Pizzuzzles in the hizzouse!

March 1, 2013 1:44 PM

Puzzle World is a repository of puzzle awesomeness. In includes types of puzzles (including a great selection of burr puzzles), puzzle designers, a staggering index of puzzles, and a plethora of puzzling resources. For the most committed puzzle pursuer, Puzzle World also hosts a digital reprint of Stewart Coffin's seminal work The Puzzling World of Polyhedral Dissections (previously). Bonus: sliding block puzzles!
posted by slogger (9 comments total)

The Impossible Objects category is just scrambling my little brain.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 2:30 PM on March 1, 2013

Right? I wish there was video of someone actually making this or something like it. I understand how it's done in a general sense, but the fact that people actually manage to do it is still astonishing.
posted by rifflesby at 6:38 PM on March 1, 2013

I don't understand how it's done in the general sense; would you be able to explain it? For some reason the ball in the cage is most interesting to me but how do any of them work? How do you get a functional Rubik's cube inside a glass bottle?

A lot of this stuff is awesome; I've just spent about half an hour learning about puzzle vessels. Thanks!
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:15 PM on March 1, 2013

I gather that it's basically the same thing as doing a ship in a bottle, just with even more finesse. A rubik's cube can be disassembled into the individual cubes and reassembled inside with long tweezers; a deck of cards is done by unfolding the box, rolling it into a tube, refolding it inside the bottle, then putting the cards into it one by one.

But then you get into things that are basically the same situation but must take mind-boggling patience -- Like, the only way I can think of to have the cellophane wrapper still on the deck of cards is to slit open the bottom of it, slide the deck out, and then put it back on and reglue it at the end of the process. But I sure can't imagine actually having to do it! Same with those huge monkey's fist knots -- I can tie a monkey's fist, but no way can I do it with basically a pair of chopsticks in each hand!
posted by rifflesby at 7:40 PM on March 1, 2013 [1 favorite]

For some reason the ball in the cage is most interesting to me but how do any of them work?

If you put wood into boiling water it eventually becomes soft enough to stretch, compress, or bend into new shapes. Another method is to use forced steam and hot bending irons. In general it's called "heat bending".
posted by ceribus peribus at 7:59 PM on March 1, 2013

I love the content, but the site! My god, are those frames? Form = content, sort of. I love puzzles-- I worked for the company mentioned here, Tavern Puzzles, for many years.
posted by exlotuseater at 8:00 PM on March 1, 2013

Okay, those make sense -- what about the tennis balls? I don't see as easy a way to disassemble those.
posted by Mrs. Pterodactyl at 7:34 AM on March 2, 2013

Tennis balls are hollow (maybe not all of them, but the kind in the jar would be). Carefully make a pinprick sized hole with a needle, squeeze & roll up the ball, reinflate it in the jar, and finally comb the fuzz to obscure the hole.

Baseballs are more of a challenge - I think they actually restuff and resew them.
posted by ceribus peribus at 10:48 AM on March 2, 2013

How awesome, exlotuseater. Disentanglement puzzles are my favorite kind of mechanical puzzles, and I have many of the Tavern Puzzles line.
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 2:46 PM on March 4, 2013