2006 Puzzle Design
Competition Entries

The 2006 IDC Guide (photos, instructions, and relevant history) is available here.

The following is a summary and buying guide for the 54 entries in the 2006 competition (click on images for larger photos). 

All designs are copyrighted and are the intellectual property of the designer. All rights are reserved.

20 Ball Pyramid Puzzle "Twinten"

Designer: Hirokazu Iwasawa
Materials: Dogwood
Goal: Make a 20 ball pyramid.

3D Silhouette H

Designer: Manabu Sato
Materials: Padauk
Goal: Assemble the pieces in a free-standing arrangement so that in three directions the silhouette is a H-shape.

A Chance Meeting

Designer: Tatuo Miyamoto
Materials: Oak, Purple Heart
Goal: Find the secret compartment.

Purchase: Visit the Karakuri Club's public web site.

Albis Diamond

Designer: Albert Gübeli
Materials: Wood
Goal: Put the 4 different pieces together to form a rhomboid (diamond).

Purchase: Price US$60. Visit the designer's web site, or contact via postal mail (Gutenbergstrasse 26 CH-8640 Rapperswil / Switzerland).

Anorexic Cube

Designer: George Hart
Materials: Stainless Steel
Goal: Build a stable "cube" using the eight identical parts. Also, balance the figure on an edge.

Bolt in Bolt

Designer: Mika Skytta
Materials: Polished Iron
Goal: Separate the ring from the bolt.

Purchase: Price will be $120. Puzzles will be produced in a limited and a numbered series of 10, by the end of February 2007. Contact the designer via email.

Box in Box

Designer: Shiro Tajima
Materials: Katura, chanchin
Goal: Open the secret compartment.

Box with a Tree

Designer: Hiroshi Iwahara
Materials: Japanese walnut, oak, acrylic board
Goal: Find the secret compartment.

Bump Cube

Designer: Hidetoshi Takeji
Materials: ABS and Polyurethane resin
Goal: Mix up, then restore the cube.

Purchase: Contact the designer via email. Puzzles are made to order (about two months), and cost about $320 (including air shipment).

Cock-A-Doodle-Doo

Designer: Kenneth Schatten
Materials: Wood, hay
Goal: Find the needle in the haystack.

Cover it Up

Designer: Robert Reid
Materials: Wenge and Yellow heart
Goal: Arrange the four dark wood pieces so that the seven light wood pieces cover all of the dark wood. The dark pieces are to lie flat and not overlap.

Purchase: Available from Saul Bobroff for $70.

CrossWindows

Designer: Michael Toulouzas
Materials: Palissander, maple, padauk
Goal: Assemble the six pieces to form the pictured solid.

Purchase: See designer's web site.

cube one

Designer: Dieter Junker
Materials: Stiff cardboard
Goals: 1. Form the two pairs of platonic solids: two octahedra and two tetrahedra. 2. Put them together to form a cube (three variations).

Purchase: Contact the designer via email or visit his web site.

Edges Don't Match?!

Designer: Andreas Röver
Materials: Laser-cut MDF
Goal: Place the pieces in the tray with all pieces facing up.

Purchase: 120 were made. The left-overs after the Puzzle Party are available for 10 plus shipping.

Eureka Puzzle

Designer: John Kirkman
Materials: Blue gum, silver ash, jarrah (base)
Goal: Put the 8 pieces in an 8x8 array in checkerboard pattern. Pieces may be turned over. The 8 pieces will also make a 4x4 cube in the square on the raised side of the base (it does not assemble in a checkerboard pattern).

Purchase: Available from Mr. Puzzle Australia web site.

Ezekiel's Wheel

Designer: Ray Fischer
Materials: Wood
Goal: The objective of the puzzle is to disassemble the Triple Linked Torbus and assemble each Torbus separately. Then reassemble the “Ezekiel’s Wheels” puzzle. An interesting variation for any of the Torbus or segmented Toroid puzzles is to add a small Toroid.

Purchase: Visit the designer's website. Various configurations of this geometry are shown. The price of a Torbus Puzzle will vary between $100 and $300 each. The “Ezekiel Wheel” puzzle is $1000.00. Every Torbus puzzle is numbered, dated and signed. The variables are size (currently only a 6x3 in. is offered in wood or plastic foam), material, and quality of forming and cutting. Pliable Torbus puzzles are price between $15 and $30. Pliable Torbus material is soft plastic foam and come in various sizes, number of rings, and mixed colored rings.

Floppy Cube

Designer: Katsuhiko Okamoto
Materials: ABS resin, POM
Goal: Scramble first, restore all faces, like Rubik's Cube.

Purchase: Puzzles occasionally for sale at designer's web site.

Hurly Burly

Designer: Oskar van Deventer
Materials: ABS 3D print
Goal: Take apart and then put together.

Purchase: Available at Puzzle Palace.

Ichigo Shortcake

Designer: Hiroshi Iwahara
Materials: Padauk, Dogwood, Zelkova, Maple
Goal: Find the secret compartment.

Purchase: Visit the Karakuri Club's public web site.

In Brackets

Designer: Sam Cornwell
Materials: Pine and mahogany
Goal: Take apart the trapped cube.

Integrity

Designer: Duane Einfeld
Materials: Maple and mahogany
Goal: Disassemble and reassemble.

Purchase: Available at Cubic Dissection.

Intersecting Truncated Tetrahedra

Designer: James Allwright
Materials: American oak, pine
Goal: To dismantle and re-assemble the puzzle.

Purchase: Version not shown now available at Puzzlewood.

Jigsaw Ring

Designer: Yael Friedman
Materials: Sterling silver
Goal: To remove the three jigsaw pieces from the ring.

Jukebox

Designer: Oskar van Deventer
Materials: Laser-cut walnut wood, cast tin, acrylic window, metal bolts, red and green felt
Goal: Continue inserting disk in such an order that the red disks end up in the red tray at the left and the green disks end up in the green tray at the right. Notice the 2:1 switches. They only flip after inserting a second disk.

Purchase: The design is available for licensing for mass production. Two additional prototypes are for sale by the designer.

LES-Board-um

Designer: Rocky Chiaro
Materials: Brass, Plexiglas
Goal: Put together the two-sided checkerboard.

Purchase: Cost: $300. Available at designer's web site.

Love Secret

Designer: Kirill Grebnev
Materials: Stainless steel, rope
Goal: Remove the rope ring from the heart.

Purchase: Contact the designer via email, or visit his web site.

Nine Halves

Designer: Wim Zwaan
Materials: Maple and plywood
Goal: 1. Put the pieces in the box so you have all nine halves closed and you do not see the bottom. 2. Put the pieces in the box so you have all nine halves open.

NZanity

Designer: Louis Toorenburg
Materials: Wood
Goal: 1. Make a cube with each face a different color, and NZ appearing face up in the top row on all six faces. 2. Make a cube with four colors on each face, the with the NZs in the same arrangement as 1.

Orthogenesis

Designer: Peter Conrad
Materials: Painted wood
Goal: The object is to assemble the pieces into a cube so that each face contains one block of each color.

Pencil Puzzle

Designer: George Hart and George Miller
Materials: 72 pencils and rubber bands
Goal: Assemble the pencil arrangement shown.

Purchase: Available at Puzzle Palace.

Pentangular Jam

Designer: Hirokazu Iwasawa
Materials: Wood and MDF
Goal: From the starting position (shown), slide the pieces so that the colored piece can exit the tray through the slot in the front of the tray.

Purchase: Price 1,785¥ plus shipping, available at puzzle shop Torito.

Polymorphic 12

Designer: Gilbert Mozzo
Materials: Painted wood
Goal: Put the pieces in the tray so that 12 different colors are visible.

Purchase: contact the manufacturer, Vincent Andre, via email for similar wooden polymorphic puzzles.

Polymorphic 16

Designer: Gilbert Mozzo
Materials: Painted wood
Goal: Find all arrangements of the 16 pieces (10 orange and 6 blue) that will fit in the tray.

Purchase: contact the manufacturer, Vincent Andre, via email for similar wooden polymorphic puzzles.

Polymorphic 6

Designer: Gilbert Mozzo
Materials: Painted wood
Goal: Put the pieces in the tray so that 6 different colors are shown.

Purchase: contact the manufacturer, Vincent Andre, via email for similar wooden polymorphic puzzles.

Procross

Designer: Vaclav Obsivac
Materials: maple, plum
Goal: Take apart and put together.

Pyramid Power

Designer: George Miller
Materials: ABS, steel and NdFeB magnet
Goal: Take apart and then put together.

Purchase: Available at Puzzle Palace.

Rescube

Designer: Sam Cornwell
Materials: Pine and plywood
Goal: Release the inside shape from the cube.

Sequential Star

Designer: Lee Krasnow
Materials: Bois de rose, verawood, narrah, steel pins
Goal: Disassemble and reassemble.

Simple Three Piece Burr

Designer: Frank Potts
Materials: Cherry wood
Goal: Assemble three pieces into an interlocking burr. Absolutely NO FORCE is required.

Purchase: Available at the designer's web site.

Sliding Bar Puzzle Box

Designer: Ben Krasnow
Materials: Purpleheart, walnut, padauk, yellowheart, cocobolo
Goal: The puzzle solver’s goal is to open the box by operating the box’s locking mechanism and sliding open the box.

Purchase: Available at the designer's web site.

Snowflake

Designer: Robert Yarger
Materials: Holly
Goal: The goal is open the box through seven sequential steps. As a secondary goal once the box is open, the entire box can be dismantled into its 6 individual pieces and reassembled back into a working puzzle box.

Purchase: A limited number of Snowflake puzzles are available at Cubic Dissections.

Soleilla

Designer: Albert Gübeli
Materials: Wood
Goal: Put the 5 identical pieces together to form a cylinder (sun) with 10 edges.

Purchase: Price US$60. Visit the designer's web site, or contact via postal mail (Gutenbergstrasse 26 CH-8640 Rapperswil / Switzerland).

Square Dissection

Designer: Kenneth Schatten
Materials: Wood
Goal: The puzzle is a wooden square, dissected into five pieces. The problem is to take the pieces apart, without breakage and then to re-assemble.

Square Ring

Designer: Yael Friedman
Materials: Sterling silver
Goal: To disassemble the ring, and reassemble.

Swiss and US Cubes

Designer: Jürg von Känel
Materials: Acrylic
Goal: The objective of the Swiss Cube is to remove the three Swiss cross pieces. For the US Cube it is to remove the blue and red pieces. Then put them all back into the cubes. Note: Don’t try to take the cubes apart.

The Hill

Designer: Stewart Coffin
Materials: Maple
Goal: Assembly the six pieces to form the polyhedral solid.

Purchase: Version not shown now available at Puzzlewood.

The Maze Burr

Designer: Kagen Shaefer
Materials: Ebony, Cylon, Satinwood, Maple
Goal: Solve the sequence to open up the Maze Burr, take it apart, and re-assemble it.

Purchase: Versions of the puzzle can be purchased from Kagen Schaefer or Tom Lensch. Price range is $225-325. See designer's web site for more information.

The Trouble With U

Designer: Mark McCallum
Materials: Exotic hardwood: pink ivory, kingwood, tulipwood, bois de rose, Macassar ebony, Ziricote, Chakte Viga, cocobolo, figured Tasmanian blackwood, African blackwood
Goal: Remove the pieces and construct various shapes: a 4x4x4 cube, a 5x5x2 prism, an 8x4x2 prism, and a 7x4x2 prism.

Purchase: Available from the designer via email.

Three Totally Trapped Sages

Designer: Primitivo Familiar Ramos and Rafael Guarinos Abad
Materials: Walnut and Canarywood
Goal: Remove the three pieces from the cubic structure, and reassemble the cube.

Three Trapped Sages

Designer: Primitivo Familiar Ramos and Rafael Guarinos Abad
Materials: Canarywood and Walnut
Goal: Remove the three pieces from the cubic structure, and reassemble the cube.

Toblerone Puzzle

Designer: Rolland Koch
Materials: Walnut and hornbeam
Goal: Take the puzzle apart, eat chocolate, purchase new chocolate, re-assemble.

Purchase: 20 puzzles will be available for 90.-- CHF. Contact the designer via email or at the designer's web site.

Trick Domino Aligned

Designer: Hidetoshi Takeji
Materials: ABS and Polyurethane resin
Goal: Mix up, then restore the cube. Despite the 2x2x2 appearance, this is really a 3x3x2 Domino puzzle.

Purchase: Contact the designer via email. Puzzles are made to order (about two months), and cost about $200 (including air shipment).

Trick Domino Twisted

Designer: Hidetoshi Takeji
Materials: ABS and Polyurethane resin
Goal: Mix up, then restore the cube. Despite the 2x2x2 appearance, this is really a 3x3x2 Domino puzzle with the orientations of the top and bottom halves "twisted".

Purchase: Contact the designer via email. Puzzles are made to order (about two months), and cost about $200 (including air shipment).

Triples

Designer: Michael Roberts
Materials: Walnut
Goal: Assemble the 8x4x3 block. Alternately, assemble two separate 4x4x3 blocks.

Purchase: Price is £50 plus shipping; contact the designer via email. Puzzles are made to meet individual orders.

 


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