...while running with the donkeys
I’ve been meaning to pick up one of these little guys for a while now. I first saw them in wood in Grand Illusions (where it’s known as Trisected Cube) and I’d seen a metal Bits and Pieces version on the net, but when one of Wil Strijbos’ regular newsletters said he had some for sale I dived in straight away.
It’s pretty straight-forward as a puzzle – three similar interlocking pieces intertwined to form a cube – but the charm is all in the way that it does that. It’s a simple, pure coordinated motion puzzle – as you unfold the three pieces at the same time, the cube expands to the point where the pieces separate.
Each piece interlocks with the other two in a beautifully complicated way. The edges join up and mate together in interesting patterns that seem to have only one purpose – to entertain. It’s neatly made and looks great.
[The donkey reference? ... we were in Santorini yesterday ... and walked up the steps to Fira ... ]
I think I have the metal version of this puzzle from puzzlemaster.ca, it is called a Curly Cube. It would seem to me hard to mass produce this puzzle in wood. How do you think it was made? Can it be done using simple saw cuts?
ReplyDeleteHi George - yeah, that's the one! The wooden one has each piece made in two halves and joined at at angle across the narrow part - quite neatly - but you'll spot it if you look for it.
ReplyDeleteAh Santorini, lovely island (my little brother got married there a couple of years ago) :-D
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