According to the fine folks at  ThinkFun  , "There are six possible directions a piece can move: left, right, up, down, toward you, away from you. Unless an instruction specifically states otherwise, you should move each piece as far as it will go. Some of the instructions will specify the number of units that a piece (or pair) should be moved. In these cases, you need to be careful not to move the piece (or pair) as far as it can go and instead stop at the position indicated."

Special NOTE: When the 'pink' piece leaves the puzzle assembly in Step 7, steps 8-->13 return the rest of the puzzle pieces back to the beginning of the solution (without the 'pink' piece).

Steps 14-->20 end in releasing the yellow piece.


The original solution pics that follow "The PIECES" section are most likely done from the BurrTools program -- designed by Andreas Rover, with fixes added to the original version 0.4.1, by the following notable puzzle people: Derek Bosch, André van Kammen, Donald E. Knuth, Wei-Hwa Huang, Bill Cutler, Ronald Kint-Bruynseels. The latest version 0.6.1 can be downloaded from the bottom of this  page .

Following the BurrTools version of the solution is my version (which exactly follows the BurrTools version -- but, with a 'shortcut' that eliminates 12 steps) -- and is being viewed in 'real-time' photos, with my left hand holding the puzzle assembly . . . and my right hand taking the pictures.


The
P I E C E S

        

        


       













The following solution version is in 'real-time' photos -- with a shortcut towards the end.













 

BLUE -- down 1 unit                                              BLACK -- right 4 units                                                        

 

BLUE & WHITE -- up 1 unit                                                    YELLOW -- all the way right                               

 

WHITE -- down 1 unit ... flush with blue                       BLACK -- right 1 unit ... flush with yellow                            

 

PINK -- coming out of assembly                             PINK -- gone from assembly                                                                   

 

BLACK -- left 1 unit                                                           WHITE -- up 1 unit                              

 

YELLOW -- left all the way                                                BLUE & WHITE -- down 1 unit                  

 

BLACK -- left all the way                     BLUE -- up 1 unit ... flush with WHITE                                                      

 

YELLOW -- right 1 unit                     WHITE -- down 4 units ... flush with                                                                  
top surface of YELLOW


  <<< GREEN -- left 1 unit
(white falls down 1 unit further ...
below YELLOW)

                                   YELLOW -- left 1 unit
                          (BLUE falls down 5 units ...
                                  flush with WHITE >>>













 

YELLOW -- coming out of assembly                  YELLOW -- gone from assembly                                                        

     

another view                         GREEN -- moving right                        GREEN -- all the way right                       

S H O R T C U T
There is, however, a shortcut at this point . . . grab both the blue & white pieces and move them away from the black piece. Now the black piece is free to turn 180° around the front stem of the green piece, and come out of the puzzle through its slit. Both the blue & white pieces (together as one unit) can separate from the green piece's front or back sections.

 

 

 

 


You've just saved 12 steps!


Voila! Success