My two cents on two of Wil Strijbos' cylinder puzzles. I'll start with the Aluminum cylinder.
Of the two, I prefer the Aluminum cylinder because it gives you a lot more to work with. In the pictures, it's the one with the gap between the lid and the body (and the number 31). The lid can be pushed down, and it pops back up with a spring.
It's a gravity puzzle with a pattern to solving it, which is nice so that you can remember what you've done. You can hear stuff rattling around inside, and after a little bit of playing, the rattling changes (and you can feel a ball bearing in the little hole in the bottom).
Of the two, I prefer the Aluminum cylinder because it gives you a lot more to work with. In the pictures, it's the one with the gap between the lid and the body (and the number 31). The lid can be pushed down, and it pops back up with a spring.
It's a gravity puzzle with a pattern to solving it, which is nice so that you can remember what you've done. You can hear stuff rattling around inside, and after a little bit of playing, the rattling changes (and you can feel a ball bearing in the little hole in the bottom).
So, there's ball bearings involved, and you can 'unsolve' it partially and still have the lid stay on. You also need to move the ball bearings from Point A to Point B. No more to say on the solution front.
I like the Aluminum cylinder for the reason that even if you can't solve it, pushing the lid and tilting it around is still therapeutic. And it's shiny.
Now for the washer cylinder. I can't provide much more than a physical description because I haven't solved it yet :) . Like the Aluminum cylinder, it has a hole in the bottom. The similarities end...the Washer cylinder, like the name implies, has a washer inside of it. The washer prevents you from peeking inside of the hole >:) .
The washer, then, moves up and down on a post on the inside, and has no other apparent purpose than making things more difficult for the solver (though it could also serve to hold any small parts inside the puzzle - don't want to lose things, now do we).
Other than a slight rattling when you shake the puzzle (like a small flake of metal rattling around?), there is absolutely no feedback that you're doing things right. No clinking or moving, no bells or whistles. The lid can spin but not be pushed. Makes solving very difficult...
That's about it. Most people can solve the Aluminum cylinder within 15 minutes or so (an enjoyable enough solve), but the Washer cylinder is less...forgiving. Still working on a solution, so once I figure the Washer cylinder out, I'll do another post re-evaluating.
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