Looking Back to 2023
Hello, puzzle lovers!
It's time to look back at what puzzles released this year.
We Have released the following 8 kinds of new mechanical puzzles in 2023.
5th March - Grooved 6 Board Burr #7 and 6BB Oddly Extended Version #02
Grooved 6 Board Burr #7 is one of the most challenging puzzles to solve. It has a unique solution in a relatively small number of 91 assemblies. Many of them also had trouble disassembling the burr puzzles. Hence, this puzzle has the most requests to send the solution file generated by Burr Tools. If you would like to challenge it, we still have some stocks.
6BB OEV #02 has a unique level 28-9-3-1-2 solution, far beyond version #01, which was sold in 2021.
7th May - Strugg L
Strugg L is a puzzle where you take six pieces shaped like the L tetromino out of a box and then put them back in. It may look easy, but it takes 23 moves using only linear motions to remove the first piece from the state where all the pieces are in the box. Another feature of this puzzle is that there are grooves on the side of the box. These grooves make the puzzle difficult to solve.
18th June - Dial Case
Dial Case is the only sequential discovery puzzle we produced in 2023. It requires about 15 moves to open the box. The number of puzzles we produced was large considering our capacity, so we spent a considerable amount of time producing the puzzles. That was one of the reasons why fewer new puzzles were released the last year.
6th August - Scramb L
Scramb L consists of five pieces and a box, one less than Strugg L. The number of moves required to remove the first piece is 17, which is fewer than Strugg L, making it less challenging. However, this puzzle will surprise you with its bold movement of pieces.
After the release of the puzzle, Juno took about a month's vacation and visited Japan for the first time since 2011. While paddle boarding on a river near his hometown, his board capsized and he lost his glasses and mobile phone. It happened when he was about 12 kilometers down the river. Fortunately, it was near the end of his itinerary and his relatives were waiting to pick him up.
29th October - Neptune
Neptune is a relatively simple and easy burr puzzle, requiring only 6 moves to disassemble. At first glance, it may appear to be an ordinary 6-piece burr puzzle, but like many puzzles designed by Juno in the past, it has unique features that set it apart from typical burr puzzles. This puzzle was also reproduced by Cubicdissection and sold out immediately. It was the last puzzle product released by Cubicdissection. Their legend will continues in Ars Ænigmæ.
24th December - Gravitational Burr and Dual Meanders Box
Gravitational Burr may appear to be a regular 6-piece burr at first glance. A distinctive feature is the ball bearings inside. Because of the novelty of this puzzle, I (Yukari) personally thought it would attract more attention than the Dual Mendars Box.
Dual Meanders Box is an expanded version of the Meanders Box and is extremely challenging. In the Meanders Box, the top plate slid along with the four side pieces. In the Dual Meanders Box, not only does the top plate slide, but the bottom plate also slides. This puzzle was assembled and sold with the maximum number of moves, 506. As it takes a considerable amount of time to assemble, we made it possible to remove the pins (screws) that go back and forth between the maze-like grooves through holes drilled in the top and bottom plates.
Just after 24th December, a severe thunderstorm attacked our area, and the power was out for about one and a half days. Luckily, we could post the orders on 27th December. We would appreciate your understanding that the parcel might be delayed due to the damage caused by the thunderstorm.
A little information about our products in 2024
We plan to release something different from puzzles at the beginning of 2024. Sometimes, it's good to try something different.
A relatively big project is progressing in parallel. It will take lots of time to complete, so please wait patiently. Juno is still working together with our CNC routers on the last day of 2023 and New Year's Day 2024.
As in past years, we will also be releasing several puzzles. We often hear from our long-time customers that they have missed a puzzle release. The best way to find out about upcoming releases is to subscribe to our newsletter, so please do so.
We have appreciated lots of puzzle lovers playing with our puzzles over the past year.
We hope 2024 brings you lots of love and joy.
