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And even our 2 year old liked to stack the pieces (although the pieces are small so he could choke if not supervised). Our 4 year old was intrigued for a while. I won't reveal the solution only to completely ruin the "fun" for all. There is definately a solution. 24 solutions if you count all the variations in color once you find the height solution.Fun for all ages. I recommend solving one color at a time.Spoiler alert (see below): There is a hint provided by the manufacturer (puzzle itself provides a clue).
With this hint, some may want to stop reading here and take the challenge this puzzle offers.After wondering how many combinations there really are in this puzzle, I decided to write a computer program to explore its possibilities. If you plan to buy this puzzle for someone else and have no intention of trying to solve it yourself, you should read on. There are many types of Aha moments, like the moment you realize a new way to deduce a value in Sudoku, or, when you realize you have been betrayed by someone you trusted. I checked my logic carefully and there were no mistakes. There are 6 different colors and each color has 6 pieces of 6 different heights. I now view it as a practical joke and not a puzzle. At first thought, there could be a huge number of possibilities but there are also posts that the pieces have to sit on and they constrain the possible locations of the colored pieces.
From that standpoint, it's a reasonable toy. My program determined that there were no solutions. This prompted me to do a quick web search and I found that the Aha moment in the solution is when you realize that this puzzle is not what it first appears to be. One would naturally assume that all the pieces of the same length are identical but they are not. It's the most challenging puzzle in the world because, if you don't realize there's a trick to it, it's impossible. I enjoy the first type but not the second. Had it come solved, people would realize that some of the pieces were in places where they shouldn't fit. Once you realize its secret, it's not an extremely difficult puzzle.
This left me feeling that Think Fun cheated. I found it interesting to think about just how difficult a puzzle this is. The next paragraph of this review contains something that many would consider a spoiler but I feel it needs to be said.
Unfortunately, I consider the Aha moment in this puzzle to be in the second category. Unlike Rubic's cubes and Sudoku puzzles, I doubt if there is an elegant way to solve this one so it's not a very enjoyable puzzle. After adjusting for the secret, my computer program solved it after placing under 2000 pieces.
My 11 year old son got a 36 cube for his birthday and played with it for many hours. If you think a good puzzle is one that is easy to understand but a challenge to solve, like a rubic's cube, you might want to read on because you might not like this puzzle.ThinkFun describes this puzzle as having an Aha moment when solving it. To hide this fact, unlike most puzzles, this puzzle does not come from the factory in the solved state.
Deceptive - in order to be solved you have to discover that one of the yellow and one of the orange towers will fit on certain locations differently than other towers of the same apparent height.
Ideal classroom puzzle. Groups of students have worked on it throughout the past year, but it has only been solved once (by again a student who took it home over the weekend). I too am a high school math teacher and have a copy of this puzzle in my classroom. It is fantastic, the puzzle seems like it would be pretty easy at first but is actually deceptively difficult. The puzzle definitely encourages persistence and problem solving skills, and comes with a built in Aha moment.
The object of the game is to end up with only 1 of each height and color in each row and column. It's really designed as a solitaire game, though having another pair of eyes trying to solve the puzzle could be helpful. I enjoyed it enough to buy it once I got home. You have 36 blocks to play, in 6 varying heights and 6 colors. Though not a winner of the coveted Mensa Select seal, Think Fun 36 Cube was an entry at the 2009 Mensa Mind Games. Of all the games I reviewed that weekend, this one was a real challenge. Sudoku fans will probably enjoy Think Fun 36 Cube as it's kind of like a 3D Sudoku.
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