-Burrish – Gravitational Burr

• Gravitational Burr by Junichi Yananose

11 Jun 25 – More PPing in the Big Apple – NYPP 2025

4 Jun 25 – Welcome To The Home Of Despair – DODECASOMA

• DODECASOMA by Rod Bogart

28 May 25 – Crafty Sunflower Release: May 2025

• Plank Box by Serhiy Grabarchuk
• Octamion by Serhiy Grabarchuk
• Correct Order by Serhiy Grabarchuk

21 May 25 – Surprise! – Birthday Cake

• Birthday Cake by iDventure

The Case Of The Perplexing Orange Spaghetti – Orange Perplex

The Crime Scene

It was a day, a day like any other day as I went about my daily routine.  The coffee tasted like yesterday’s cigarettes and the newspaper regurgitated the same old political woes destined to repeat for eternity.  Just a normal day.  And then it, walked into my life looking like bad news needing a place to roost.  I could already tell it was not going to end well.  These things never have happy endings.  Investigating the scene of the crime, I could see the guts of the victim decorating everything in the vicinity.  From the state of the remains, it appears that the victim was knocked over, not once but several times as it tried to recover but it never had a chance. 

And thus begins the tale of The Case Of The Perplexing Orange Spaghetti.  How did the victim get knocked over?  Why wasn’t it able to hold on?  Why were there no witnesses?  What was the motive?  Where was the weapon?  Was the room locked?

The principle point of this pitiful plot is how the simple printing of a recently released No Problems Puzzle progressed into a perplexing Orange Perplex problem.  This is the very same Orange Perplex puzzle that was recently reviewed a couple of weeks ago (No Problem Puzzles, Update #3).

Take 2

Orange Perplex consists of 15 segments that are divided into 5 pieces with each having 3 segments.  The segments of each piece are connected at a different level within the orange from the other pieces.  It arrives as a print-in-place model.  That means that it is printed with all the pieces in the solved configuration.  It’s like magic.  But not the type of black magic that transforms an orange into spaghetti.  Squash maybe, but not an orange.

I decided to eschew the suggestion to print the puzzle with rafts and supports.  Normally, I get excellent adhesion when 3D printing and avoid rafts.  I always end up regretting using them and I hate having to deal with raft rash.  However, sometimes you just can’t avoid it.

The problem is not that the model is print-in-place, but that a major portion of the orange segments hang out over the base before they can be counterbalanced when connected with other segments.  For me, this resulted in segments falling out from the puzzle.  And what does the 3D printer do when what it’s printing on takes a walk?  It keeps right on going assuming that it’s there.  Unless of course your printer has that fancy shmancy automatic spaghetti detection feature.

When I checked in on my first printing attempt about halfway through, one of the segments had detached from the plate and rolled out.  I was very surprised that the adhesion failed.  Should I kill the print?  Nah, by this time, some spaghetti had filled the gap and the print was still proceeding nicely.  I would just have to reprint that one piece.

Singled Out and Flipped

When I came back at the end, I was greeted with a full plate of orange spaghetti.  What happened?  Well, it appears that another segment failed.  I’m guessing that it was filling that segment with spaghetti until it was able to continue.  However, the spaghetti filling might not have been very stable and that piece may have tilted.  Once that happens, you’re doomed.  Tilting means one side goes down but the other goes up.  The part sticking up will then catch the housing of the hot end or the hot end itself.  Best case scenario, that part gets pushed to the side or the entire print gets detached from the plate.  I don’t even want to think about the worst case scenario.

Having learned my lesson, I reprinted it with rafts and supports.  And guess what?  A segment still fell out.  Very disappointing but at least it failed near the end and spaghetti supports aided in it’s recovery.  Only 1 piece was affected and I reprinted that one upside-down so that the bridge connecting the 3 segments occurs early on.

In examining the segments, they all appear to have fallen out when the bridge was just being formed.  In all cases, the thin lip of the forming bridge appears to be curled up which may have led them to be knocked loose by the hot end.  I’ll have to keep an eye on this in the future.

And finally, was the room locked?  No.  But my printer is enclosed and the door was shut, so there should have been a consistent temperature within the enclosure and across the plate.  Of course, I’ve never tested the temperature gradient across the plate.  Does anyone really do that?

Orange Perplex

More PPing in the Big Apple – NYPP 2025

The first PP of the year is always a welcome event. I always look forward to reuniting with the local puzzle community at the annual New York Puzzle Party (NYPP).  This year’s NYPP was held on 7 June 2025 and featured the usual mix of mingling with other puzzlers, attempting to solve puzzles, listening to prepared speeches, and the occasional puzzle selling/buying.  This year the event was also being filmed like last year’s International Puzzle Party (IPP) in support of a future documentary featuring the puzzle community.

It’s always nice to catch up with fellow puzzlers.  There were also a couple of new attendees from the Mechanical Puzzle Discord (MPD) that I enjoyed meeting in person.  And of course you can’t chat without working on a puzzle.  You know what they say about idle hands.

There were some very impressive puzzle collections brought by some of the participants and I had the opportunity to solve Free Me 7 by Joe Turner and Ring Case and Chubby Crocodile by Junichi Yananose (Juno) from Pluredro.  Despite the online warnings to be gentle to avoid scratching the puzzle, Chubby Crocodile had received some tough love prior to NYPP and had some pretty serious gouges to show for it.  It’s unfortunate that the pins used didn’t have rounded ends.  

There were more new and old Pluredro puzzles that were available to play with including Gentle Interlock, Grooved 6 Board Burr #7, Dial Case, Mittan, and Sequential Discovery Board Burred Box (SDBBB).  Other puzzles of note on the table to play with included The Louvre by Mr. Puzzle and Jack in the Box by Jesse Born.

Although I didn’t have enough time to play with it, there was also a Stickman Gordian Knot puzzle made by Lewis PD Puzzles using resin casting.

Haym Hirsh also brought along some of the Jigsaw puzzles that he has been working on including his exchange puzzle, Jigsaw 4, from the 41st International Puzzle Party (IPP) last year.  He had copies available for sale along with copies of his exchange puzzle from IPP40.

As usual, George Sicherman brought along some printed puzzles where the pieces could be cut-out to solve.  These included his Rock Garden symmetry puzzle with 4 pieces and his 2025 New Year’s Puzzle with 4 pieces that can be used to make various rectangles.  This puzzle is also still available in laser-cut acrylic from Nothing Yet Designs. 

In fine NYPP tradition, several attendees provided presentations.  This year’s talks included the following:

Snail Ball – Don: Since there were only 2 scheduled talks for this year’s event, it was suggested that participants could present their favorite puzzles either to the group or individually on camera to support the documentary being filmed.  Don took advantage of opening the discussions with a demonstration of the Snail Ball and a discussion of how it works.  It’s simply a ball that rolls down a ramp but it moves very, very, very slowly.  You just have to take his word for it that it’s moving.  This puzzle is available from Grand Illusions.  Don also demonstrated a keepsake box that could be used to store valuables.  I believe that he mentioned that is was an update to a version made on a lathe by a 10 year old boy.
 

Puzzle Video Games On Consoles (And Maybe PC, MAC, and Mobile) – Michael Cahill: This year, Mike gave an overview of a selection of video games and their objectives.  The presentation covered:

1. Puzzle Hybrid Games – Included Merge and Blade.
2. Puzzle Adventure Games – These included Scorn, Escape Academy, Case of the Golden Idol, Superliminal, Botany Manor, and Indian Jones and the Great Circle.
3. Lemmings, But in 3D – 2 games were covered of which I only caught the name of Humanity.
4. Deeper Dive Into Individual Puzzles – These included Arcade Paradise, Blue Prince, Balatro, and Chants of Sennaar.

 

BurrTools Tutorial – Haym Hirsh: Everybody who’s anybody in the puzzle community loves and uses BurrTools.  So Haym provided an overview and demonstration of it’s capabilities and how it can be used to solve and design puzzles for those who want to be in the who’s who of puzzledom or just brush up on functionality.  In fact, I learned that Source Forge has the 32 bit version and Git Hub has the 64 bit version.  The group also expressed gratitude to Andreas Röver for creating BurrTools and gifting it to the community 
 

City Challenge Puzzle – Joyce Michel:  During the gathering, Joyce distributed copies of the City Challenge that she developed.  It consists of challenges where you have to determine the city that is being referenced.  Each clue consists of a rhyme that identifies the city and each city contains the initials of the state where the city resides.  The example given is: This capital city’s a fine college town, The buildings are pretty and the Ivy is Brown.  The answer: Providence, RI.  The answers were reviewed at the end of her presentation and I believe that the collective group managed to solve each one.

Lights, Camera, Action !

Happy Anniversary! – The Return of ZenPuzzler

It’s been 2 years since the last anniversary post.  After having taken a year off, ZenPuzzler was reenergized by attending the 41st International Puzzle Party (IPP) (Gratitude For Those Who Work Up Through The – Eleventh Hour).  In fact, many of the puzzle blogs were of IPP41 exchange puzzles.  There were also many puzzles from the collaboration with Nothing Yet Designs (NYD) to announce their puzzle releases during the first 3 months of this year.

To wrap up the year, I have created a list of the posts and the puzzles that are mentioned in each.  The name of each post is linked to the post entry so that you can easily jump to it by clicking on the name.  

7 May 25 –  To Everything, There Is A Season – Key Machine

• Key Machine by Alan Lunsford

30 Apr 25 – Puzzle DNA – Edge Beveled Cubes

• Edge Beveled Cubes by George Sicherman

23 Apr 25 – New Puzzle Comes Out – Smelling Of Roses

• Smelling Of Roses by Steve Nicholls

16 Apr 25 – Playing – Ketchup

• Ketchup by Haym Hirsh

9 Apr 25 – One Tɍough – Ditch

• Ditch by Alexander Magyrics

2 Apr 25 – It’s Simple Karma – Bram’s Hinged Cube

• Bram’s Hinged Cube by Bram Cohen

26 Mar 25 – Lacking QC – Messing a-round

• Messing a-round by Alexander Magyrics

19 Mar 25 – Nothing Yet Designs Release: 20 March 2025, 12:00 PM EDT

• Minima Dice by Frederic Boucher
• Drop Out (STC202) by Stewart Coffin
• The Rattle by Stewart Coffin
• Decoy by Stewart Coffin
• Pac Men? by Naoyuki Iwase (Osho)
• Pyramid In A Cage by Naoyuki Iwase (Osho)
• Blast-Hedron 8 by Nan Ma
• Best Friends by Frederic Boucher
• S&L Crisis by Haym Hirsh
• J11GSAW by Haym Hirsh
• Au Pays by Gilles Kutten
• Monster Eats Ducks by Gilles Kutten
• Sharpened by Gilles Kutten
• Windy by Alexander Magyrics

12 Mar 25 – Answers From The Void – Sixmetry

• Sixmetry by David Goodman

5 Mar 25 – A Physical Manifestation Of An Ethereal Concept – T Pack

• T Pack by Haym Hirsh

26 Feb 25 – Infesting In Puzzles – Parasitic Version

• Parasitic Version by László Molnár

19 Feb 25 – A Small Puzzle Can Be –  Epic

• Epic by Václav Obšivač

12 Feb 25 – Finding Elegance –  Four Pieces

• Four Pieces by Emrehan Halici

5 Feb 25 – NYD Release 7 February 2025, 1200 PM EST

• Marble Cake + by Frederic Boucher
• Square It by Frederic Boucher
• Animals Party + by Frederic Boucher
• Marble Cake + by Frederic Boucher
• Sliding Heart by Naoyuki Iwase (Osho)
• Flying Heart by Naoyuki Iwase (Osho)
• Blast-Hedron 12 by Nan Ma
• Ball Buster – Lee Krasnow
• Haeckel Sphere – Lee Krasnow
• Minima Bauhaus by Frederic Boucher

29 JAN 25 – Ballsy Name for a Boxy Puzzle – Spherelation

• Spherelation by Tom Jolly and Zach Zieper

22 JAN 25 – Drill Baby Drill! – Rock-it Burr

•  Rock-it Burr by Ali Morris

15 JAN 25 – A Very Attractive Puzzle – Tetracore

•  Tetracore by Jared McComb

11 JAN 25 – NYD Release 13 January 2025, 1200 PM EST

•  2025 Puzzle by George Sicherman
• Ace of Diamonds by László Molnár
• Artefacts by Frederic Boucher
• Blast-Hedron 4 by Nan Ma
• Blast-Hedron 6 by Nan Ma
• Minima XIII  by Frederic Boucher
• Muñiz Bundle by Alexandre Muñiz
• Slash Mob
• Little Pypsum
• Big Pypsum
• Symmetrominoes
• New Tiles by Frederic Boucher

7 JAN 25 – A Great Start To A New Year – Nothing Yet Designs Collaboration

1 JAN 25 – A Set of Blocks For Adults – Houston, We Have a Puzzle

•     Houston, We Have a Puzzle by Oleg Smolyakov

25 DEC 24 – Not a Little Challenge – Monster

• Monster Burr by Girish Sharma

18 DEC 24 –  Nary a Problem - RecTangle - A Ternary Teaser

• RecTangle Burr Goh Pit Khiam

11 DEC 24 – Puzzle Within A Puzzle – Lone Star Burr

• Lone Star Burr by Steve Nicholls

4 DEC 24 – What’s The Bu – Caching Zzzzzz

• Caching Zzzzzz by László Molnár

27 NOV 24 – Minima Meets Flop – Minima Flop

• Minima Flop by Dr. Volker Latussek

20 NOV 24 – Looks Easy, There’s Just One – Hitch

• Hitch by Émil Áskerli

13 NOV 24 – Panefull Puzzle – Window Packing

• Window Packing by Koichi Miura

6 NOV 24 – Octadecohedron by Another Name – Pinwheel Crystal

• Pinwheel Crystal by Stewart Coffin

30 OCT 24 – Screwing Around With Flowers – Tulip Twist

• Tulip Twist by GlennovitS 3D

23 OCT 24 – Time to Smother – The Blue Bird of Happiness

• The Blue Bird of Happiness by George Sicherman

16 OCT 24 – C’est Ludique – Minima Ludique

• Minima Ludique by Frederic Bouchet

9 OCT 24 – Corner Table – End Table

• End Table by Goh Pit Khiam

2 OCT 24 – Easy As – Duck Soup

• Duck Soup by Guy Loel and David Goodman

25 SEP 24 – One Person – Three Body Problem

• Three Body Problem by Girish Sharma

18 SEP 24 – All Corners, No Corners – 4 Piece Jigsaw

• 4 Piece Jigsaw by Haym Hirsh

11 SEP 24 – Packing a Small Basement – Minima Nest

• Minima Nest by Lucie Pauwels

4 SEP 24 – Frustrating Puzzlers – Cattle Frustration

• Cattle Frustration by William Ja and Scarlet Park

28 AUG 24 – Does This Heist Make Cents – Penny Bank

• Penny Bank by Phil Wigfield

21 AUG 24 – 3Y + 1Z Conjecture – Collatz

• Collatz by Dr. Volker Latussek

14 AUG 24 – Puzzle Meta-Storage – Clip Box

• Clip Box by Yavuz Dimirhan

7 AUG 24 – Not Curly Burl – Curly Burr N8

• Curly Burr N8 by Frans de Vreugd

31 JUL 24 – SPLIT ASUNDER, RE – CONNECTING CUB3S

• CONNECTING CUB3S by Tanner Reyes

24 JUL 24 – Don’t Sleep On This One – InsomniAC1

• InsomniAC1 by Andrew Crowell

17 JUL 24 – Gratitude For Those Who Work Up Through The – Eleventh Hour

• Eleventh Hour by Goh Pit Khiam

12 JUN 24 – Ménage à Trois – Two Guys & a Gal (Free Me 9)

• Two Guys & a Gal (Free Me 9) by Joe Turner

22 MAY 24 – PPing in the Big Apple - NYPP 2024

19 JUL 23 – A Puzzle of Two Tales – Soma in Case

• Soma in Case by Hajime Katsumoto

7 JUN 23 – Apparently Aesthetically Pleasing – Belt Cube 3

• Belt Cube 3 by Osanori Yamamoto

31 MAY 23 – Puzz L – Strugg L

• Strugg L by Junichi Yananose

PPing in the Big Apple - NYPP 2024

After a long hiatus, I’ve finally gotten back to PPing.  And what better way to start than with the 2024 New York Puzzle Party (NYPP).  There’s nothing like a good PP to brighten your day.  The best part is reconnecting with all the other puzzlers you haven’t seen in ages.

The NYPP used to be held in February to align with the World’s Toy Fair, but has now been moved to the end of April to celebrate the end of tax season.  No more sloshing through wet snowy drifts in the middle of the Big Apple, but no one is complaining.

The best part of NYPP is seeing all the puzzle displays and getting the opportunity to play with new puzzles.  There is always a nice variety of puzzles and puzzly things to fiddle with.

NYPP 2024 was held on 20 April.  My goal this year was to ensure that nobody bought one of the Completely Broken Soma copies that I brought, and I’m proud to say that I successfully accomplished my mission even though the best part of NYPP is the opportunity to buy/sell/trade puzzles.  That reminds me that I need to post another Completely Broken Soma warning update.

Of course the best part of NYPP is the schedule of presentations.  This year’s speakers covered a variety of topics:

Giving Puzzly Gifts – Josh Rosenfeld, ODES UNBOXED: Josh shared the story of his journey in developing personalized puzzles tailored to the recipient.  A journey starting with a birthday puzzle adventure through hundreds of gifts later as a business.  Josh’s presentation centered on his approach to developing these gifts and highlighted 5 stages:

1. Identifying what you want the gift to convey.
2. Crafting the giving of the gift.
3. Building a world for the recipient to inhabit.
4. Shaping the puzzles around what a person loves.
5. Revealing meaningful rewards.

Geared Mechanisms – Henry Segerman: Henry started with an update on his work with Holonomy and its application to puzzles.  He started with the pursuit of complexiturizing the flat 15 puzzle until it morphed into “something that you don’t want to play with”.  Several holonomy examples were shown, demonstrating that a moving piece following a complete circuit will have a different orientation at the end of the circuit from when it started.  Examples included the Dodecahedral Holonomy Maze and the Continental Drift Puzzle.  Henry did confess that the next generation 3D rotational holonomy puzzles are not fun to play with.  Sounds exactly how I market my puzzle designs.  After the holonomy update, the main portion of the talk was on geared mechanisms.  Best of all, Henry had table full of examples on display that could be played with.

Games Magazine Archive – Michael Cahill: Mike picked up where he left off at the last NYPP that I attended (back in 2020) with some more game show trivia.  This year, Mike gave an overview of:

1. The Devil’s Plan – Korean game show featuring a reality competition based on strategy games.
2. The Floor – Time based trivia show.
3. Generation Gap – Cute game with a psychologically damaging endgame.  Mike pointed out that this game scarred family relationships for life.

The main portion of the discussion focused on contests that went awry and one in particular that was put out by Games Magazine.   Mike researched this by going through old issues of Games Magazine on archive.org after seeing a news reference to a large contest payout due to an error in the execution of the contest.

Waffle Puzzle – Glenn Iba: I believe that the title of this discussion was Cuyler Cannon but my faulty memory failed to produce a reason why.  The discussion centered on the process of creating a program that could solve the daily Waffle Puzzle.  Glenn provided a step by step approach on how such a program is constructed.

The Soma Renaissance – Haym Hirsh: Haym provided an overview of the multitudinousation of the Soma cube developed by Piet Hein in the 30’s that has spawned and continues to spawn Soma variants with no end in sight.  Haym fessed up to contributing to this pandemic but cast blame on others as well including Theo Geerinck, Oskar van Deventer, Lucie Pauwels, Frans de Vreugd, Brian Young, Rick Eason, Martin Watson, Volker Latussek, Andreas Röver, and even that Soma mangler, Ken Irvine.  As fascinating as the Soma history review was, it was overshadowed by Haym’s mastery of hand puppetry.

Still Amazing, The Windy Windy Twisty Route – Dick Esterle:  Dick presented some material that he had shown at G4G.  The presentation provided a Glimpse of the geometry that Dick uses to create puzzles as well as the Amazing Geometry Machine. 

I must confess that at one point I was that annoying audience member making those clack, clack, clackity, clack sounds during one of the presentations as I tried, mostly unsuccessfully, to cram 3 simple (but oh so complex) pieces into a box.  One of those, looks simple but not possible, puzzles.  The fact that the 3 pieces, Curvy, Bendy, and Wavy were not too steady on their feet caused them to tumble down in a rather noisy fashion.  Undeterred by venomous stares, I continued to clack away.  At least I assumed that there were venomous stares since I sat in the back and could only see the back of everyone’s heads.  However, I did manage to get most everything back in the box.

Happy Anniversary! – Still Yet Another Year of ZenPuzzler

Four years of ZenPuzzler now!  Readership has dramatically increased by another 20% to 6 steady readers as my grandson has reached reading age.  Thankfully he has yet to discern between good quality and mediocre ramblings in media.

To wrap up the year, I have created a list of the posts and the puzzles that are mentioned in each.  This year included puzzles made from exotic woods and colorful plastics (printed and cut) as usual, but also saw the addition of a very nicely made metal puzzle.  The name of each post is linked to the entry so that you can easily jump to it by clicking on the name.  

5 APR 23 – Don’t Be A Square – Bent Packing

•     Bent Packing by Arne Koehn

29 MAR 23 – Entwining Pieces – Collator

•     Collator by Alexander Magyarics

 22 MAR 23 – Uniquely Sneaky Snakey Packer – Snake Pack

•     Snake Pack by Haym Hirsh

 15 MAR 23 – Well Played – The aMAZEing Puzzle Box

•     aMAZEing by QUIZBRIX

 8 MAR 23 – An Attractive Puzzle – MagneTeam

•     MagneTeam by Alexander Magyarics

 1 MAR 23 – Charming Snakes Into A Box – Snake Pack 2

•     Snake Pack 2 by Haym Hirsh

 22 FEB 23 – ? – W.D.I.G.M.I

•     W.D.I.G.M.I by Tanner Reyes & Tye Stahly

 15 FEB 23 – Petits Puzzles – Mini Lock

•     Mini Lock by Christoph Lohe

 

8 FEB 23 – No Scoop 4U – 4 PAC

•     4 PAC by Hajime Katsumoto

 1 FEB 23 – Catch The Wave – Wavelinks

•     Wavelinks by Rod Bogart

 31 AUG 23 – A Tray Too Big – Jigsaw 16

•     Jigsaw 16 by Yuu Asaka

 6 JUL APR 22 – Not So – Safe

•     Safe by Jürgen Reiche

 

28 JUN 22 – Arranging Your Balls – Pyradox

•     Pyrodox by George Bell

 22 JUN 22 – Some Puzzles Give You the Shutters – W-Windows

•     W-Windos by Osanori Yamamoto

 8 JUN 22 – Puzzle Philosophy – Yin Yang

•     Yin by Volker Latussek

 11 MAY 22 – Petite Passel of Puzzles – 2D Packers

•     Doheny by Haym Hirsh
•     C-It by Haym Hirsh
•     Eloquint by Haym Hirsh
•     Skinny & Fat Lightning

Happy Anniversary! – Yet Another Year of ZenPuzzler

ZenPuzzler has reached the end of its third year.  Readership has increased by 25% thanks to the arrival of my brother’s first baby.  After discovering that it immediately puts the baby to sleep when my brother reads the blog out loud, he finally relented and subscribed to the blog.  The subscriber base is now holding at a steady 5.  Hopefully, next year will see another increase of 25% as I promote the blog as a cure for insomnia.

To wrap up the year, I have created a list of the posts and the puzzles that are mentioned in each.  This year included puzzles made from exotic woods and colorful plastics (printed and cut) as usual, but also saw the addition of a book this year.  Hopefully, there will be more books forthcoming in the future.  The name of each post is linked to the entry so that you can easily jump to it by clicking on the name.  


20 APR 22 – Solve Before Midnight - Pumpkin 1

•     Pumpkin 1 by Osanori Yamamoto

6 APR 22 – Are You Worthy - Enter If You Can

•     Enter If You Can, The art of puzzle boxes by Peter Hajek

Puzzle Knowledge

30 MAR 22 – A Particlely Nice Puzzle - XI

•     XI by Haym Hirsh

23 MAR 22 – Going Postal – Letter Box

•     Letter Box by Pit Khiam Goh

16 MAR 22 – Puzzling Preparation Purgatory – Helical Bits and Pieces

• HeLLical Burr by Derek Bosch

• Oliver Twist by Derek Bosch

• Twiddle Dee by Derek Bosch

• Twiddle Dum by Derek Bosch

• Dodekastar (improved) by Yavuz Demirhan, tweaked by the Two Brass Monkeys

 9 MAR 22 – Puzzle Of A Year! – 20-22

•     20-21 by Stéphane Chomine

Puzzles in Plastic

16 FEB 22 – X-tra Protection – T Lock

•     T Lock by Andrew Crowell

9 FEB 22 – Happy VD! – Broken Heart

•     Broken Heart by Techno Angels and Bozoou

2 FEB 22 – Wonderizing Puzzles – Benno’s TIC 2.0

•     Benno’s TIC 2.0 by Benno de Grote and Andrew Crowell

26 JAN 22 – Where Does That F’n Piece Go! – Melting F

•     Melting F by George Bell

19 JAN 22 – Put It To The – Side Lock

•     Side Lock by Andrew Crowell

12 JAN 22 – Say Hello To – Goodbye

•     Goodbye by Tomas Vanyo

5 JAN 22 – Not a Box For Tea, A – T-Box

•     T-Box by Haym Hirsh

Puzzles in Wood

27 OCT 21 – Shhhh! She Just Turned – 6T

•     6T by Ken Irvine

8 SEP 21 – A Puzzle to Save the Day - Mighty Pin

•     Mighty Pin by Alan Lunsford

4 AUG 21 – Tooling Around With Puzzles - Sequential Discovery Cubic Box

•     Sequential Discovery Cubic Box by Junichi Yananose

28 JUL 21 – An Acute Case of Soma Mangling - Halfcut Soma

•     Halfcut Soma by László Molnár

15 JUN 21 – BBQ With Charcoal

•     BBQ Basket by Akaki Kuumeri

•     Charcoal Basket by Akaki Kuumeri

26 MAY 21 – Need An SD Fix? CD With The - ResQ

•     ResQ by Frederic Boucher and Eric Fuller