Siebenstein 4 Pfeile

 …or Four Arrows if your German’s as rubbish as mine!

This lovely little tray-packing puzzle with a twist came as a gift from my mate Louis on a recent trip to Puzzling Times HQ. 

Eight little pieces pack trivially into the tray – the task is to do that in such a way that 4 arrows are simultaneously visible.

Now a little fiddling around with the pieces will convince you that having certain combinations of pieces next to one another will indeed produce an arrow between them… and if you extend the idea a little, you can generally get a few arrows going at the same time – however, you do invariably find yourself ending up with an odd piece or two that simply won’t deliver that final arrow you desire. 

It’s a good 10-minute puzzle, but it does make you think once or twice – until the penny finally drops and the four arrows duly appear exactly where you wanted them to be. 

Cute puzzle as it’s a bit out of the ordinary – it’s not just a tray-packing puzzle… and it’s available wherever you’d normally buy your Siebenstein puzzles from.