Lost Puzzles

[maztec]

Have you ever had a puzzle that you really enjoyed? Perhaps years ago? And it broke or was lost, so you no longer have it? And you can no longer remember what it was called?

Okay, maybe you haven't, but I sure have.

When I was a kid, I had a puzzle that had eight sticks poking out of it in the center. The objective was to move them from the center of the round plastic column that you held in your hand. So they were along the outside instead of the inside. Then, of course, to do the reverse and return them to the center. It was a cute, but simple puzzle if you knew how to count in binary. I figured it out in about 30 minutes, but I loved it. I finally loaned it to a friend at school who really wanted to play with it. Needles to say, a week later he was no longer my friend, as he had smashed it to pieces with a hammer because it was "broke and stupid".

Anyone have any idea what this puzzle was called? Or played with it themselves?

[LOSTpuzzle]

This what you talking about maztec?
http://www.officeplayground.com/Product ... 10&index=0

Many years ago I had a Masterball which I lost in one of my moves. Found it on eBay about a year ago.

BTW, love the title

[maztec]

Nope! Definitely not it.

Let me see if I can describe it:

You have a cylinder that is about 6" in diameter and 4" tall. It has a series of 8 pins that each have a slot they can theoretically run back and forth in. They start with all the pins in either the outside or inside (I can't remember which, let's assume outside). From there your goal is to manipulate the pins so that they all move to the center/inside from the outside edge. That is, they run along the radius of the puzzle from the outside edge to an inner edge where there is a dimple marking the center.

It would almost be like taking a short CD tower and sticking 8 slots in the top radially and then putting pins in them that can move from the outside ring to the inside ring and back. Each pin could only move one way either to the outside or back to the inside. It took 128 moves (iirc) to move them all from the outside to the inside and visa versa.

[mhuti]

If this is it you can thank Rob @ rob's puzzle page. I also had one in the past, sigh... childhood can be very destructive! http://home.comcast.net/~stegmann/allother.htm Behold the binary code puzzle, difficult to find anywhere now, I think many must have been broken through the years.

The Brain puzzle.
The pegs are numbered 1 through 8 - peg 1 acts as the 1 bit, or column 0. Peg 2 acts as the 2 bit, or column 1. Peg 3 acts as the 4 bit, or column 2, and so forth. When a peg is pushed in towards the puzzle center, it has a value of 0; when the peg is outwards so that the corresponding flange is extended, it has a value of 1. The mechanism ensures that no peg can be moved either in or out until only the peg immediately lower than it is out and all other lower pegs are in. This is the "prime directive" for this puzzle and its relations, and can be re-stated as "No bit can toggle unless its immediate predecessor is 1 and all other predecessors are 0."

[Paradox]

If I remember correctly those puzzles can still be bought from Mag Nif. I'm not at the computer at the minute though so I can't check.

[maztec]

Cool! That's it, good find Mhuti! Big thanks to Rob .

Interesting, I like the look of the "SPIN OUT" puzzle next to it. Good to see someone else had "The Brain" puzzle as a kid. It's one of the first puzzles that I ever finished that left me with lasting sense of accomplishment and pride. What is dumb about that is how easy of a puzzle it really was and how, in some ways, it no longer fits my definition of what a puzzle really is. A definition which is rather ambiguous, but a lot of things fall under some category of trick as apposed to puzzle for me.


So, anyone else lose a puzzle at some point? Especially one where they've lost the name and are interested in recovering that.

[mhuti]

I have a Spinout puzzle and it is a good puzzle, there is an elephant version available from a German source (I'll look for the link if you want).

I have checked Paradox's link to Mag Nif and there does appear to be a version of The Brain puzzle available from that source. This is good news for you living in the USA but probably not so good for me in the UK as very few US suppliers sell internationally. I will contact them though, thanks for that Paradox (ever hopeful). The last one I obtained via ebay some time ago, I did not have one as a child though I was merely commenting on your childhood loss (maztec). Mine was lost to a previous relationship and relocation, enough said.

I like the look of the Cerebral Rings puzzle at Mag Nif as well, it looks interesting...

[maztec]

I have a Spinout puzzle and it is a good puzzle, there is an elephant version available from a German source (I'll look for the link if you want).

I have checked Paradox's link to Mag Nif and there does appear to be a version of The Brain puzzle available from that source. This is good news for you living in the USA but probably not so good for me in the UK as very few US suppliers sell internationally. I will contact them though, thanks for that Paradox (ever hopeful). The last one I obtained via ebay some time ago, I did not have one as a child though I was merely commenting on your childhood loss (maztec). Mine was lost to a previous relationship and relocation, enough said.

I like the look of the Cerebral Rings puzzle at Mag Nif as well, it looks interesting...

Wasn't meaning to limit to childhood losses.

I'll keep my eye open for the spinout. It falls in the category of puzzles I'd like to play around with, but probably not own. I'm not much of a collector. Honestly, I put a limit on puzzles and any type of entertainment. If I cannot hold me for at least X hours and $3/hr, I just don't buy it anymore.

[mhuti]

If I cannot hold me for at least X hours and $3/hr, I just don't buy it anymore.

That's a tough ratio given that every puzzle you attempt gives you more experience and the ability to solve the next puzzle quicker. I agree with you that there are MANY puzzles out there that are little more than tricks but I don't know that I could be so prescriptive. I do limit (loosely) the size of puzzles I collect. Puzzles that can be easily manipulated in the hand are more attractive to me, and I prefer take apart puzzles. Yes I was the child that took all his toys apart to see how they worked... and then could not put them back together so that the worked as new (naughty, naughty).

[maztec]

Yes, but that ratio saves me a lot of money.

Maybe if/when I have steadier cash flow, I'll consider burning some on having more puzzles around. But, as it stands, my wife just gave me "the look" when I suggested buying a $2.00 scratchboard, because I was wanting to play around with it. :\ So much for a second career as an artist.

I was the kid that took all his toys apart and then combined them to make new toys that didn't do what the original toys were intended to do at all.