6 Piece burrs don't have to be boring!

Arch Burr

First of all let me make an apology in advance - a large part of this post was written at 4am on my phone - for some reason I was absolutely wide awake! Actually, when I say for some reason, it may well have something to do with Mrs S sleeping flat on her back in a star shaped configuration at about 90 decibels, leaving me a very narrow strip of bed! Plus I also had a very large clump of cats noisily purring on my chest. So lack of sleep and inability to breathe may cause more than the usual amount of nonsense today!

I have been topping up my now rather extensive collection of wire and string disentanglement puzzles recently from Puzzle Master's huge selection. But I'm aware that not all of you like to do the really complex ones and many don't really like disentanglements so now I'll review a rather unusual burr puzzle that I found in their Metal puzzle collection. I don't often review burrs because apart from the workmanship and how many moves, there is little to say about them. But here I have something rather different!

I have seen this brought along to a Midlands Puzzle Party a few times and each time I've watched a success and a rather nice grin on someone's face. I have never had a chance to try it so ordered it from Puzzle Master. It is certainly very different from most burrs you will see more commonly (even if it is "just" another 6 piece burr). It doesn't seem to be available just now on the Puzzle Master site but I'm sure you can find it online somewhere. Unfortunately because it no longer appears on their site I can't tell you how they rated its difficulty - the Puzzle Master Amazon web store says that it is an 8 on their 5-10 point scale. I would suggest that is more of a 7. I think that it is about $14 when they get it back in stock.

It was designed by the amazing Oskar van Deventer and manufactured by Bits and Pieces. I have heard a huge number of complaints about the dreadful quality of puzzles from them both in terms of the puzzle fit but also the look being very poorly finished. This image begins very early with the packaging - it is just a plain white cardboard box and the puzzle is shrink wrapped inside - not the most enticing of packages! Taking it out of the wrapping reveals a black and silver puzzle with quite a few marks on it - also disappointing. Dimensions are: 8 x 6.5 x 5.4 cm - it feels nice and solid. The object of this puzzle, once taken apart, is to assemble the silver and black arches into a complete selt-standing burr. The solution is provided as a leaflet in the box but I would hope you don't need it - it can also been downloaded from here.

Now let me say that despite all the initial negatives, this is a really great puzzle! Well worthy of Oskar's name and certainly good value for money!

Initial fiddling reveals that this is a level 1 burr, there is a solid key piece which slides out and unlocks the later moves. Even this initial movement is pleasant as the arched pieces slide nicely around each other. Now having said earlier that this is a 6 piece burr, I should qualify this that this is correct only as far as the number of pieces is concerned - a little playing quickly gives the realisation that this is actually two 6 piece burrs that interlock with each other at each end because the arched pieces force them to meet in 2 places! Much more interesting than the initial impression.

I dismantled it fairly easily - in fact Mrs S actually dismantled it too! She even enjoyed doing so! But not enough to attempt to put it back together. The disassembly is really not the puzzling part - you quite quickly slide out the first 3 pieces and the final 3 sort of collapse at that point. They all look fairly similar!

6 Arches - all notched differently

I was careful to pay attention to which were the final 3 pieces and then just scrambled them up and left it for about 1/2 hour. The reassembly was a very pleasant little challenge - it took me about 20 minutes of fiddling and was far from laborious. It is possible to work out which piece goes where by logical deduction and luckily the pieces are symmetrical. I would probably say that it took me about 30 mins and just like at the Midlands puzzle parties, I too had a big grin on my face after having solved it.

This one is definitely worth buying, I have been using mine as a little worry bead now for several days and it is quite soothing to play with - either badger the lovely guys at Puzzle Master to get it back in stock, find it on eBay or risk buying it direct form Bits and Pieces.

Now if more unusual burrs do interest you (ones that are a small challenge but not obscenely difficult) then I can heartily recommend the current bunch being sold by Eric Fuller at Cubic Dissection. These are considerably more expensive than the cheaper mass produced puzzles but are well worth the money for the tremendous craftsmanship. Eric still has a few of the constrained burrs left - designed by Logan Kleinwaks, they are a rather nice twist on the standard 6 piece burr. they look just like standard 6 piece burrs but they have been extended and inserted into various frames. Here are mine:

Bookend Burr	Cornered Burr
Clamped Burr	Looped Burr

So far I have only solved the first one and loved it - the others get progressively harder but never too bad. There are still just a few available.

Also you might consider a new double burr also designed by Logan Kleinwaks called Fusion. I bought my copy from Arteludes in France but Eric has made a very reasonably priced version too. This is a phenomenally fun puzzle involving solving 2 6 piece burrs at once. There are a couple of tricky moves in it. Well worth buying.

Fusion - my version by Maurice Vigouroux

So go to Cubic dissection if you are interested but be quick whilst stocks last (the constrained burrs are almost sold out) - I don't get any kick backs!!