Bram Cohen ([info]bramcohen) wrote,
@ 2007-11-25 22:01:00
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Puzzle of mine in limited edition
Those of you who are into rare mechanical puzzles might be interested in that a puzzle of mine is going to be available in limited edition in the next few weeks. It's the 'unscrambled' which I did in collaboration with Oskar, and can only be made by 3d printing.

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[info]rik
2007-11-26 11:33 am UTC (link)
The problem I have now is that not only do I want to play with the puzzle, I also want to figure out how to make it without using 3D printing...

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[info]bramcohen
2007-11-26 12:04 pm UTC (link)
In principle you could do casts using the 3d printed pieces as masters, but good luck on that one, 'unscrambled' was designed with no regards to manufacturability whatsoever.

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[info]rik
2007-11-26 12:06 pm UTC (link)
Why would you design with regards to manufacturability? It's a puzzle. You design the puzzle first, and then you enjoy your own puzzle of working out how the hell to make it...

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So that's what happened to George Miller!
[info]misterajc
2007-11-26 02:09 pm UTC (link)
I see it's being made by George Miller. I used to work with him at Bank of America. He had a fancy title, but essentially he was the corporate hacker. New, fun, technology stuff tended to end up on his desk. Do say "Hi" from me.

Did you know he's a juggler, too? I passed seven clubs with him once, during our lunch hour, so we were both dressed up in three piece suits.

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Re: So that's what happened to George Miller!
[info]bramcohen
2007-11-26 10:32 pm UTC (link)
George Miller currently lives in the north bay and spends his days prototyping puzzles, skiing, and golfing.

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[info]scosol
2007-11-26 06:48 pm UTC (link)
Looks cool! And 3d printing is the shit- imagine it expanded to the biological realm ala 5th Element- I think it's closer than we think.

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Twisty Puzzle Construction Set
(Anonymous)
2007-11-26 09:31 pm UTC (link)
Has anyone written a program that allows you to build and play with twisty puzzles? Why build a physical version at all?

Also, what sorts of constraints might such software use as to the sorts of things that are allowed (e.g., physically plausible)?

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Re: Twisty Puzzle Construction Set
[info]bramcohen
2007-11-26 10:31 pm UTC (link)
The abstract versions of mechanical puzzles are generally not even vaguely compelling, while building an actual thing makes them very compelling.

Special-purpose software for studying twisty puzzles would be a lot of work for very limited utility, especially since the most interesting designs are based on violating the premises on which others are built. The best way to play with them is simply to learn solidworks.

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Nice!
[info]booger_dawson
2007-11-27 06:14 pm UTC (link)
Hey Bram I just wanted to say Congrats on the puzzle. I remember talking to you about if you were getting a chance to make a prototype a couple posts back. Anyways, its good to see good people get time to work on personal projects. It's always nice to see that.

What are the age groups for the puzzle you made (i'm still working on my F-14 Tomcat from 1989 haha jk) They might be cool to hand out to a couple of little ones in my family for gifts.
Take Care

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Re: Nice!
[info]bramcohen
2007-11-27 08:47 pm UTC (link)
The 'unscrambled' is one of the hardest puzzles ever produced, and is of a difficulty level most definitely only for adults. It can be played with by children, but that have very little hope of being able to solve it.

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Re: Nice!
[info]booger_dawson
2007-11-27 09:04 pm UTC (link)
"It can be played with by children, but that have very little hope of being able to solve it." haha I will keep that in mind for sure :-) Thanks for replying to me.
Take Care

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Just Curious
[info]booger_dawson
2007-11-27 09:19 pm UTC (link)
Hey I was just curious, what made you want to create one of the hardest puzzles ever produced? I'm trying to stay away from any Asylum hahah jk. But seriously, did the "unscrambled" just end up that way out of nature? Or were you looking to create a different sort of puzzle from your desires of playing with puzzles?
Thanks

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Re: Just Curious
[info]bramcohen
2007-11-27 09:46 pm UTC (link)
Bandaged twisty puzzles by their nature tend to be quite difficult, and this one is archetypical of the genre.

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