4 October 2017 Sue Young

The Louvre sequential discovery puzzle

Craftsman Range puzzle made in July 2017.   325 made.  All sold.
Original Price: AU$190.00 ( AU$172.73 ex Australian Tax)

Some puzzles have resold at Auction during 2019. At Baxterweb auction in December 2019 one of these puzzles sold for USD700.00 (that converts to about AU$1022.00)
Another sold at Cubicdissection Marketplace in March 2019  for USD 380.00 and four others were Auctioned at Puzzle Paradise between May and October 2019. Prices range from USD299.00 to USD425.00

Sold on Puzzle Paradise Auction March 2022 Euro 1000 (About AU$1480.00) and again in May 2024 USD 910 (About AU$1390) and again in February 2024 GBP 676 (About AU$1332) .

In August 2024  one of these puzzles resold at Puzzle Paradise auction for USD 1810.00 (at the current exchange rate that’s about AU$2760.00)

France has lost the Mona Lisa!!!!!!
Find the flagpole and the French Flag. Find the Mona Lisa. Raise the French Flag so it stays at full mast above The Louvre.

The Louvre is the latest sequential discovery puzzle designed and made by Brian Young here in Australia at Mr Puzzle. You’ll find a lot of puzzling packed into this small puzzle.

Discover tools to progress through the puzzle until the Mona Lisa is found and the flag can be flown at full mast above The Louvre. To do the puzzle you’ll need to remove pieces that may have to be re-used as tools. Once you determine how to use them you can advance towards to the solution. 

Depending on how you break down the moves to open the puzzle there are at least three separate locks, each with a number of steps.  But none of these locks are magnetic locks.  And yet we’ve not said here that there is absolutely no hitting allowed. Undue force that can damage the puzzle is not required and never allowed.

Brian has taken a unique lock he invented for his Limited Edition SMS Box; arguably the hardest lock, certainly it caused many people a lot of trouble to solve, and has built a variation of that lock into The Louvre.

The way the lock was incorporated in the SMS Box there were no visual clues to help solve it. Once you’ve solved a couple of steps in The Louvre you will be able to see enough of this lock to give you an idea of what’s expected.  But, to compensate for allowing you to see the lock, Brian changed it slightly to make it behave quite differently to the lock in the SMS Box; an added annoying little sting in the tail (or tails?).

This is a similar concept to what he did when he made The Houdini Torture Cell where Brian took one of the locks out of The Opening Bat puzzle;  Brian wanted more people to have access to a really good lock than just those 65 who owned the bat. He also wanted people to see and understand what was happening to solve that lock.  So he built a more straightforward puzzle around just that lock.  He’s done something similar here although The Louvre has more steps and locks than Houdini did. 

The puzzle is made from Papua New Guinean Rosewood. You can see from the photos that there are variations in the colour. The majority of the puzzles are the mid range honey brown tones.
There are many machined brass parts and some small magnets in the puzzle.
The detailed engraving of the façade of the Louvre is on the front of the puzzle only.

Size: 145mm x 45mm x 65mm
The puzzle will be sent boxed and with a full step by step solution.

There have been a couple of indepenent reviews of The Louvre published. We’re proud to say the response has been pretty positive.
http://allardspuzzlingtimes.blogspot.com/
https://boxesandbooze.blogspot.com/2017/08/louvre-is-in-air.html

 

Tags IPP37, brian young, sequential discovery, the louvre, paris