Monday 22 August 2016

Halve A Heart

This is the first of my IPP36 Exchange Puzzles I am reviewing. I thought I would start off with something not too complicated and which I am familiar with.


Halve A Heart was designed and produced by Scott Elliot for his exchange in Kyoto, Japan just several weeks ago. 3D printed, Halve A Heart follows a recent string of puzzles in the last couple of years that bears a similar theme; the object is to put two pieces together to form a particular shape. In 2014, Scott came up with Join The Club and in 2015, his Diamond Engagement.


First off, the puzzle measures about 4.5cm x 4.5cm x 1.4cm. Quality of print is good and the puzzle is solid printed (not hollow) which gives it a hefty feel and makes it pretty durable. The two halves join together to form a heart. In fact the red is so red it looks like blood, how appropriate for this puzzle!


While there are only two pieces each with identical shapes, putting together was (to my surprise) more difficult that I had expected. The halves need to twist and slide against each other to finally form the intended shape. It did take me more than several minutes before I found the right orientation of both pieces relative to each other and discovered the point where the two pieces would mesh together nicely in one smooth motion. Halve A Heart appears to be more difficult than the previous two puzzles. No force whatsoever is needed. In fact the assembled heart was a bit on the "loose" side for my copy and while the pieces will not fall apart, the heart would not hold its shape unless it was lying flat on a table.

Notwithstanding, a nice pocket-able little puzzle that will probably frustrate non-puzzlers and maybe even some puzzlers. Scott made a number of these for sale and he may still have some copies left over if anyone is interested.


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