Pick Me

If mechanical puzzles came with a soundtrack, this one would elicit fine chords of acoustic guitar to placate you every time you picked it up, soothing your frustration in failing to solve its secrets. And if you found yourself with a selection of well made, compact, clever, multistep, elegant and entertaining sequential discovery puzzles to choose from this year, you would surely heed the call of this one, to Pick Me.

It’s a delight to introduce a new designer whose debut puzzle sets the tone for what will surely be great expectations of future creations. Frenchman Fabien Wirig, a software engineer specializing in Cloud technologies, actually designed this incredible puzzle a few years ago, and recently started to produce it for the masses. He had been practicing 3D printing for a few years and during the Pandemic honed his production skills through making protective visors to help the common effort. “With an engineering background and a keen interest in 3D, I got into 3D modeling and printing, and my first [puzzle] prototype was soon born. However, it took a long time before I could really consider distributing it.” Fabien got the central idea for the puzzle from watching an online video of a puzzle being solved, and adapted something the solver had been trying to do. Eventually he added much much more to the puzzle. It’s a handsome, compact and highly portable object with a smooth matte finish and a few notable features, most prominent of which is the guitar pick begging to be free. There is a lot going on here, and many steps to discover, deduce and deploy before the journey is done. Fabien shared the story of that journey.

“My interest in puzzles in general began when I was a little boy, my father had a wooden puzzle at home and I couldn't put it together by myself. After many attempts, I finally managed to solve it => Victory!

“Dad’s Puzzle” - courtesy of Fabien Wirig

Several years later, I randomly came across the Hanayama series and the beginning of my real collection. I joined the "Mechanical Puzzles" Discord community and began to take an interest in all kinds of puzzles. That's when I developed "the watcher", so I could keep track of all the online offerings without having to blow up my F5 key. It enables us to publish, directly on our Discord, all the products available online, as well as all blog articles and videos on the subject.” Fabien is referring to a software feature he created for the mechanical puzzle discord, an online community of enthusiasts to this pastime. As a blog writer, I’m especially grateful to his work, which alerts the community of all new offerings in real time.

“I started designing Pick me after playing with a number of puzzles by Rex Rossano Perez. My first idea was to make it with acrylic layers, like Rex. At the time, 3D printing was just a means of prototyping before I could actually produce it in acrylic. Then I realized that 3D printing offered a whole range of possibilities and I stuck with it ;) And of course, like many, Strijbos puzzles. My dream would be to one day produce a metal SD, but we're not there yet ;)

I've always loved "release the coin" puzzles. I wanted to stay within the genre without copying what was being done. One day, while playing guitar, I thought the mediator was an element I could use. I like the idea of having a puzzle where the objective is clear and you can see almost everything, but everything remains to be done.”

Fabien relates there was one mechanism in particular he had originally intended for the puzzle, but decided to change it due to the Pandemic. You might imagine what that could entail. He also thought it was rather novel, but discovered that it had been done before anyway. It’s hard to come up with a truly novel mechanism – the one in question has been replicated in quite a few puzzles over the years, actually, but I won’t mention what or which to avoid divulging the secret of a few classics out there. “I had in mind a mechanism that would have released one of the tools in a rather original way (I thought). Then Covid came along and changed my mind about this mechanism. I replaced it with another mechanism that I'm now proud of, so it was a good turnaround in the end.”

It’s good to keep an open mind and bend with the process when designing a puzzle. “I made a looooot of changes during the design phase. And that's what I like about the process. Having to find solutions to problems you'd never imagined. Design, print, test, fix and repeat. This feedback loop becomes really short with 3D printing. My printer is on the desk within easy reach and allows me to quickly validate or invalidate an idea. At the end of the biggest game, I contacted two references in the puzzle world (Allard Walker and Louis Coolen) and sent them a prototype each. They also gave me feedback, which I was able to use to finalize the design. Thanks again folks.”

Fabien improved and optimized his design and production process over time and the results on this puzzle are incredibly nice. He prints the puzzle as a single smooth block with all internals complete at the end of printing. “Pick is produced right at home in my limited spare time. They're designed and prototyped on a Voron V0, produced on a Voron V2 and engraved on a XTool F1, all in my office. As a father of 2 little monsters and busy with my work, I don't have much time. Thanks to my little wife for freeing up my time to indulge this passion.”

“The funny thing is that my puzzle design and printing process has actually been finished for almost 2 years. But I always found an excuse to postpone the baptism of fire, something to improve, a small part to revise, change the material, the engravings... I can still see myself asking my partner:

Me: "Do you prefer this version or that version?”

And she'd often reply: "But they're the same, aren't they?”

And I would say: "No, look here, it's not printed the same way!"

Her: "Hmm ok, if you say so🔎😆"

Thanks to her for her patience when I bothered her with these questions of detail. And what I love most of all is when my little boy sneaks into the office and asks me to solve the puzzle together. This puzzle is the fruit of a lot of hard work, and I've developed it in such a way as to create "Aha" moments and bring surprises along the way. The first movement is very simple, then it gets a little tougher. I show things without revealing too much. I really hope that this puzzle will please and bring good times to the puzzlers who tackle it.”

I’m raising a glass to this mini marvel with its puzzling pick secured inside. I imagined that a guitar-themed cocktail would be in order as an obvious reference here, and set about determining if such a drink exists. Cycling through the popular guitar brands led to an epiphany when I reached “Gibson”, which is also a well known classic cocktail (which has nothing to do with guitars but is nonetheless a perfect pick).

The Gibson cocktail is simply a gin martini with a pickled cocktail onion (rather than an olive). Some classic cocktails are amusingly distinguished by such a simple, single attribute. The history is well known but considered spurious, like many cocktail origin stories, and involves a San Francisco businessman named Walter Gibson in the late eighteen hundreds who may have lent his name to the drink. The martini with the pickled onion was first mentioned by name in The World’s Drinks And How To Mix Them by William Boothby, 1908, albeit without the onion at that time – that would only appear later. So you can see how unreliable a cocktail history can be, as drinks changed over time. Some like their Martinis bright and refreshing, others like them savory, and the Gibson falls into the latter category. It provides new layers to what seems so straightforward – like a great puzzle. Cheers!

Gibson

2 oz gin

1 oz dry vermouth

Cocktail onion

Stir gin and vermouth with ice to chill and strain into a stemmed glass. Cocktail onion garnish essential.

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