Escape Room Sword

Designer Oskar van Deventer writes: “Escape Room Sword was commissioned by Thijs van Uden of Escape Mijdrecht, Netherlands. Thijs was looking for a puzzle that was not too difficult to solve, and it should be very easy to reset. On 16 February 1988, I designed Hysteresis Key, which was mass-produced by Bits and Pieces as the metal Locomotion puzzle in the 1990’s. The challenge of that puzzle was to remove the piston by sliding it up and down, which could a pin to move sideways in a maze pattern. The puzzle could be easily reset by just pushing the piston back in. Escape Room Sword uses the same maze design, but in opposite direction. This makes it a challenge to insert the sword into the slot, but it can always easily be pulled out. The puzzle can be played in the Maya-themed “Tempel of Hunahpu” of Escape Mijdrecht.”The four parts (silver blade, brass handle, birch slot and red slider) took almost 16 hours to 3D print on a Dutchy 3D printer. 58 meter of 1.75-mm PLA filament was used to print it. The puzzle weights 174 gram. Oskar van Deventer has created many different puzzles including his brand of Oskar Puzzles which are mechanical puzzles and objects that can only exist thanks to 3D printing technology.  Since 1978, he has been creating hundreds of mechanical puzzles, making him one of the world’s most prolific designers. Several of his innovative designs are commercially available.