Fowl Play

Description

How it works: There are two birds nested in the base of this puzzle.  To remove them, the disks must be rotated until the appropriate cutouts are properly aligned to form the shape of the bird below them.  Once a bird can be removed, it must be set aside while the disks are rotated as needed to remove the other bird.  The second bird should then be removed and set aside.  With the second bird removed, the first bird must be flipped over to show the color of the opposite side and then placed into the second opening.  At this point, the sequence of disk rotations must be reversed until the first opening is once again available.  Then, turn the second bird over to its opposite color and place it into the available opening.

Story behind the puzzle: the original inspiration for this escapes me now, but I built a couple of prototypes out of wood and received positive response from family and friends. In 2001 I filed for a patent, and once it was granted in 2003, I tried shopping it around to some companies I was aware of who did puzzles. They all recognized that it was not going to be the next Rubik’s Cube, and declined my request. Making it from wood was time consuming, but the 3D printer lets me finally get it out there for others to enjoy!

My love for bird-watching led me to choose birds as the removable pieces.  I wanted something that wasn’t symmetric, requiring the pieces to swap places rather than just be turned over and put back in the same place.  My logic is that when you complete the puzzle, you will put it down almost immediately.  The next person to work the puzzle would then have to do very little to remove one piece, turn it over, and be halfway done with the puzzle.  No way I wanted to let you off that easy!!