Three from Logika

Today was a puzzling day.  No wait, it was a working day-testing again. Well, I can only stand so much of that before I start to go stir crazy and since it was a 8-5:30 day of it, I grabbed a wheely bag, tossed in the rest of my  marking, a few papers I was working on and 6 puzzles!  I can't say I was bored now can I?

This is the first post on a number of puzzles I picked up from PuzzleMaster.  (The others will probably come later in the week)

These 3 puzzles are all made by Logika Spiele out of Germany.  I'm going to freely admit to stealing the photos from PuzzleMaster, because I can't seem to get my old computer to recognize my phone tonight and I can't be bothered to start up my laptop (how's that for admitting laziness-but my excuse is that 9 1/2 hours of testing)  Besides, I'm linking to the site so I'm sure Alan and Leon won't mind too much.

First up Herzpuzzle.  This one is 3 hearts nicely sized, around the size of my palm for the big ones and the little ones are around the size of my thumb joints. :)  That tells you all a lot doesn't it?  This and the next puzzle, 2 disk puzzle, were a sad disappointment for me.  I had them in my hand when a kid walked in the room, and rather than put them back on the table, I kind of left them in my lap and 'adjusted the positions of the pieces simply by feel.  Oops!  One heart in place.  Must have been a fluke so I tried it with the second heart.  Nope, no fluke.  This puzzle took less than 4 minutes of not even looking to solve!

Well nuts!  On to the 2 disk puzzle then.  And another bust.  This one I did visually.  It took all of 30 seconds to solve.  I could see by one of the bumpy bits and one of the holes that this wouldn't work in the way as one would expect.  I tried what I thought was needed and it was.  For me, it was a real let down.  But hey, for $4CAD each, you can't go wrong.  The only problem or complaint I have with these is the packaging. Both come in a ziplock baggie with no padding.  When I opened the box the other day, the heart had a bump missing.  Thankfully it's not a needed bump or I would have been really upset.

Last up tonight is quadrospass.  This one was pretty neat.  It is 4 pieces each with a different cut pattern on the outside.  The object is to put the pieces into the carved out top.  I like it because once you solve the puzzle, it's like it has its own case.  You can take it with you everywhere you go for instant puzzling fun-or some other infomercial type speal. Ok, so this one took a bit longer than the previous two.  It sat on the table in front of me through 3 candidates (14 minutes @ if you are wondering) and I just stared at it out of the corner of my eye. I would never be so unprofessional that I would actually look at a puzzle while a candidate was in the room.  When that last candidate walked out, I had managed to sideways stare long enough that it was a piece of cake-or plastic maybe-to put it together. This one was fun.  I do wish I had purchased the 3 piece one at the same time.  Ah well, another order it will have to be I guess.

All in all, I would recomend these puzzles for ones that you could use to torture your friends with.  They look deceptively easy, and yet, the non-puzzler would have problems with them I'm sure.

Thanks to the lads over at PuzzleMaster for letting me steal the photos tonight ;)