Mega Six 6 piece multiple move wood burr

The puzzle is to assemble the six piece burr.

This puzzle really does show a case of ‘don’t judge a book by it’s cover’. It may look like other six piece burrs on the outside but it is DEFINITELY not. The puzzle is incredibly more complicated than the commonly known six piece puzzle.

Bill Cutler first used a computer program to analyse six piece burrs in 1974 but it took until 1990 to analyse all possible six piece burr combinations. In early 1978 he was allowed to use his employer’s computer in a limited way to pursue his hobby. A computer at home was unheard of in those days!  But that all changed in 1986 when he bought a PC IBM AT which he used to analyse his 6 piece burrs, running it 24 hours a day 7 days a week. But Bill calculated it would take 62.5 years to fully analyse all solutions so eventually he woudl have to find a much more powerful computer to do this. These tasks take only minutes on today’s modern computers.

Mega Six is the result of that search for the maximum number of moves for a six piece burr with a unique solution. This does not mean it has a unique assembly, due to the number of internal voids. In theory the pieces should fit together in 20 different ways however, the reality is that you can physically only put the puzzle together in one of the 20 assemblies.

Mr Puzzle’s version, designed with Bill’s help, has one extra cube removed to increase the number of false assemblies…. As if the original Computer’s Choice Unique-10 was not difficult enough!

Not only OUR hardest six piece burr but THE hardest six piece burr!

Covered by Australian Design Registration No 151844 and is made under license to Bill Cutler.

Size 120mm x 120mm x 120mm (each piece 120mm x 30mm x 30mm)

Packaged DISASSEMBLED for your puzzling enjoyment! This puzzle is one of the group of interlocking puzzles called burr puzzles. It is sold disassembled and you must rely on the photograph on the accompanying Presentation Card to know what shape to assemble the blocks in. This ensures you’ll get the maximum value from the puzzle. REMEMBER – for when all else has failed we enclose a printed solution sheet.

This puzzle was also made in Australian Hardwood species of woods in our Craftsman Range.