TIC Vault

I managed to miss out on Andrew Crowell’s TIC Vault when it was first released, but I certainly took notice when it garnered a jury honourable mention at this year’s Puzzle Design Competition… so when Andrew offered some copies for sale I didn’t hold back and one duly arrived at Puzzling Times HQ a little while later.

It’s a very handsome puzzle that speaks of a man who has not only designed some rather good-looking puzzles, but also one who has seriously mastered his 3D printer(s)! The quality of the printing is excellent with “inlaid” text on the base and logos all around the sides… it’s a good-looking piece of puzzle!

Initially the interesting bit appears to be the top with some semi-exposed pieces that look like they might make up a 4*4*4 cube… only they appear to be rather trapped in place. They’re in the centre of a red ring, that rather teases some interesting movements may be lurking in our future, but certainly not yet! Tipping things upside down reveal that the grey bits of the cube want to come out of their retaining frame, but they just won’t for some reason…

That, and not a lot else is pretty much where we start… and as it turns out more or less where I stopped for a couple of weeks of gentle fiddling… I got nowhere!

After a little Think(c)ing I managed a little bit of progress and then found myself up against a different little brick wall… albeit by now I was seeing why so many of my mates had been recommending it and why it had been singled out in the Design Competition. This one’s special.

I didn’t get a lot more time to fiddle with it until I took it along to the last MPP where I was determined to make some more progress… it turned out there were a lot of TIC Vault fans there and I got all sorts of encouragement to solve it… and I really enjoyed the journey – right from the initial discovery that evaded me for so long, through the progressive unravelling of things and the gradual dawning of what was happening and then just what the endgame might entail, through to seeing the little bit of magical mechanical wonder as things finally unlocked and presented me with my treasure for the day.

It really is an excellently puzzling journey of discovery with several delightful moments along the way.

Resetting the puzzle for the next victim isn’t too challenging but does require a little thought…

Andrew’s managed to build a wonderful sequential discovery puzzle around a well-disguised TIC (even if the clue’s there in the name all along!) … and the jury were spot on to honour his design – it’s great!