Translation needed

[VisExp]

Ok, you puzzlers are going to have to provide some sort of translation, because you speak a different language    Burrs, binaries, coffins - I have no idea what you're talking about.  Is there a website with a glossary of puzzle terms that you could post a link to.  Thanks.

[Canuck]

Okay guys, we really should drop some links that makes it easier for those trying to follow along, so they can better understand our puzzle lingo;

What were really talking about here is; Mechanical Puzzles...primarily made from wood, but of course there are metal and plastic versions that are beautiful in their own right but of course the handcrafted element is obviously removed from the equation with those.

Types of puzzles would be;

Burr puzzles...such as 6 piece burrs but they can be any amount of pieces, 7,8,9....etc
there are many variants to these as well such as Board Burr's for example

Many of us Craftsman stick to only one style of puzzle and my strong suit is; Box Packing type puzzles

Interlocking puzzles comprises the vast majority of types of puzzles and includes burr puzzles as well

The 'Coffin' reference alludes to the single most prolific designer of puzzles;

Stewart Coffin, who has in excess of 200 designs to his credit, he is the worlds best designer of Polyhedral style puzzles, with many craftsman making reproductions

Here's a good link that will give you the types of puzzles along with pics to serve as examples;

http://www.puzzleworld.org/PuzzleWorld/default.htm

[Roby]

Hey, I have been making puzzles for almost a decade now, but I still have no clue what you guys are talking about when you refer to N2 or N3 puzzles.  Clarify that for me.  I feel stupid to ask, because it seems that I should know.  I just nod my head and pretend not to be an idiot.

[VisExp]

I just nod my head and pretend not to be an idiot.

I know that feeling 

Thanks for the link John.  There's a lot of info there to bring me up to speed.

[Canuck]

Hey, I have been making puzzles for almost a decade now, but I still have no clue what you guys are talking about when you refer to N2 or N3 puzzles.  Clarify that for me.  I feel stupid to ask, because it seems that I should know.  I just nod my head and pretend not to be an idiot.

That's okay, I don't understand most of what you tell me, but rest assured I just nod my head (at the laptop) and pretent not to be an idiot

The 'N' reference Ry used to denote the levels of his 'Mak-Step' puzzle design, so every n is designated a number, the 'Mak-Step 1' is the 60 piece version, but it could be augmented with ever increasing amounts of pieces.  It's kinda like Stewart Coffin having a design with a # for example design #213x1 through #213x7...so x refers to experimental and the numbers matching particular design differences...That should just about clear it all up right?

[Canuck]

To be honest, I'm not even sure what I just said

[Roby]

To be honest, I'm not sure what you said either.  You make it sound like it is nothing more than a Stickman # 5 or Stickman # 13 label.

Really thought there would be more to it than that.  I was hopeing that "N" was part of an equation that designated the amount of moves per block ratio. 

[RKB]

Can you give an example of such a puzzle? This may not be about the 'n' as in MAK-Step-n...

As for my MAK-Step-n puzzles, the 'n' just indicates the 'size' of the puzzle. As you know these puzzles are modular Altekruse puzzles and have basically (or with some imagination) the shape of an octahedron. Now on each of the 6 vertices of that 'ideal' octahedron there is in fact a simple Altekruse puzzle. But the sides of the octahedron are of course not at all smooth and look like stairs. The 'n' is simply telling how many steps (as from a stairs) it takes to travel from one vertex to another (adjacent).

So 'n' is not any arbitrary number indicating a design sequence, but points to some kind of relationship. E.g. you have trominoes, tetrominoes, pentominoes, hexominoes, ... , n-ominoes.

When you know the idea, then the 'n' allows you to describe/construct all the pieces (i.e. with n-ominoes) or the overall shape of the puzzle (MAK-Step-n).

[Canuck]

Can you give an example of such a puzzle? This may not be about the 'n' as in MAK-Step-n

Yeah ROBY!!!   

[Canuck]

To be honest, I'm not sure what you said either.  You make it sound like it is nothing more than a Stickman # 5 or Stickman # 13 label.

Really thought there would be more to it than that.  I was hopeing that "N" was part of an equation that designated the amount of moves per block ratio. 

Why is it that I NEVER understand what you're saying   

[Roby]

The confusion comes becuase us Americans don't have the offical copy of the Queen's English.