DBOX

My DBOX Puzzle had still not arrived. I was eagerly looking into my mail box to see if there was a notice

that it had been delivered. It is one of the few puzzles which I had desired for a long time,

actually since I had started collecting puzzles.

DBOX is a Construction set which was invented by Boaz Leicht. Each package consists of 16 yellow and 16 blue cubes.

The cubes are available in two different versions.

a receptor unit

Eight (4 yellow + 4 blue) cubes (receptor units) have a hole on each side.

connector unit

The other 24 (12 yellow +12 blue) cubes have only a hole on five sides. The sixth side has a pin instead of a hole (connector units).

The pin can be attached to another cube on each side with a hole. Then both cubes can be attached with each other by a quarter turn.

The connection is very stable as it is not plugged together.

The receptor units serve a simple purpose: They hide all pins at an assembled piece.

A cube edge has a length of 2.5 cm, therefore, assembled parts have a handy size.

All puzzles which consist of cube units can be easily built by this technique.

Thus different puzzle types such as 2D Assemble Puzzles, Chess puzzles,

3D Assemble Puzzles, Maze puzzles and Interlocking puzzles are possible.

But 4x4x4 cubes consist of 64 cubes units, likewise the checkerboard puzzles consist of 8 x 8 = 64 cube units.

Therefore, it should be taken into consideration to buy two or three construction sets

(Not all 4x4 x4 Interlocking puzzles can be built with two construction sets as there are too many receptor units.).

The booklet which accompanies the DBOX offers many different tasks.

The tasks range from easy to difficult and are well suited for the whole family.

The booklet can be also downloaded from the website. But all tasks are only defined for 32 cube units.

Interesting puzzles such as interlocking problems and 8 x 8 checkerboard puzzles are not covered in the booklet.

Therefore I would additionally recommend the following books:

Jerry Slocum & Jacques Haubrich COMPENDIUM of CHECKERBOARD PUZZLES

This book describes over 400 checkerboard puzzles.

The Dutch Cubist

designed by Martin Watson

Kevin Holmes / Rik van Grol A Compendium of Cube-Assembly Puzzles using Polycube Shapes

The book can be directly ordered from Rik van Grol (rvgrol@hotmail.com).

The book deals with over 157 interlocking puzzles. It contains very many interesting interlocking puzzles

such as Mayer’s Cube, King’s Court and Coffin’s Convolution among others.

Bury The Block

designed by Fred Armitage

It is as well a real treasure box for a puzzle designer.

Instead of building time consuming prototypes out of wood, the forms can be easily put together

and it can be studied how the shapes can be changed.

Not only puzzles can be played with the DBOX, but also strategic games. There are four interesting games on the website.

My favourite game rumis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumis) can be played by two players with two construction sets.

There are only few puzzles which I like on first glance. DBOX belongs to them.

The quality is superb; the connections are very stable and the parts can be easily handled.

As a variety of puzzles can be played with the DBOX, it is well suited for the whole family.

I would recommend buying at least two construction sets, better three sets.

You can buy DBOX on the official website.