De Kas – Alfons Eyckmans

Another puzzle from the backlog shelf. This is one I’ve played with for maybe thirty minutes, and quickly realized that I need to commit some time and pay attention or put it away. At 10 pieces, I think this is one I need to map out a bit, or at least take some pictures to help me get it back together. And when I first received this puzzle, back in 2023, I didn’t have the time to dedicate to it. And since this is one of the last cubicdissection puzzles I ever purchased, I really want to give it some extra attention.

So, nearly 3 years later, lets get after it.

I wonder if I can map this out. There are 4 vertical sticks, I’ll call those V1, V2, V3, V4 and there are 6 horizontal rings, I’ll call those H1-H6 and then I’ll see if I can write out all the moves..

H2 B1, v1 D2, v4 D1, H3 F1, H2 U1, v4 U2, v2,H6,H1 U1, Ugh, this is a nightmare.

Well, I didn’t get very far trying to document each move. The problem I have, and usually have, is that multiple pieces start moving at once and that makes it tricky to document. Or, as I’m testing movement, I’ll accidentally move a piece in one direction and another in a different direction. Then I lose track of what’s what. Or, in this case, those horizontal “rings” actually move next to each other and in some cases above the other, so H2 moves above H3, then I don’t really know how to keep track and so, I stop writing things down and before you know it I’m lost in the solve 15 steps in with no idea of how to get back to the beginning.

So, of course, when I find myself in this situation, I just press forward, blindly, and accept the fact that putting this thing back together is going to be a nightmare. Hopefully it doesn’t end up on the “can’t put it back together shelf” that one is far worse than the “haven’t solved it yet” shelf.

But anyway, I got this thing apart. It was a struggle, but forward progress always seemed to come. There were always moves available and the direction seemed clear. So, I patiently, just kept fiddling with the puzzle and every 10 minutes or so, I’d move further along. And then a big move happened and I knew I was definitely going in the right direction. Soon after, the puzzle split into two halves and I frantically tried to take some pictures as it was disintegrating and falling apart in my hands. Not sure if I’ll have enough to go off of, but I did the best I could.

So, here is sit with 10 pieces of puzzle in my hands and I’m quite hesitant to try to put this thing back together. It may be a lost cause, or just maybe with the aid of a few photos, I can make it happen.

In the end, I did get it back together. It took a few sessions but I managed. Luckily I took a photo right as the puzzle was falling apart on me. From this, I was able to determine roughly what pieces went where. I arranged the pieces as best I could and tried to jam it all together, which failed miserably, but I tried a few more times and eventually figured out how the pieces had to interlock.

Once I had the puzzle pieces together and nothing was falling out, I was able to work my way back through the puzzle in reverse order trying to get everything back to the start. There was one stick in particular that I knew spent the first half of the solve hanging off the bottom of the puzzle. And then just before the puzzle fell apart, that stick moved way up to a position hanging off the top. So, with that knowledge in hand, I was able to figure out the rest. And over the course of a couple hours, I managed to put this thing back together. And it was actually pretty fun.

The thing I enjoyed about this puzzle is that the goal is fairly straightforward. There are many paths and dead ends, but ultimately, you’re trying to take it apart and the circular horizontal rings are the thing that really makes this fun. They move up, they move down, they move next to each other, they pass each other. And each of these moves in turn opens up movements of the vertical sticks. It was a big trial and error puzzle for me. I didn’t have to think too hard about what i was doing, I just tried different things and somehow it all worked out.

And, It felt really good to work on an Eric Fuller made puzzle. I don’t take that lightly and I treasure all the Cubicdissection puzzles in my collection. There are still a few unsolved, so I will save those for special occasions.