If you've given puzzles before and the person has always been able to do them quickly then you may wish to give them puzzles rated between 8 and 10. Whilst it is important to present the person with a challenge you don't want to discourage them by buying a puzzle they have no chance of ever doing. So, if you're buying a person's first puzzle, but you still want it to be very hard, it may be wise to begin at a puzzle rated 5 to 7 rather than going for a 10 first up.
The object is to be able to slide the large block to get the large block to the bottom. There's a sheet included with three possible starting positions but in reality there are endless combinations to start to make many different puzzles.
The puzzle will ALWAYS be possible when the rectangular blocks are vertical. Where you place them will determine how many moves it will take to solve.
The puzzle is to build the symmetrical honeycomb shape from the 10 pieces each made from hexagonal cylinder pieces of different lengths joined together. Note: This puzzle doesn't normally come with a solution but from feedback we know it's a very hard puzzle so we've created a detailed solution that we now supply with the puzzle.
The puzzle is to separate the four pieces from each other then put them back together again. Even when you think you've almost got it there's another secret to unlock... and then there's the problem of putting it back together.
Can you separate the three links of the chain and then get it back together again? What's special about this puzzle is that it can be solved three different ways, depending on which of the three pieces has been chosen as the middle link.
The three pieces of this puzzle just slide apart, you don't need to force them. Can you work out the twisting movement required to achieve this and to then get them back together again?
Separate the 4 pieces of the puzzle. True bonds has always been hard to form, but once formed such bonds are eternal and hard to break. The inventor Uyematsu says that his original version was created with this image in his mind, but the puzzle was completed into a cast puzzle with a bond that is truly difficult to unravel. How would you go about breaking and forming this bond? There are two approaches to this puzzle and we challenge you to both!
The puzzle is to disentangle the rope from the metal golf course. Golf is a mystery that sometimes pleases, sometimes frustrates, but is always a challenge. And because all golfer's appreciate a challenge this is the perfect present for them. Father's Day, Christmas, Boss, Dad, Uncle, Brother.... the perfect present for them all.
The puzzle is to remove the ribbon from the elephant maze disentanglement puzzle. This is a very nice adaptation of the classic staircase disentanglement puzzle, known in French as Baguenaudier (very appropriately it literally means time-waster) they are closely related to the better known "Chinese Ring Puzzle" or "Devil's Needle puzzle". There are 11 different starting positions for the ribbon, rated from "tricky" to "very hard". When you buy the puzzle from Mr Puzzle it comes with a drawing showing each starting position; this is only available at this website. The ribbon can be easily reset by undoing the joining clasp, take then ribbon out of the puzzle, and reset the starting position.
There are two goals to the Cast Nutcase created by the Dutch puzzle inventor, Oskar van Deventner. 1. Remove the small nut by disassembling the Cast Nutcase. 2. Cast puzzle enthusiasts (some call them nutcases) can enjoy trying to change the wording on the bolt from "nut-case" to "case-nut".
The object is to separate the two parts - N E W S. The level of difficulty is very high because it's very difficult to work out the solution to the puzzle. Once done the puzzle is not difficult to memorise.
The puzzle consists of a looped handle interlocked with nine rings. The object is to remove the nine rings from the handle. It will take 341 move to do the puzzle but there's a method and once you know it you'll certainly be able to solve the puzzle.
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Washington DC, August 2012 Presented by Frans de Vreugd. Made by Brian Young @ Mr Puzzle Australia. Designed by Stephane Chomine. Only 200 of these puzzles ever made. 100 sent to IPP32 for the Edward Hordern Puzzle Exchange. 100 for sale exclusively on this website.
The puzzle is to assemble the 6 pieces so that you make what looks like a framed burr. The Vice comes in two pieces and then the 4 other pieces intersect in two directions through it. We've presented the puzzle disassembled which raises the difficulty level. Whilst at the same time being just 6 pieces the challenge to solve is not unrealistic. Nevertheless it will be hard to do without resorting to the solution.
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 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!
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 Karst Nauta. Made by Brian Young @ Mr Puzzle Australia. Designed by Karst Nauta.
The puzzle is to separate the two halves of the cube. Hint: Karst is a type of terrain characterised by sinkholes, caves and the like. Karst processes tend to be secretive and imperceptible because most development occurs underground over long periods of time.
Edward Hordern Puzzle Exchange - Gold Coast, Australia, August 2007 Presented by Brian Young. Made by Brian Young @ Mr Puzzle Australia. Designed by Brian Young.
The object is to get the 10c inside the parking meter. Make sure you reassemble the parking meter with the 10c correctly inside. Getting money out of a parking meter is usually illegal so please don't try to do that with this puzzle!
The puzzle does not easily slot into one of the regular Hordern or Slocum categories so we have called it a Sequential-Discovery puzzle. Yes, it is a Take-Apart puzzle. It is also a Put-Together puzzle. There are a number of different challenges you will have to complete to do the puzzle. No external tools are necessary for disassembly or reassembly of the puzzle, although you will have to find tools within, and determine how to use them, to complete the puzzle.
You can reassemble the puzzle in reverse using all the tools the same as when you took it apart. But there is a way of using one of the tools in a slightly different way to create an easier assembly. The puzzle will still be able to be disassembled the original way. See if you can find it...
Puzzle made from Yellow Leichhardt. Stand made from Mackay Cedar. Yellow Leichhardt was used because of it's distinctive bright yellow colour to try to match the golden colour that parking meters on the Gold Coast are painted. Size: 160mm x 30mm x 80mm.
Click this link to view some photos from IPP27 Edward Hordern Puzzle Exchange. Brian generally stives to theme puzzles relating to where IPP is being held and because he was close to home this year he was able to go "all out" by having Sophie, a Gold Coast Meter Maid, as his very capable (and popular) exchange assistant.
Meter Maids were first seen in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast in 1965 to try to help beat the bad image created by the installation of parking meters. Gorgeous girls in gold bikinis fed coins into expired parking meters to prevent tourists from being fined, causing quite a controversy at the time. They are still seen in Surfers today although they are generally hired by local businesses these days.
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Washington DC, August 2012 Presented, made and designed by Brian Young @ Mr Puzzle Australia Awarded 3rd Prize for Themed Puzzle Award
There’s Red, While & Blue on the flags. There’s the White monument on a Red base. Can you find the other Blue? If you keep searching you’ll find it inside the puzzle. And we’re not referring to the use of “blue” language or going “blue” in the face (excuse our Aussie slang) with frustration.
The object of the puzzle is to unlock and open it, find the blue, close and relock it. You’ll have solved the puzzle when you can complete these two stages.
First stage Lock all gravity pins inside the round base of the obelisk so they do not move. This will allow you to remove the obelisk from the base. If you open the puzzle by chance then the gravity pins will still move freely; this is not the intended solution. The first stage is not completed until the gravity pins are locked inside the round base.
Second stage Unlock the gravity pins so they flow freely again. This allows you to lock the obelisk back in the square base. You could find that relocking the puzzle might be more challenging than unlocking it was.
All the tools you’ll require to do the puzzle are given with the puzzle. The puzzle we’ve presented is a representation of the Washington Monument, right down to the lightening rod in the top, which can come out, so be careful not to lose it. You’ll more than likely need it to complete the puzzle.
Edward Hordern Puzzle Exchange - Gold Coast, Australia, August 2007 Presented by Bill Darrah. Made by Brian Young @ Mr Puzzle Australia. Designed by Bill Darrah.
The puzzle is to disassemble and reassemble the 12 piece burr so that all the decorative routing is symmetrical. The puzzle can go together in two different ways. A very elegant design by Bill Darrah who is well known for designing very difficult puzzles. As well as being a burr it is actually a box with an inside space of 45mm x 45mm x 45mm.
A seven piece wooden ball (koule in Czech) puzzle on a turned wooden stand.
The basis of this puzzle is the Stewart Coffin designed Convolution Cube. The puzzle is rated as Demanding. Each of the 7 pieces is made from a combination of different species and colours of wood. The pieces are totally interlocked to make a solid sphere with a single solution. Yes, there are no voids inside the sphere. The bigger challenge is probably putting this puzzle back together, but in disassembly, even after you've found the first couple of pieces it still hasn't released all it's secrets.
Each puzzle piece is made from many smaller complex shaped pieces glued together; finding the correct combination that are not glued, to push or pull to take apart, may be quite difficult.
Solution: A video on assembly and disassembly is supplied on DVD with the puzzle.
The object of the puzzle is to dissassemble the 13 piece rectilinear burr.
This puzzle was designed by Bill Cutler in 1982 as part of his Wausau series of burrs. Prior to this he had worked mostly with the standard six piece burr but this series was an experiment in different patterns of rods along the 3 axes. Bill describes this second puzzle in the series, Wausau '82, as one of his favourite designs, saying it uses a lock picking technique.
Designed by John Kirkman. Made by Brian Young. Put the 8 pieces in an 8x8 array in checkerboard pattern. All pieces may be turned over but some are different on the reverse side.
Edward Hordern IPP Puzzle Exchange - Washington DC, August 2012 Presented by Matthew Dawson. Designed and made by Brian Young @ Mr Puzzle.
The challenge is to work your way through the puzzle to find the barrel of oil.
You've inherited this oil well from Uncle Bubba who plugged it in a very tricky way back in the 1960's when oil was selling for under $3 a barrel. With oil now over $100 a barrel the challenge is to unplug the well. You'll know you've got the oil flowing again when you find the barrel of oil. Can you pitch your wits against Uncle Bubba and work out how he plugged the well?
You will have to discover a range of tools and work out how to use them, some are very well disguised, to reach the final goal. No physical force at all is required to open the drawer when it’s unlocked. If you find yourself forcing something you are doing something the puzzle was not designed to do.
The puzzle is to get your money out! Adding money to your stash is easy, but to get it out you'll need to solve the puzzle of how to open the money box.
A very high quality precision engineered product from very sleek black polycarbonate by German designers Troika. This puzzle has the same opening mechanism as the aluminum cube version but much more dexterity is required.
In 1980 the Dutch designer Wil Strijbos created his first puzzle and this is it. The Aluminium Cross. And it's design is still as unique and intriguing as when he first created it over 30 years ago.
At first you might think this is the same as other 'cross' puzzles you've seen before. It's not! You might also think it does not look very difficult to take it apart. It is! And once you have it apart you might think it will not be very difficult to put it back together. It is!
Possibly the most intriguing thing about this puzzle is that even if you see the elements of the puzzle when it's apart the solution is not obvious. Wil is so confident of this fact that the puzzle even comes with a photo showing the internal workings of the puzzle. But he does not supply the solution.
9 hexagonal sticks & 9 dowels. Some different lengths. Four stick-dowel pairs joined to form elbows. Four stick-dowel pairs joined to form cross pieces. 3 different elbows. 2 different cross pieces. 10 pieces in total.
The puzzle is to return the cube to its original state... every side finally having one solid color. With "43 Quintillion" possible moves and only "ONE" solution... nearly one in every five people in the world has twisted, jumbled and enjoyed this immensely popular puzzle.
There is no Solution booklet in this Hexagonal packaging however at time we do have some Secondhand copies of various original Solution Booklets for sale on our "Collectible Puzzles" page. Click here to see current stocks. You can also view the latest techniques to solve the cube at the Official Rubiks website http://www.youcandothecube.com/secret-unlocked/solution-stage-one.aspx
LATEST NEWS! July 2010. Researches have found that the Rubik's Cube can be solved in 20 moves or less from any mixed up state. Don't believe it's possible? I'ts true. Morley Davidson, John Dethridge, Herbert Kociemba, and Tomas Rokicki did some serious number crunching with the aid of Google's computers and proved it. Read more here.... Watch a recent ABC documentary about "God's Number" 20 http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/3233961.htm
Prepare to be absolutely amazed by the smoothness and sturdiness of this cube! Vcube is the 21st century cube. This is the original patented V-CUBE 5™ made in Greece not a Magic Cube cheap copy. It's a multicoloured, five-layered cube with exceptional quality and incredibly smooth rotation. Available with either black or white background cube color.
Packaged in a groovy asymmetric balancing pack with a detailed printed instructions.
The object of the puzzle is to open the cylinder. As usual with Wil's designs, this is nowhere near as easy as it sounds!
And sound is important when solving this puzzle. This puzzle does not give up it's secrets easily and like a lot of Wil's puzzles you are often working blind.
The puzzle is to remove the 3 burr pieces from the cube frame and insert them again.
Designed recently by Japanese designer Osanori Yamamoto in early 2013 this puzzle has a very complex level 16.3 solution to solve it with a symmetrical colour pattern.
When the puzzle is completed with the symmetrical light colour bars in place on each face there is just one solution from possible assembles. If the colour pattern is ignored there are 2 solutions from 3 possible assemblies.
The level 16.3 solution means that it will take 16 moves to remove the first piece then another 3 to remove the second piece.
Mr Puzzle - We've got puzzles! 
