I recently received this puzzle and when I looked it up at Vaclav’s website I was pleasantly surprised to find more info via a PDF which I have incorporated into this blog post.
“Here are puzzles from my new HoWeDia project. More info about it you can find on my website under Download section. All this puzzles has 8 pieces. For every puzzle there are multiple goals with different levels of difficulty. You can use 4, 6 or 8 pieces based on the challenge at hand. All the pieces are labeled A, B, C,...H. These markings are a great aid to the solver in identifying the pieces. Any way it is not help for solution.
A few years ago I had to prepare a couple of puzzles for a public event. This was a workshop that also included children. After doing a few more similar events, it led me to design a new series of puzzles with various goals for several levels of difficulty. To make these puzzles more fun and interesting especially for children, I Included simpler challenges with fewer pieces and used different kinds of wood and made them also in bigger sizes.
Transformations of puzzles
As a starting-point I took some of my older, favourite puzzles: Eight Houses, Three Wedges and DIAGRA [1] (see Figure 1, left. These puzzles have a 2x2x2-cube as a goal, and they have eight different pieces. The three original puzzles have a right-angled triangle as a distinctive, connecting element in them. And pieces are formed by connecting this triangle to the rest of the cube in different orientations.
By substituting the triangular connection by a "pin and hole" connection (see Figure 1, middle) I created new pieces based on the three mentioned puzzles. My new, or maybe just innovated, puzzles are named: Akaho, Akawe and Akadia. The names refer to the original puzzles. For every puzzle there are multiple goals with different levels of difficulty. You can use 4, 6 or 8 pieces based on the challenge at hand. See Figure 4 for the respective pieces. I think the change from Diagra to Akadia is the most impressive and few people can see the similarity with the original.
Substituting the triangular- by a "pin and hole" connection was the transformation that generated novel designs. So my guess was that substituting the triangular- by a geometry based on blocks (with right angles) should generate new designs as well (see Figure 1, right). This is how Coverho, Coverwe and Coverdia were created. I found Coverho really interesting because contrary to the original pieces from Eight Houses, in the new pieces the geometry obscures the composing subparts. Again see Figure 4 for the respective pieces.
Puzzles in sizes XS-XXL
I enjoyed making these changes. I went from a "triangular" version to a "pin and hole" version and eventually to a version with blocks. I commercially produced the puzzles in several sizes (XS-XXL), with individual pieces ranging from 2.5 cm to 8 cm (see figure 2) and the XS size packed in a wooden box. For reference the pieces are labeled A, B, C,..H. These markings are a great aid to the solver in identifying the pieces. I also made some unusual bigger versions. One of them for my daughter Ivana where every piece is 30 cm (see Figure 3) . These can be used for sitting or as small tables when 4 pieces are used.
Ivana's Puzzle-Tables
This HoWeDia-project was very satisfying, not only did I create several new and challenging puzzles, but I was also able to present my daughter with unique furnature for her new house!”
Please note: Vaclav Obsivac & Theo Geerinck - ‘Half-Cube Puzzles’ from CFF 77 pages 8-12 November 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment