Cover it up

COVER IT UP

It was the year 2006, when the mechanical puzzle COVER IT UP got a “Honourable Mention” at the IPP contest of that year. The designer was no other than the great Robert Reid. Another fortunate moment gave me the chance to buy one copy from puzzle friend Bernhard Schweitzer for much less than the original price of USD 70.- in those days.

Actually if you look at it, it is really simple. You have 7 “T” Penominoes (28 fields in total) and 4 odd shaped pieces a 7 fields (also 28 fields). Now the goal is to lay the dark (Wenge) pieces flat on the table and cover them totally with the 7 identical penominoes out of Yellow Heart wood. The thing is, it is NOT simple! This fiendish puzzle cost me 10 – 12 hours of puzzling from past Friday to yesterday quarter to midnight before I finally found the solution. I was really, really suffering for additional approaches after having tried so much ways of solving it. It is a BEAST and I hate it (and love it as well). How can a human invent such a BASTARD? Difficulty rating? For me personally a clear 11 out of 10; for more experienced puzzlers I would say at least a 9! On a side note, when I checked the only solution on the web I found out that my solution is totally different! HEUREKA!

This puzzle is no longer on the market and therefore you will have a hard time to get an original one, however, the principle is so simple, that you can make one for yourself out of paper or better out of a material which is more handy to play with. If you are a bit of a sadist then get or produce one for yourself. There is a huge accomplishment feeling once solved!