The Awesome 3-D Puzzle Challenge

By Ivan Moscovich

It's an awesome display of 3-D mind challenges. Pop-ups and puzzles and lots of elements to move around and play with: that's what makes these 25 delightfully original games so amazing. Every bright and appealing page offers a 3-D surprise designed to challenge the brain, test logic and perception, and provide loads of fun. The amusement begins as soon as you open the book: four hands, belonging to two card players and connected by string, pop right out at you. Try to figure out how to release them without untying or cutting the knots that bind. See double with a folding jigsaw: at first an image of the Mona Lisa smiles out, but by folding twelve strips in the right order, the squares will transform into a picture of Marilyn Monroe. Walk into the Magic Room, a super optical illusion with viewing holes, figures to move, and tricky patterns. No matter which puzzle you choose, by solving it, you'll discover the power of your own mind.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1402707096
• ISBN13: 9781402707094
• Release Date: October 2003
• Publisher: Sterling
• Length: 28 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 1.0" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Awesome is an accurate description

Awesome is a word that correctly describes the puzzles in this book. Some of the puzzles pop up but all require you to manipulate the pieces. There are some classics in the collection, one is just a modification of the Towers of Hanoi problem and another is the classic Sam Lloyd problem of the twelve (thirteen) Chinese warriors on the edge of the earth. The four-color problem of map coloring can be used to solve a problem of spaceships whose colors can be altered by rotating them. Each occupies a section of two-dimensional space and the spaceships in adjacent sections cannot have the same color. Since there are four possible colors, you know from the start that a solution is possible. I was able to solve a few of the puzzles right away, although in some cases it took me a significant amount of time to perform all of the movements. The most time was spent on the ones that required folding the structure so that colored segments were properly aligned. I really struggled with the one where you are required to fold strips so that one image is Marilyn Monroe and folded differently the image is the Mona Lisa. At this time, I still haven't got it all figured out. Puzzles can be fun, yet frustrating. The best puzzle books have a few that you get right away and some that force you to think, try, think, try, think, think, think, think and try before you either figure it out or simply blunder into the solution. With these puzzles, I wouldn't rely too heavily on the blundering strategy.