It Pains Me To Say It...

You Should Probably Trust Allard

I couldn't resist it - the first 12 Minima puzzles from Tye Stahly

Yes, I bought them! After Allard showed them off several months ago and waxed lyrical about them, I couldn't resist. Of course, the fact that these were designed by Frederic Boucher was of critical importance - he is brilliant! I was gutted to hear from Tye that they were out of stock and he had no plans to make any more due to the sheer amount of work that goes into them. I had to accept it but asked that I be kept on a list that if he ever does change his mind then I can be considered for them. It seems that Tye uses slave labour to make them - the present wife gets forced periodically to work at puzzle production! She does seem to have some say in the matter and maybe he is as frightened of his Mrs S as I am of mine. Luckily for me, she said that she would consider making another batch a few weeks ago and I immediately PayPalled herhim some dollars and they flew across the pond very quickly thereafter. Yay!

These are miniature puzzles - if you have very big fat fingers then they might not be for you but I am a delicate flower with fine fingers and they are perfect (if not a little fiddly). The diminutive size keeps the price down a bit, thank goodness! 

Minima 1

They don't look like much - they are all a 3x2x2 box with various shapes of pieces to be packed inside with all the holes in the box ending up filled (rotations are allowed). They really don't look like much - the pieces that you can see above on the M1 are pretty simple but don't be deceived, they can be a tremendous challenge. Some of the holes are not at one of the whole voxel position and this is deliberate. It should make you think© - why put a hole in such a place? The answer - to facilitate a particular rotational move. Brilliant fun! I have spent a week working on the first 4 and have really struggled at times. At the beginning of the week, during an on-line ½ day team meeting, I worked my way through the first 3 (much to the amusement of several colleagues). 

Usually with packing puzzles from Osanori-san or Alexander-san I start assembling the shape outside the box and work out how to assemble the shape through the limited opening but with these, the final shape is so simple that it didn't seem to help. The limited entry-hole also wasn't a help as the knowledge of complex rotations meant that the ability to insert only one way had no bearing on the final positions. With every single one of them I had to use a completely different approach - I needed to look at the box first and then insert a piece and see how the odd hole positions allowed me to rotate the piece. I did this with each of the pieces to find what was possible and then only after that use the knowledge to assemble the puzzle in the box.

Really fun challenge!

I carried on like this during my meeting working them out one at a time. 

Minima 2 was probably the easiest

The fun thing is that I have absolutely no recollection of how I had done them. During the meeting I managed the first 3 and took them apart again each time. Little fist pump of success each time and I put it away. Of course, a puzzle is not solved until it is repeatedly solved. 

Such fun!

To my shame, I found that I was completely unable to do them again with any speed despite having done them only 24 hours earlier. Wow! This means that they have longevity and will be great for a collection being able to bamboozle others and also yourself repeatedly.

It's odd how they never look difficult but really are

By the time I got to the Minima 3, I felt that I was on a roll and maybe learning some techniques. This one was a challenge but solved quicker that the previous two.

Another solved within my meeting
Maybe I should have been paying more attention?

The last I tried that day

The final one I worked on was the Minima 4 and I failed. It looks really simple with only planar pieces but it seems to be a significant challenge. The planar pieces do mean that there are more possible 2x2x3 assemblies but the tetromino is very restricted in the way it can be inserted and I quickly established that it was impossible to rotate it within the box. This leaves the rotations being for the other smaller pieces. The interesting thing here is the holes that facilitate the rotations. There are 2 special holes being just slots that are off centre. It took me several days to work out the various ways that the pieces could be rotated and surprisingly they were still quite restricted within the despite their simple shapes.

The solution to the Minima 4 took me an extra 3 days! Blush. 

3 days of work/play

These puzzles are just amazing! I cannot wait to start work on the rest but I now have to take a break and work my way through the latest of the Pelikan puzzles that I have received (keep your bank balances full for them because they look amazing!

If you get a chance to play with the Minima puzzles then you definitely should. I personally think that the puzzle community should harangue Tye and his Mrs S to make a whole bunch more. They are terrific value and really fun puzzles. Thank you Mrs S, Tye and Frederic for this fabulous opportunity.