Monday 25 August 2014

Some nice puzzles

Here are some rather nice wooden puzzles found by Noel-Ann on recent trips.  I'm not commenting on solutions here!

Two Marbles

Two marbles - start position

Noel-Ann found this one in Texas.  The object is to get the two marbles into the holes simultaneously, like this:

Marbles puzzle solved

A Secret Box

The other puzzles were brought back from a market in the Dordogne. This, amazingly, is a secret box which can be opened by performing a series of operations.

Secret Box

A packing problem

This one starts off as a rather nice box with a red slab on top.

A packing puzzle box

When one slides the lid open one finds that it is packed full with more wooden blocks.  How can one add the red block and close the lid?

Inside the box

Another Packing Problem

This one has four pieces each composed of two overlapping slabs. Can one fit them into the tray?

Another packing problem