Does anyone remembers Oskar's Matchboxes? The solver had 5 matchboxes with a square shell and a box attached to it at different spots from piece to piece, and then they had to be put them together so all 5 boxes would fit inside another matchbox. It was a very interesting puzzle with 4 cavities to store small items inside and people had fun finding multiple ways to put the boxes together. It was fairly popular and not the only one of it's type! Matchbox Play Six by Olexandre Kapkan upped the count to 6 matchboxes with even more ways to assemble the set was another fun one.
Péter Gál saw all of these matchbox puzzles and decided to be the final word on this subject by making a large set of matchboxes with pieces attached to the shells at every possible angle, and then to do a massive analysis of the space of possible problems. Then he then worked with Pelikan to design and produce Matchbox Playground with 30 handpicked problems of increasing difficulty with the set of 14 unique pieces he had found.
It's a fascinating puzzle with a huge amount of analysis done on the set of pieces and assembly space which can be played with for hours on end! Even if there's a small bit of disappointment that I can't hide cute prizes inside once the matchboxes have been put together.
When this puzzle was originally sold, there were some shipping woes where despite the pieces being packed inside the box in a way which keeps them from moving around, some pieces still separated into 2 and this was an issue multiple buyers had. The pieces are not reinforced with dowels. The maple part is only glued onto the jatoba shell, and some of the pieces are attached at a fairly small area for the glue to hold. So there were some glue failures in shipping, not dents or anything more serious. Furthermore, finding the exact positioning to glue the maple rectangles back on seems daunting at first, but it turns out that they can be positioned perfectly if one finds an assembly challenge making use of only one separated piece and then assembled with intact pieces to perfectly position and hold the broken piece while the glue dries. I had 2 glue failures and that's how I perfectly positioned them back on. I meant to photograph the problematic pieces in question, but it had been years ago by now and I honestly couldn't tell which ones originally came apart. There isn't any visual tell for me to know.
Either way, I'm of the opinion that the shipping problems occurred because there was no cushioning inside the large box. So I will be pouring in packing peanuts or bubble wrap inside with the 14 pieces for maximum protection. Also keep in mind that this is a fairly large and heavy puzzle at 9 inches in length and 3.5 pounds in weight. So shipping won't be cheap as sending out smaller/lighter puzzles.
I accept and prefer using Zelle as my payment method of choice.I
accept Paypal. I prefer Friends & Family due to the IRS tax rules.
But if you rather pay with Goods & Services, I will accommodate that
preference.I accept Wise for international buyers.
I am willing to consider other desired payment methods.
Shipping is USPS or UPS
Buyer
chooses the shipping service and shipping speed, First Class or
Priority (assuming the package is under the weight limit for First
Class).
Insurance is optional, but buyer has to cover it if it is desired.
I ask the winner to hold off on paying until after I calculate and message final shipping costs to be added to the final bid.
Finally, we're in the crush of the Christmas holiday season
which may mean delays or difficulty delivering packages. So if the
winner of this auction wishes for me to hold off on shipping them out,
let me know and I'd be willing to wait until a better time to ship out.
