MINIMA-FLOP

Designer: Dr. Volker Latussek

This puzzle measures: 57 mm x 41 mm x 41 mm

Material: Purpleheart/Saman

Dr. Volker Latussek wrote about it: 
“By the way, I want to talk to you about something,” Frederic Boucher said to me in the summer of 2024, asking if I would like to contribute a puzzle to his MINIMA SERIES. At the time, I was deeply immersed in working on my FLOP SERIES, so I suggested a MINIMA FLOP. I was confident that I would come up with something suitable despite the strict requirement of a 2x2x3 box. It quickly became clear to me that it had to be a four-piece puzzle consisting of identical pieces. The pieces could only be V-shaped. Now, the task remained of finding the right openings. And, to suit a FLOP, as many openings as possible with dimensions of 1.5×1. To my surprise, there were five of these openings, two of which I had to combine. This was the only way I could meet the requirements. MINIMA-FLOP is a nice experiment within MINIMA and FLOP. Frederic wrote to me that he had a lot of fun with it. I wish the same for you.”

Kevin Sadler wrote about it:
“Yes, we cannot have a Pelikan release without an incredible challenge from Dr Volker Latussek! This one takes the amazing Minima designs from Frederic Boucher and adds a certain Latussek flair to it. The Minima Flop has been gorgeously created using Purpleheart and Saman (also known as Monkeypod). It is simply stunning. The puzzle arrives in a specific transport configuration that Volker always designs and the initial challenge is to take the pieces out – this will give you at least an idea of the types of moves that are possible with this box and pieces. There are 4 cornered triominoes to fit into the usual 2x2x3 space. It looks like it should be a simple challenge – Volker has even given us 4 really quite large holes in 4 of the faces. One of those holes is huge but not big enough to place a piece inside on its side. 
 
The name gives us a clue about part of the challenge – Minima Flop will have rotational moves like the other Flop puzzles multiple times during the solution. This gives the puzzler a few obvious things to try having some memory of what has been done before but there really isn’t much space inside and as soon as one other piece has been placed, the flop move that you really want to try gets blocked almost immediately. This is time to think© and work out what is needed. The name and the simplicity of the pieces leads you astray and you need to discard your preconceptions and start from scratch. I spent a long time trying to do what I had learned in previous releases and failed before I was forced to think again. Unlike Frederic, Volker doesn’t give you any useful bevels or angles on the pieces. There are no small holes in the box panels. It requires multiple rotational moves to get the pieces inside and the solution is just beautiful.”