Retro gamer girls - here’s a fun accessory that lets you wear your 8-bit fanaticism on your sleeve (or at least on your wrist).
This handmade Tetris resin bracelet is embellished with a scene from the classic block-stacking puzzler. Created by Warsaw artist Sylwia Calus (a.k.a. “Sisicata”), its painstakingly detailed with tiny colorful bricks, infused into a clear resin cuff.
Unfortunately, it looks like somebody didn’t do a very good job fitting all the blocks together, so the game is already over. I know you would have done much better. If only this cuff had an LCD screen and tiny little joystick on it, you’d show ‘em!
You can find the Tetris bracelet and many of Sylwia’s other accessories over on her Etsy shop for $70 USD.
I love my PS3, and I love a good game of Tetris, but unlike Oscar the Grouch, I don’t know if I can say that I love trash. Still, this offbeat new game in the works combines all three into a single, juicy delicious morsel of gaming that could be the most addictive garbage collection game this side of Katamari Damacy.
Spotted at the recent 2008 Tokyo Game Show, Gomibako is best described as “Tetris with Trash”. But it’s not just another rehash of the classic block-stacking puzzle format. Nope. Instead of dropping blocks, you’ve got to carefully arrange piles of (difficult to stack) falling debris in order to clear the board.
In addition to some beautiful graphics, the best part of the game is its amazing physics model. Every object in the game is completely 3-dimensional and has life-like properties. This makes the gameplay so much more dynamic than the classic colored block puzzle games of yore.
Items can crush each other, and you have to think quick to grab heavier objects to smash more fragile objects before the trash bin fills up. Items can be bent, broken, get wet and even catch fire and burn. Cool. To check out some actual gameplay footage, check out the 1up video clip below:
Gomibako is expected to be a downloadable game on the PlayStation Network, so you won’t even have to head to the store to get your hands on it when it comes out. No word yet on a release date (or if it’s even slated for North America). I’ve certainly got my fingers crossed for this one.
I had enough problems trying to solve the original Rubik’s Cube. Heck, I was often tempted to just peel all the colored stickers off and place them on the proper sides of the cube whenever I got frustrated with the damned thing. So when I came across V-CUBES, I just about lost my mind.
V-CUBE cubic puzzles come in 5×5x5, 6×6x6 and an insane 7×7x7 configuration for the true puzzle masochist.
The mammoth 7×7x7 cube is made up of hundreds of individual pieces which rotate around an inner mechanism that was precisely engineered to turn quickly and smoothly (hence the slightly bulging appearance of the cube). If I’m doing my math right, the V-CUBE 7 offers up about 1.95 * (10^160) permutations, so that should keep you busy for just a little while.
Think that seems unsolveable? Check out this video clip of master puzzle solver Frank Morris cranking through the V-CUBE 7 in just under 7 minutes flat:
And just in case that’s not complicated enough for you, the V-CUBE guys are working on future models all the way up to 11×11x11. O.M.G.W.T.F.R.U.B.I.K?
You can find all of these cubes over at the V-CUBES Online Shop. Prices range from about $35 to $70 USD.
I read a news story the other day that whenever the economy is in the crapper, sales of safes shoot through the roof. I guess its better than putting your money under the mattress, right? Here’s a crazy safe that should keep all but the most devious of thieves away from your stash.
Artist Alex Schlegel is the creator of this complicated puzzle-inspired safe. According to Alex, here’s how you open this crazy thing…
“The 13 drawers of this band-saw box rotate rather than open outward. Objects for safekeeping are placed into the large, central drawer through a hole in the bottom of the box. Since the arrows on the front of each drawer point toward the drawer’s open side, objects may be moved from one drawer to another by first lining up the arrows on the two drawers and then rotating the entire box so that the objects fall from the first drawer to the second.”
On second thought, now that I know how to get into it (and the fact that it’s made out of wood), maybe the mattress is a better idea.
The NeoCube starts out as a cube made of super-magnetic balls that’s billed as “literally a puzzle with billions of solutions.” Here’s the good news: There are no right answers, just a whole heap o’ magnetic mayhem to be had.
Check out this video of the NeoCube in action. Then, let’s take bets on how many thousands of hours this guy has logged playing with it.
OK, now try to convince me you don’t want one. Betcha can’t! And even if you can, once I tell you it promises stress relief and dual hemisphere brain stimulation, you will be completely powerless to resist. Don’t believe me? How about another video then?
For such a cool and fun-seeming product, I must warn you that the website is extremely janky. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that every other word is in a different font, or the crazy spacing of text, or the weird, new age-y background. But if you simply must must must have a NeoCube then you’ll need to go there to plonk down your $14 (minicube, aka, lamecube IMHO) or your $30 (alpha cube) or your $35 (fabulously named cubetastic pack, which includes a mini and an alpha.)
Ready for a challenging puzzle? Check out this new variant on the classic Rubik’s Cube which isn’t comfortable just being perfectly square.
The new Rubik’s Mirror Blocks puzzle makes things a bit more complicated than the original by making each and every one of its blocks a slightly different size.
And instead of pretty colors, each one is covered with a mirrored surface, making it just that much more difficult to figure out.
I managed to find a video clip showing the unboxing of the new cube here:
The puzzle is slated for release in Japan in the next couple of weeks for ¥2079 (appx $20 USD), but I haven’t been able to find out anything about a North American release. Perhaps if you’re persuasive, you can convince the puzzle’s designer, Hidetoshi Takeji to ship you one. He was recently sighted on the TwistyPuzzles forums offering to ship them internationally.
Remember the beginning of Donkey Kong? You know - the part where Kong climbs to the top of the building, stomps his feet, and the girders all fall diagonally into place? That’s sorta what this new version of Jenga reminds me of.
Shipping this September, Donkey Kong Jenga doesn’t monkey with the orignial Jenga block stacking and removing gameplay. But I couldn’t think of a better way to spice up those boring plain wood blocks that the regular version of the game comes with. Sure, it’s a few bucks more than standard Jenga, but put Mario and Donkey Kong on anything, and I’ll gladly pay a couple of extra bucks for it.
You can pre-order Donkey Kong Jenga over at Amazon for $24.99.
What better way to keep your “on the rocks” cocktails chilled but with some whimsical Tetris block ice cubes?
Given the heritage of Tetris, it’s only appropriate that these Icetris ice cube trays would come from Dima Komissarov of Russian design shop Mystake. With enough frozen blocks, you should be able to play a complete game in the confines of your hi-ball glass. The only downside I can see to playing Tetris with ice cubes, of course, is the fact that they might melt before you can even complete a row.
Now the bad news — there’s no word on when and where you’ll be able to get your hands on these, but I definitely am clearing some space in my freezer in anticipation.
for $24.99.
