Dog Catcher by Alfons Eyckmans

Alfons originally released this insanely difficult burr puzzle in 2017, and this was the first burr that I had to sneak a peak at the burrtools file to disassemble it!  

It’s essentially a 12 piece burr, however there’s a frame that restricts movement and three ‘Dog’ pieces packed inside that further hinder your progress.

Alfons drilled holes in the bottom of the frame and included a wire rod that you need to use for pushing/prodding the ‘Dogs’.

It’s a very clever puzzle and I tip my hat to Alfons on a job well done!

Here’s a brief description from Alfons:

“16 piece puzzle "Dog Catcher"

Level: 34.2.8.5.2.1.1.1.2

The dog are difficult to catch, they move 10 times”

BonsAi by Tamas Vanyo

This is another cool Ai inspired design by Tamas, there were several completely different looking designs in this series.

The particular one I have has a neat packing element in the base of the tree.  The branches (wires) and leaves (randomly split wood pieces) are seemingly arranged in a tree shape around the trunk (tree branches).  Once assembled it really does look like a ‘Bonsai’ tree!

I have also added pics from Facebook of the other designs as well as some drawings in this set.

BrAivo by Tamas Vanyo

Tamas has started to use Ai to influence his designs with this sliding tile puzzle being one of them.  I spotted this cool puzzle on his Facebook page and gladly accepted one once they were available.

As with any sliding tile puzzle once you begin moving pieces around your original goal quickly vanishes and confusion sets in.

I have added some pics of the building of this run of puzzles from Facebook.

Here’s a brief description from Tamas:

“AI inspired puzzle with sliding elements. The goal is to arrange elements to make a path from top left to bottom right.”

Going Square With Circles - Rob Hegge by Walter Hoppe

This is a neat tray design by Rob that was nicely laser cut by Walt.

I always found it hard to rate the difficulty level of tray puzzles, however this one wasn’t overly difficult but still a nice challenge.

Your goal is to fit all the pieces in the frame, this design was Rob’s IPP 28 Exchange in Prague.

C’est La Vie - Alexander Magyarics by Brian Menold at Wood Wonders

This apparent cube is a neat design by Alexander and Brian’s craftsmanship makes it a wonderful display piece as well.  My copy is crafted with Etimoe for the Box with Koto pieces, both are African exotic woods.  I had such a struggle with this one that I finally broke down and asked Alexander for the solution!  If you’re up for a challenge I highly recommend you grab one of these and give it a go.

Here’s Brian’s description:

“More of Alexander Magyarics' great packing puzzles. This one starts out easy and ends with 11 moves for the last piece to be inserted. No rotations, only linear moves. Of course you must fill all the openings and both sides have the same opening configuration mirrored.”