Missing The Point – Aztec Pyramid Of The Sun

The Aztec Pyramid Of The Sun is located in Teotihuacan, Mexico.  It was originally built around the year 200 by the Aztecs and is approximately 70.556667 meters tall.  Although archaeologists are puzzled by the warren of tunnels beneath the pyramid, beneath the Aztec Pyramid Of The Sun puzzle, you will find jigsaw pieces providing clues on how to enter the pyramid.

The Aztec Pyramid Of The Sun puzzle made by iDventure is a sequential discovery jigsaw puzzle box.  It arrives in a nicely decorated pyramid-shaped box that unfolds like a 4-petal flower with each side dropping down to reveal the pyramid in all it’s naked beauty (no pictures for obvious reasons).  There are visible interactive mechanisms on each of the 4 sides of the pyramid with no indication as to their purpose.  The directions advise against playing with the mechanisms until the jigsaw murals are complete, when all shall be revealed.  It then points you to where the jigsaw pieces are cached in the base of the pyramid to get you started.  The parting advice is to follow the stars.

All the jigsaw pieces are jumbled together and need to be separated into the side that they support.  The instruction manual has a picture of the mural on each side if that is how you like to tackle your jigsaw puzzles.  Once separated, you start with the first mural.  Yes, there is a first one.  Surely you haven’t forgotten to follow the stars so soon.

The sides of the puzzle are quite a bit steeper than the actual pyramid, 75 degrees vs. 32 degrees. The puzzle comes with the sage advice to carefully avoid tipping the pyramid.  However, once you start filling in the pieces on the sides, you won’t be too tempted to tip it.

As each side is completed, you can interpret the clues for manipulating the mechanisms to get you closer to the goal, which is?  A good guess would include opening the top of the pyramid to access the inside.  Along the way, various tools are released to be used in conjunction with the various mechanisms.  And yes, eventually the pyramid reveals it’s secret and one last puzzle to complete.

I worked on the pyramid with my wife and we got the full SD experience.  We thought that there would be clues where there weren’t, missed clues where there were, and still managed to stumble to the end.

I’m embarrassed to say that some of the clues were more clever than I was.  I missed the point and bungled through at least one part where I used trial and error instead of finding the elegant path.  However we both had fun and enjoyed working on it together.

Surprise! – Birthday Cake

Normally, I don’t get a cake on my birthday but this year was different.  One of my daughters decided to ignore the normal advice to avoid trying to gift a puzzle that I don’t have and surprised me with a cake I didn’t already have.

Birthday Cake is a puzzle box made by iDventure and is one of several laser-cut wood puzzle boxes that they offer.  Surprisingly, this is the first iDventure Cluebox that I have received.

Opening the box (i.e., the box box that contains the box), I was greeted with an elaborate mechanism complete with several gears.  Happy Birthday is also nicely debossed between 2 of the gears.  There are also 2 spots on the top designed to hold a digit for shaming the recipient.  Adding each is a simple process.  You just have to rub it in.  In my case, I was given all the digits, 2 of each, to pick whichever would make me happy.  And if you’re over 99, you get to start you’re second childhood.  It’s a bit like Y2K.

Pulling the box from the box, you can see how the round cake is made by utilizing a pattern of a thousand little cuts to allow the wood to be bent into a cylinder.  Although I’ve seen this used with many puzzles, I still find it amazing.

Also in the box box was a single candle that fit on the top of the cake.  I know they look like candles but please don’t be tempted to light them when you present this Birthday Cake.  Rotating the candle makes one of the adjoining visible gears rotate.  Spinning the gear reveals several birthday party suggestions like DANCE, SING, SMILE, and LOVE that show up in the window as the gear rotates.  Attempting to turn the other gears with this candle proved futile.  This candle only fits 1 of the 3 candle holders on the top of the cake.  It turns out that this candle was the first tool that dripped out of the bottom of the box as it started to solve itself in transit.  Finding out where it came from and how to produce the other 2 candles was straightforward.

Armed with 3 candles, it is not too difficult to produce the party elements that are required to open the box.  With the top released, there is a rather large space that can be used to put in other things like more puzzles, gift cards, and large quantities of money.  Unfortunately, my daughter must not have been able to get the box open.

Birthday Cake is a challenge on the easy side, but is well thought-out and well made.  Extra attention went into designing the appearance of the box.  It could have been much simpler and still work the same but it is so much more attractive with the extra touches.  On close inspection, it also appears that nothing is glued and if you were really adventurous, you could disassemble the box into it’s individual components.

In the event that you are unable to open Birthday Cake, there is a card included with a link to where you can find opening instructions.  There is also a QR code if you don’t want to type the URL.