Fudou

Designer: Frederic Boucher

This puzzle measures: 100 mm x 100 mm x 7 mm

Material: Bubinga

Frederic Boucher wrote about it:
“FUDOU is a Japanese word meaning ‘immobility’. As the name suggests, it is an anti-slide packing puzzle. As you can see, there is a notch on every piece except the square one. This is an important clue, yet finding the correct configuration is not as simple as it might seem…”

Kevin Sadler wrote about it:
“Yes, another incredibly tough challenge by the brilliant Frederic Boucher. I had to ask Jakub what the aim was as it wasn’t clear to me initially. The Bubinga pieces arrived all nicely packed in the tray and I wondered whether we had to create some sort of structure that would stand up. I should have realised that this had a much simpler premise – the aim is to pack all the pieces into the tray in such a way that none of them are able to slide around. The triangular notches cut into most of them will allow them into interlock at 45º angles to each other and will ensure that they can be placed against the wall of the tray to prevent sliding. i.e. pack them into the tray but not orthogonally – simple? Hell, no!
 
I am terrible at anti-slide puzzles. I have managed to find a few very interesting ways the pieces can interact. The aim seems to be to find which pieces will fit together so that their corners reach the sides of the tray and then won’t move if others are matched up to do the same. There must be a logical way of thinking about these but I have no skills in this sort of puzzle. It is a fun thing to play with but for me, I have made almost no progress in the 2 weeks that I have been playing.
 
For you clever puzzle enthusiasts this should be a massive challenge. Anything from Frederic is going to be very rewarding.”