Hitch - Émil Áskerli - Pelikan Puzzles

Hitch

• Designer: Émil Áskerli
• Dimensions: 2.83" x 2.83" x 2.83" (72 mm x 72 mm x 72 mm)
• Material: Purpleheart, Zebrano
• Goal: Disassemble the 8-piece interlocking puzzle and reassemble it from scratch.
• Challenge: 7 moves are required to remove the first piece, with 13 moves for full disassembly. Reassembly offers an additional challenge as you must discover the logical sequence of moves.

Kevin Sadler wrote about it:

“Émil is another very interesting designer producing burrs and interlocking puzzles with pieces that have clever ways of interacting. His Puzzlewillbeplayed page is absolutely fascinating. I initially thought that the Hitch puzzle (beautifully made from Purpleheart and Zebrano) would be a straightforward burr but I have ended up reclassifying it in my database as an ‘Interlocking puzzle’. It looks like an 8-piece burr and is indeed made from 8 sticks, but the interaction is interesting and requires a series of moves that lead logically one into the next until it is disassembled. Does this sound too easy? Fear not, the moves are very nicely hidden. Initially there are a few pieces that can move and the whole puzzle can form several different shapes at first. I went round and round in circles from shape to shape and looking to see whether it freed anything up. It requires careful inspection of all the pieces that you have in each conformation until you suddenly notice that a new move might be possible. Pelikan have constructed this nice and tight so that nothing moves without a deliberate attempt, meaning you need to actually work out what to try rather than random pushing and pulling of the pieces.

Only 7 moves are required to remove the first piece and 13 for complete disassembly but the discovery aspect is joyous. Even more fun (and definitely possible because I did it) is to reassemble it from scratch with scrambled pieces. A few of you may be able to do it without memory of the disassembly, but most experienced puzzlers should be able to work out the assembly with a little work. It’s brilliant!”