Hooks

Designer: Alfons Eyckmans

This puzzle measures: 84 mm x 84 mm x 96 mm

Material: depends on product variant below

Kevin Sadler wrote about it:

“I am always delighted when a Pelikan release includes something from Alfons Eyckmans. There are two versions of this beauty – one made from Wenge & Cherry and another from Bubinga & Cherry – they are gorgeous! Alfons is the absolute master of interesting burr design. Many people are not keen on burrs and cannot understand why I (or anyone else) love them. I always say that it is like exploring a maze that changes as you work your way through. Often there are hidden pathways that are tough to find and sometimes blind alleys or loops. I do agree that many of the very high level burrs are beyond most human’s abilities to follow but this is where Alfons is a master…the designs are always interesting and fun to explore. The Hooks burr is one of my favourite types – a caged 6 piece burr which takes the idea of a standard burr and extends it. The cage is incomplete and looks like it should not make a huge difference and the pieces are 3x2x7 voxels which allows for much more interesting interaction. There are a few moves possible early on and no long blind alleys. Quite quickly some complex fun compound multi-piece moves occur and this opens up even more possibilities. Process seems swift until suddenly it’s not. After 11 moves, I was stuck and could find no way to progress. I must have either missed something along the way or be missing something crucial to progress on my existing path. I got stuck here for a few hours going back and forth – at least it was creating a muscle memory to help with the reassembly. With only 6 pieces and such an open frame/cage it is possible to see inside the maze quite well. Eventually after multiple failed attempts I realised that I had left a single piece in the wrong position and it had blocked the next move. Having worked that out, the progression was fast and fun and the first piece was removed after a total of 18 moves. The remaining pieces remain stable in the frame for the rest of the disassembly. Having spent so long searching for the pathway, I was able to reassemble it without help but making a Burrtools file is always fun. I think that most burr aficionados should be able to reassemble this without help.”