We first met Václav Obšívac (Vinco to his friends) at the International Puzzle Party. Seen here with a very large puzzle he made, he says that even knowing the solution, and with many friends helping out, it took three hours to put together.
Václav Obšívac has been making puzzle in his own workshop in Frenštát pod Rahoštem in the eastern part of the Czech Republic in north Moravia since 2001. In that year he was a participant at the World Puzzle Championships in Brno in Czech Republic.
Vinco collects many trees in his local area to create these puzzles including acacia, ash, beech, cherry, elm, larch, maple, oak, pear, plum and walnut. Timber variety may vary from puzzle to puzzle unless otherwise specified. The puzzles are unsealed showcasing the natural colour and texture of the timber.
Many of the puzzles are Vinco's own designs and involve very complex pieces created by glueing a series of shapes together. He rates them on a scale from 1 to 5 - 5 being the most difficult of his puzzles (News flash - we've just got a second 5+ in stock) A printed graphical solution is included with each puzzle.
Difficulty 3/5 Four identical pieces to make a cube. Presented as an assembled cube the first challenge is to work out how to get it apart. The pieces are shaped such that even when you've done it, repeating it (once you've got it back together again...) can be just as hard the second time.
Yes, Vinco believes this is even outside his rating system. Harder than his 5 out of 5 puzzles.
There are twelve very odd shaped pieces which make a cube. Once complete this cube sits on a 45o angle inside the open stand. An incredibly difficult puzzle to get together.
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Prague, Czech Republic, August 2008 Presented by Mike Hawthorne. Made by Václav Obšívac at Vin & Co. Designed by Václav Obšívac.
Difficulty 5/5 Diagra - "The puzzle that keeps you up all night" The goal is to make a cube, and the other nine shapes, from the 8 pieces of the puzzle. The shapes are amazingly complex - even for Vinco! Vinco has also now added two additional challenges to be made with co-ordinated motion.
First, try to disassemble the six pieces. Once you've done that you'll now have the challenge to put these identical pieces back together to make the symetrical circular shape.
First, try to disassemble the seven pieces. Once you've done that you'll now have the challenge to put these pieces back together to make the symetrical diamond shape.
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Berlin, August 2011 Presented by Laurie Brokenshire. Made by Václav Obšívac. Designed by Václav Obšívac.
Difficulty 5+/5 It's difficult to know if this puzzle should be called a two piece or a four piece puzzle. But it's definitely two; even though it looks like a couple of pieces from other Vinco puzzles have got tangled together... (see one of the pieces below) With these two pieces it is possible to lock them together and make a solid, symmetrical shape.
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Washington DC, August 2012 Presented by Laurie Brokenshire. Made by Václav Obšívac. Designed by Václav Obšívac.
Difficulty 5+/5 You may try 3 (Tri) challenges using the mathematically complete set of 4 different woods on each of 6 pieces which look a bit like bicycle wheels. 1. Uni-Cycle. Simply form a cube (not too difficult) 2. Bi-Cycle. Each corner of the cube must be one single colour (a bit trickier) 3. Tri-Cycle. The cube must have no identical colour touching anywhere, not even diagonally or on an edge (a lot more though required to do this one)
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Prague, Czech Republic, August 2008 Presented by Laurie Brokenshire. Made by Václav Obšívac. Designed by Václav Obšívac.
Difficulty 5+/5 Xcruci8 may Xasper8, Xulcer8 or Xhilar8!
Your challenge is to assemble the 8 pieces into the symmetrical cross shape. It's packaged in it's unsolved form and even comes with a solution to put it back in it's box unsolved. Now that's a hard puzzle! Don't worry, just like all Vinco's puzzles it also comes with a solution to solve it too.
Edward Hordern Puzzle Exchange - Gold Coast, Australia, August 2007 Presented by Laurie Brokenshire. Made by Václav Obšívac. Designed by Václav Obšívac.
Difficulty 5/5+ The puzzle is to assemble the six differently shaped pieces into this very complex interlocking burr. This puzzle is one of the hardest that Vinco has ever invented and because of the way it has to be assembled it is not possible to solve this puzzle using a computer program.
There are just three different pieces loose inside the wooden cage. They do not come out of the cage but the cage does have openings down each of the four vertical sides. The puzzle is to assemble them into a tetrahedron inside the cage.
There are six different pieces loose inside the wooden cage. They do not come out of the cage but the cage does have openings down each of the four vertical sides. The puzzle is to assemble them into a square block inside the cage.
Edward Hordern Puzzle Exchange - Gold Coast, Australia, August 2007 Presented by Václav Obšívac. Made by Václav Obšívac. Designed by Václav Obšívac.
Difficulty 4/5 The puzzle is to take the box apart and get the wooden ball out. There are three identical pieces. Beware, if you take it completely apart you will have to get it back together again.
Difficulty 3/5 The puzzle is to interlock these 4 pieces to make the burr. As with many of Vinco's puzzle you are also presented the challenge of getting it apart before you can even begin the assembly process.
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Prague, Czech Republic, August 2008 Presented by Diniar Namdarian. Made by Václav Obšívac at Vin & Co. Designed by Stanislav Knot. Difficulty 4/5 The challenge is to rearrange the eight L pieces in the frame so that the additional rectangle piece fits in as well.
First, try to disassemble the six very complex pieces and get the marble out. Once you done that you'll now have the challenge to put it together again.
The challenge is take the four piece puzzle apart. If you manage that then putting it back together is even harder. Each puzzle has the same 4 complex pieces but the outside configuration of the puzzle varies. This makes each puzzle quite different when finding the facets to grip to open the puzzle. Puzzles are finished as either 1. Dodecahedron (12 faces), 2. Icosahedron (20 triangular faces), a 3. Triacontahedron (30 faces) or 4. Truncated Octahedron (Truncocta - 6 square and 8 truncated triangular faces). Please choose the exact puzzle you want from the list when you order.
The puzzle is to take the four pieces of the puzzle apart; putting them back together will be even harder to do.
The shape is symmetrical in length of it’s diagonal axis but there are two different sized sides.You end up with this shape that looks a bit like an out of square cube.A Crazy Cube! A Cube after it’s been to a party!
The stocks of these new coordinated motion puzzles are very limited and we do not know if Vinco will be making more of these particular puzzles in the future.
The puzzle is to take the four pieces of the puzzle apart and then put them back together again.
The shape is two tetrahedrons that have been joined together with the edges and vertexes truncated although recognising the original shape is very difficult in the end result.This, and the very precise fit and pattern, just makes fitting the pieces back together even harder; that is assuming you can even get it apart.
The stocks of these new coordinated motion puzzles are very limited and we do not know if Vinco will be making more of these particular puzzles in the future.
The puzzle is to take the four pieces of the rounded tetrahedron puzzle apart and then put them back together again which is even harder to do.
The checkered pattern and precise fit of the puzzle make determining which facets to grip to take the puzzle apart quite a challenge.
The stocks of these new coordinated motion puzzles are very limited and we do not know if Vinco will be making more of these particular puzzles in the future.
The puzzle is to take the four pieces of the puzzle apart and then put them back together again.
Two different coloured woods shaped into an octahedron with a small curved pyramid appended to each side precisely machined to form a beautiful flower shape.An now you have to find where the four pieces start and finish so you can take it apart. Quite a challenge.
The stocks of these new coordinated motion puzzles are very limited and we do not know if Vinco will be making more of these particular puzzles in the future.
The puzzle is to take the four pieces of the puzzle apart and then put them back together again which is even harder to do.
The shape is like two tetrahedrons with rounded edges that have been joined together.The uniform patterning of the different woods and precise fit of the puzzle make fitting the pieces back together even harder than taking the puzzle apart.
The stocks of these new coordinated motion puzzles are very limited and we do not know if Vinco will be making more of these particular puzzles in the future.
Top 10 Vote Getter – Puzzlers’ Award at the Nob Yoshigahara Puzzle Design Competition 2010
Difficulty 5/5 The challenge is take the four piece puzzle apart. If you manage that then putting it back together will surely be even harder.
The puzzle has four different but very complex pieces that go together in a very precise fit to form the beautiful checkered pattern double cone shape. The fit is so precise that even identifying the four separate pieces is a challenge in itself.
Mr Puzzle - We've got puzzles! 
We first met Václav Obšívac (Vinco to his friends) at the International Puzzle Party. Seen here with a very 
large puzzle he made, he says that even knowing the solution, and with many friends helping out, it took three hours to put together.
