Poolster

Designer: Alfons Eyckmans

This puzzle measures: 110 mm x 110 mm x 110 mm

Material: Merbau/Movingui

Kevin Sadler wrote about it:

“Poolster is the final puzzle by Alfons in the release by Pelikan. Made using Merbau (aka Borneo Teak) and Movingui (aka Nigerian Satinwood), it really confused me when it first arrived. I could not tell what it was as on arrival – the pieces with square holes had all slid outwards by one voxel making the puzzle look rather frightening. I then realised what had happened and squeezed them all together to achieve the correct shape that you can see above. I initially thought that the central sticks were a captive 3 piece burr but quickly realised that each central cube protruding from one face is connected by a complex arrangement to the square on the opposite face.

There is a lot of movement possible from the beginning with this puzzle and it will require a systemic approach to ensure that you try each set of possibilities as far as they can go before backtracking to the beginning and trying another one. I found the reinforcing dowels quite useful in keeping track of which pieces I had moved and in which direction. The puzzle remains remarkably stable through the initial exploration and removal of the first couple of pieces (level 10.10.7.2). After that it becomes easier as you can see everything that is happening inside. Once in pieces the impressive nature of the design and the craftsmanship becomes very apparent.
 
I think that very few puzzlers will be able to assemble this from scratch but I would be interested to hear if any of you manage this. I needed to resort to Burrtools again but it’s a fun one to put together. Like Hollow, this is probably best for more experienced puzzlers but if you like to collect variants of the 6 piece burr then this is a good one for you.”