This group page shows some burr puzzles with something special to them. Most of them look like traditional 18 pieces burrs, but actually they are not: They contain one or two extra pieces, and these extra pieces are animal shaped and lend their names to the respective puzzles.
It all started with a puzzle created by Alfons Eyckmans: "Free the monkeys" contains two monkey shaped extra pieces. The following ones were also created by Alfons: one with a gorilla piece, a bit bigger than the monkey pieces, and then a whole series containing several variations of hellhounds, the "Devil's Pets". This idea was adapted by a second designer, Stephan Baumegger, who created a burr with a big snake in it. All these burrs so far have two things in common: Based on the traditional 18 pieces burrs scheme, and because the animal pieces are quite big, they only move just when they come out of the puzzle, not before. The latest invention in this group is a 12 piece burr containing a camel piece. The 12 piece burr shape has been used by Alfons earlier already to hide some smaller 3- or 4-piece burrs in it and seems to offer a lot of room. Although the camel is quite big, it moves a lot during the solution.
In the following, I will review these "Animal Burrs", so beware: there may be some spoilers for the solution. For each puzzle, a picture of the animal piece is shown, and also a picture showing how the animal piece is built into the burr. Click on these pictures for bigger versions.
These reviews are result of my recent solving of these puzzles. All disassembled without the help of Burr-Tools and all of them have been great fun to play with. They are behaving completely different, even within the series. A big thanks to Alfons and Stephan for designing these puzzles.
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This latest addition is a 12 pieces burr with two different pieces in it. One is the devil and one his pet, so we finally are going to meet the master of all the pets presented before (or should we rather leave him locked into this burr?). This beautiful level 19 burr — don't you think the purple heart color matches the devil topic well? — extends many known concepts in this group:
From Stephan's Camelride and also Alfons' 12 Bastards it inherits this 12 piece burr outer shape with additional pieces inside. From Save the Gorilla it inherits the gorilla figure (with a small modification) sitting staticly in the puzzlei until it is removed. From the Devil's Pets puzzles the pet shape of course, and also from Camelride the agility of this piece, moving through the puzzle during the solution. Like in Dirty Dozen it is also pushed with other pieces. The puzzle solves nicely and removing the first piece is quite difficult for only 19 moves. Among those moves are some typical moves for such a 12 piece burr, where the pieces heavily interlock while protruding from the puzzle, and some back and forth move sequences. The most interesting feat is what the pet piece does: This animal seems to have some free energy and is moving a lot during the solution, already four moves until the first piece comes out. In these moves, the pet piece is always pushed by others to move. When it comes to the third pet move, you better tilt the puzzle into the right orientation and carefully align the animal, or it will put its claws into the ground to resist. After the first piece has been removed, there are also moves where the pets moves on its own, unlocking more moves of other pieces. When you have removed most of the burr pieces, you will also be able to remove the pet and then also its master. The devil piece is securely locked into place until this moment and won't budge. Overall, this puzzle has some complex move sequences and as the puzzle is very well made and has perfect alignment, they are not obvious to find. With its level 19 and the move sequences for complete disassembly it is not too difficult to solve for an expert, but a nice little challenge, especially if you have some training on this topic like I did. It is a nice addition to the group with some interesting concepts! |
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