The Nine Bars Puzzle #62

9 hexagonal sticks & 9 dowels. Some different lengths. Four stick-dowel pairs joined to form elbows. Four stick-dowel pairs joined to form cross pieces. 3 different elbows. 2 different cross pieces. 10 pieces in total.

The puzzle is to assemble all pieces so that all holes are occupied by dowels. There is one solution and one order of assembly to complete the puzzle.

Although it might be seen as being similar to the Cuckoo Nest, Stewart considered it’s dissimilarities to be most interesting about the puzzle. Unlike the Cuckoo Nest it has different length pieces; it also has cross pieces.

He considered it unlikely the puzzle could be solved by random trial and error; rather that the puzzler should study the puzzle and consider the principle of how all puzzles of this type work.

The Nine Bars puzzle is known amongst puzzlers around the world as a difficult one. There were just 10 of them in 1983 & 1984 and they were shipped disassembled. In fact, because most of them were never assembled Stewart created a solution sheet for this puzzle; something he never normally did. If you’re game you can ask Brian to ship them this way too.

Brian has built the puzzle in the reverse direction to Stewart’s drawings, after all we are downunder.

Size: Hex pieces are 95mm long.