MINIMA-ZE 3

Designer: Frederic Boucher

This puzzle measures: 52 mm x 37 mm x 37 mm

Material: Limba/Wenge

Frederic Boucher wrote about it:
“Get the ball out of the box. Using gravity, use the eight holes surrounding the box to prevent certain pieces from moving. This is the key to solving this third opus.”

Kevin Sadler wrote about it:
“Number 3 in the series has a Limba box and Wenge pieces. It looks rather complex by the presence of a full circumferential belt of holes which are there to help you control the pieces by squeezing fingertips through to prevent parts from moving when you don’t want them to. Again, the aim is to remove the silver ball bearing from the puzzle (it is visible through a very small hole in the back wall of the box). 
 
The clue to the presence of a drilled pathway comes when you manipulate the internal pieces to find that the single piece covering the square hole pokes out with a cavity in it, obviously to deliver the ball bearing to you. There is no other part of the internal maze visible inside and you are expected to build an internal visualisation of the maze by listening to the pieces move and using gravity to control the movement of pieces and ball whilst using your fingers to control which blocks can move.
 
For 2 hours today I have been playing with this and the ball was lost inside. I had no idea where it was and could not return it back to the beginning. Panic began to set in. Time to put it down and think©. That didn’t work for me so I fiddled with it blindly and returned it to the beginning. After the palpitations had settled, I tried again and suddenly the ball was out. Having taken the photo of it, I now have to return it to the beginning and I am not entirely sure how to go about it. I think I will need to draw a picture of the shapes and where I think the holes/paths might be.”