Casino

I just wanted to put up a quick shout-out about Casino as I think it’s a really brilliant packing puzzle. 

Casino comes from the fertile puzzling-mind of Volker Latussek and is beautifully made by the guys at Pelikan.

You get one cube-shaped box and a set of six casino chips to place inside said box… and the only complication is a pair of barely protruding lips on either side of the top of the box… seriously – they couldn’t possibly trouble you at all… except, of course, they do – a lot!

Fitting the six chips into the requisite cubic space is simple – it won’t take any self-respecting puzzlists long at all… but try and put that lot inside the box with the thinnest little lips along the edges, and all bets are off! 

I spent ages with this one and thought I was getting close at one point when I found some arrangements that almost allowed a couple of interesting moves that would have dropped the last piece into place… but I wasn’t happy with the amount of, err, encouragement it required, and set off looking for a better method…

…and of course, there is a far better method, one that literally allows a puzzlists to drop the pieces into place without any encouraging required! 

Pelikan have already sold out, but one or two of the usual suppliers might still have some available – definitely worth trying to track down a copy – it’s a brilliant puzzle – one that will appeal not only to puzzlists, but muggles as well!

Oh, and if you don't beleive me, Kevin liked it too!