About
Wooden Fractal Tray Puzzles
£10,909
227
I have just added a fourth space filling curve puzzle to the collection, it's exactly the same as the others but based upon the space filling Terdragon curve. In difficulty I would say it lies between then Hilbert curve and the Gosper curve.
The Terdragon puzzle is made up from 16 unique pieces.
Fractal tray puzzles are high quality wooden puzzles based upon space filling fractal curves. The pattern is a single line that crosses all of the two dimensional space without ever repeating. The puzzles follow these simple rules to break the line into multiple pieces that are almost identical but are actually unique. The pieces are so similar in style that once they are placed into the puzzle it is hard to see where the pieces are. The puzzles can be tricky to solve even if you have the solution on hand.
There are 4 space filling curves that lend themselves well to this type of puzzle.
- The Hilbert Curve: first described by the German mathematician David Hilbert in 1891. A square space filling pattern drawn to it's 6th iteration. This is the easiest of the three puzzles.
- The Gosper Curve: named after Bill Gosper and also known as the flowsnake. The triangular pattern is reminiscent of a complex snowflake.
- The Dragon Curve: first investigated by NASA physicists John Heighway, Bruce Banks, and William Harter. It's rounded flowing pattern and nearly identical pieces make it the hardest of the three puzzles.
- The Terdragon Curve: Inspired by a conversation over Mr Puzzles video review, I realised there was another curve I could add to the collection
We had success with the first stretch goal at £3000, I will now be offering the puzzles with a choice of wood dye, Mahogany or Oak as well as the original plain puzzle.
If we reach £5000 pledged, I will provide the option to personalise a message on the back of the puzzles for you. This will be written in Hershey text which is nice, neat single line font, the same style as the names on the front of the puzzle.
The puzzles are made from a high quality 3mm BB Grade, Birch Laser Plywood sheet. It shows the natural look of the wood and will show natural colour variations. The material is sanded and oiled to create a superior finish.
Each puzzle is 200x200mm in size, the pieces are 3mm thick and the whole puzzle inside the tray is 6mm thick.
I already have a laser cutter, an idea and material stockpile so why do I need kickstarter?
Kickstarter allows me to reach a whole new range of customers. I have made the puzzles available for sale previously and only sold a few items. Somebody else recently breached my copyright and tried to kickstart this puzzle claiming it as their own work. They received $3000 of sales in the first 6 days, Kickstarter allows me to confirm there is a market to actually sell these puzzles.
As mentioned, I drew these files originally at the end of 2015 and released them online through my blog with a non commercial license. Several people have tried to claim my files so it seems only fair to clarify the heritage of my designs.
The Hilbert curve puzzle and the Gosper curve puzzle are 100% my own work and idea. The Dragon curve puzzle is based on a similar puzzle by Oskar Van Deventer
The Terdragon curve was added to the kickstarter with just days left. I thought it would be nice to add something brand new to the campaign.
Risks and challenges
These puzzles have already been developed, tested and produced the risks and challenges are minimal. The biggest risk is that the laser cutter may fail and require a new tube, but tubes are readily available from a UK supplier and I have extensive knowledge about laser repair so any downtime would be minimal.
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Funding period
- (30 days)