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November 16, 2008

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Don't Worry, everybody. Those games are safe to play. I put them there and they don't have any adware connected to them (although their placement is mildly annoying. How do I change that?)

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IPP37

Here's my account of the IPP37, held this year in Paris, France. Buckle up, it's a long one! A quick primer, to start: The IPP is a "small" gathering of friends that happens once every year, and rotates between East Asia/Pacific Coast, Europe, and North America. Attendance is by invitation only, and you have to receive a personal invitation from one of two people. Usually, to be invited, you have to be well-known in the puzzle community, and ideally have contributed to the puzzle community at large in some way. The event usually consists of a mix of local non-puzzle events, a design competition, a 100-puzzle gift exchanging extravaganza, and a puzzle sales event.This year's IPP was held in Paris, France, and it was my fourth IPP (I also attended 32 in Washington, 34 in London, and 35 in Ottawa). Friday morning I arrived at the Airport, grabbed my suitcase, wrestled my enormous box of puzzles into a cart, and was promptly accosted by a fake taxi driv

Brass Treasure Chest

Today, I'm discussing the Brass Treasure Chest. I bought this puzzle from PuzzleMaster. Though it's photogenic, this puzzle really isn't very good in my opinion. The opening isn't large enough to hold anything, and the solution is way too specific for one to be able to figure it out. Hence, I have no problem revealing what I know of the solution here. I'll do it after the pictures, for those of you who don't like spoilers. For now, I'll just say that it requires an unguessable sequence of moves to open. The exterior reveals no clues, and no sound emanates from the bowels of the chest. I have nothing against the puzzle other than that the solution has no logic to it. Luck, not cleverness, plays into solving the puzzle. I would be very interested in hearing from those of you that own this puzzle and think differently from me (or even if you have a similar opinion, I guess). ... ... ... ... ... ... ...

A Xi of Relief

I thought that I would try something a little meatier now that I'm all warmed up. I had k3DW come by the shop today, to have a peek at some of the puzzles that I collected, so I decided that now was a good time as ever to try something a bit out of my comfort zone. The puzzle that landed in my crosshairs was Tyler Somer's Six Xis. I warmed up with two easier puzzles: Free Your Emotions (as easy as it looks), and Elytra by Andrei Ivanov. The Elytra is actually quite interesting, and rather different to a regular co-mo puzzle. I've uploaded a short video showing part of the solution so you can see what I mean. Can't be bothered to lighten this in Lightroom, sorry.You won't be getting spoiled by me on this blog... The puzzle consists of six identical pieces of wood, each approximating the Greek lowercase ξ. They appear to be made of solid wood blocks (probably using a Dado blade), which is quite nice. The wood seems to be a type of pine, though I

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