“The Pursuit Of Difficulty”

I’m on a first date, sitting at a hip bar in Los Angeles. In the course of making semi-awkward conversation, he discovers that I like escape rooms. Ta-dah! He brings out a weird little metal ring, pulls it apart into two pieces, hands it to me, and challenges me to form it back into a ring. I was pretty much in love after that… with mechanical puzzles. While that relationship didn’t work out, the one with puzzles persists to this day.

At one time or another, I’m sure you’ve played with these. Whether it’s the interlocked nails that you need to pull apart, escape room-style wooden puzzle boxes like the ones from iDventure, or the classic Rubik’s Cube, these all fall under the mechanical puzzle category.

Joining us on REPOD is Oskar van Deventer, a prolific and acclaimed Dutch puzzle designer. Since 1978, he has designed over 800 mechanical puzzles and more than 70 of them have been mass produced. If you’ve ever explored the mechanical puzzle world, there’s a good chance that you’ve had his work in your hands. 

I especially enjoyed hearing Oskar describe the design process of certain puzzles like the Hanayama Cast Chain puzzle (pictured above) as a “maze.” It certainly doesn’t look like a maze. It looks like three metal links that you must unlink. But when he talks about how you must manipulate them through an imaginary plane, calling it a maze starts to make sense. I hope this episode inspires you to check out some of Oskar van Deventer’s puzzle designs, many of which he offers for free on his “Print It Yourself” webpage.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: Morty App, Buzzshot, and COGS. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

• 00:13 Sponsor Break: Buzzshot, Escape Room Marketing Software
• 02:50 Getting Started with Puzzle Design
• 07:28 Puzzle Iteration

• 12:46 Putting Design Work on Youtube in the Early Days

• 16:35 The Role of 3d Printing in Oskar Process of Puzzle Design

• 20:00 Sponsor Break: Morty App, Discover And Track Escape Rooms
• 22:23 The Magic of a Twisty Puzzle
• 25:37 Theme of Gears in Oskar’s Design Work

• 33:04 Designing for “Ease of Reset” in Escape Rooms
• 33:59 Sponsor Break: Cogs By Clockwork Dog, Interactive Show Controls
• 39:53 Designing for All Ability Levels
• 42:00 Producing Limited-Run Puzzles
• 43:55 Crediting the Creators of Puzzles
• 47:43 Professor Willem Van Der Poel 
• 50:29 International Puzzle Party
• 58:55 Bonus Story: The Value of Puzzle Art

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Got a question or thought for the podcast? You can submit a voice recording by calling the Room Escape Artist not-so-hotline that always goes straight to voicemail (551-227-7273).

Resources Mentioned in this Episode

• Oskar van Deventer’s Website
• Oskar van Deventer’s YouTube
• About Willem van der Poel
• International Puzzle Party

About Oskar van Deventer

Youtube: OskarPuzzle

Oskar van Deventer is one of the most prolific designers of mechanical puzzles in the world. Many of his designs are commercially available in metal, wood, and plastic.

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