2D packing puzzles always daunted me.
There’s something terrifying about having really simple shapes not fit inside a simple frame.
Most people are comfortable with simplicity – but in puzzles???
Simplicity can be DISTURBING.
Crushing this packing phobia turned out to be simple.
The folks in PuzzleMaster are responsible for it – thanks for sending me Oleo 10 to review!
This is all thanks to you guys – Puzzle Wanderer really is growing rapidly. You’re the best!
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Yuu Asaka
A notorious name – Asaka – was huge when I came back from my hiatus.
I literally saw his name everywhere.
I watched a solve video of one of his puzzles a couple months ago, and since then I decided not to.
Because I knew a day like this would come.
So why are Asaka 2D packing puzzles so popular right now?
First Impressions
Here’s why.
Oleo 10 comes in very smooth acrylic substance, beautiful colors and shapes.
The concept of it is to fit 4 rectangular shapes and 6 red circles into a frame.
But when you try, you end up with at least 1 circle outside.
The satisfaction you get is from the lining of the pieces and smoothness, but not from a fast solve!
To get there you’ll need to work a bit more.
Oleo 10 by Yuu Asaka
| Characteristic | Details |
|---|---|
| Puzzle Type | Assembly – 2D Packing |
| Designer | Yuu Asaka |
| Manufacturer | Puzzle Master |
| Budget | Low+ |
| Difficulty | Medium |
| Material | Acrylic |
| Quality for Price | Great |
| Puzzling Value for Price | Very good |
| Best for | *Wanderers |
| Warnings | Designed by Yuu Asaka 🙂 |
As I received the package, I rushed to unpack Oleo 10.
It came in a plastic bag, nicely packed.
Out of the box I had a couple of minutes of great fun simply observing the shapes and moving them around,
The way they aligned together was very elegant and smooth.
But as elegantly as they move, the pieces hide the solution very well.
I did have a pretty fun time with it, expecting that Yuu’s designs are ones of a mastermind, getting ready for the challenge.
Progress eventually came.
Finding the correct combination took some more minutes after that, and when I did,
I had this stupid smile on my face.
It was so cool just seeing all the pieces fall together. They seemed to enjoy themselves.
Moreover, I didn’t think that a packing rookie like myself can solve it so fast.
It took around 20 mins.
But oh what a 20 minutes it was!
And just like that, BOOM. My packingophobia is now completely gone.
In Puzzle Wanderer I keep all reviews spoiler-free, so the next part will be a bit censored.
I’m not sure if I was lucky or not with my relatively fast solution.
But I can tell for sure that if someone picks this one up with no prior knowledge about Asaka, he’ll have a hard time figuring it out!
Moreover, this one is perhaps a really good display of his design skills.
You can see everything from the beginning, and yet the solution is so sneaky, neat and oh-so-satisfying.
The Verdict
Oleo 10 is a great 2D packing puzzle.
I really recommend it for Wanderers, because of 3 factors:
It’s lower on the difficulty scale of Asaka’s designs;
It has a unique solution, and –
It can be quite a challenge for the unexperienced puzzler.
I don’t doubt Oleo 10 is a great entry point for Asaka’s popular puzzle series.
I can already imagine how elegantly the pieces will align together when I get and solve his other designs!