Tricklock 5

Trick Lock 5

A few weeks ago I reviewed Tricklock 4 and apart from its simplicity I quite liked it for its rather pleasant Aha! moment. I received Tricklock 5 in the same package with it but thought I would save it for a while. They came from Puzzle Master and are the last 2 in a series of 5.

They arrive in the Puzzle Master clam shell package and are a really quite nice looking (and rather large - 6.6 x 10.3 x 2.8cm). This one has some kind of bird on the front - possibly a phoenix and a keyhole below it. This is heavy - I was told in no uncertain terms to take it out of our new kitchen to play with it because she didn't want it falling on our nice new tiled floor and breaking a tile!! You should avoid dropping it on your foot.

It has been reviewed by Brian here and Neil here.

They provide the simple instructions to open and close the lock. They do not include a solution but if you want one then it can be downloaded here - you shouldn't need it. Puzzle Master rate this as 5 out of 10 (Easy) and I agree with that.

I do like my puzzle locks and am always keen to get more. Unfortunately they tend to be quite expensive and most are out of my league. Jerry, for example, owns and is blogging about, the entire series of Popplocks which must have cost him an absolute fortune. This series of locks are much much cheaper (approx $30 each) and consequently do not have the perfect finish that you get from the more individualised puzzle locks but they are still quite nice to own and solve. Two identical keys are provided.

As with all of these the first thing you do (after examining it) is insert the key in and try to turn it. You have to, don't you? Of course, nothing happens, the key barely moves more than a few degrees. So, further investigation is needed! I'm afraid I managed to open this one after less than 60 seconds! I had a fiddle, found something and played with it and it was open. Basically there are only 2 processes to the solution, none of which is hard to find. This is the first of my locks that I am disappointed with! It's puzzle value is very poor. I did download the solution - but mainly because I couldn't believe it was so simple to open. This is only suitable for a complete beginner or someone who has to collect the whole series. Personally, I would go for a different one in the series. Brian seemed to like it (rating it number 2 of the 5) as did Neil (rating it the best) but I personally was quite disappointed - I would get number 4 but not really this one unless you wanted the whole set.