The Aztek Puzzle

This jigsaw puzzle is very difficult, but ultimately a lot of fun! It has a neat trick that allows you to solve it, which is very nice! A very fun toy!
Twitter: / flebpuzzles
Email: [e-mail]
Address: P.O. Box 53109, Medford, MA 02153
I got mine from Puzzlemaster: www.puzzlemaster.ca/browse/in...
I'm a Top-10 finisher in the US Puzzle Championship and just released a logic puzzle game on Steam! The game is called RYB: store.steampowered.com/app/547050
Intro song: Tekvision - Mycoplasma
Intro template: /SDJGRedstoneDJ

[@David-lf8yc]

FLEB "I cant say very much more without spoiling it" Also FLEB *Showed us the solution for the puzzle as the first shot*

[@FLEBpuzzles]

That's true! :p I meant spoiling how to get the solution!

[@DJKreepz]

FLEB well we could just pause the video and copy it. Not that anyone has one, or knows how to get one. Or wants one. Also, how come you call yourself a puzzle maker but haven't ever shown us any of your puzzles?

[@krazykrazy14100]

David E He actually has a game filled with puzzles on Steam :)

[@fortris]

+DJKreepz7218 ...why would anyone pause on the frame of the solution when A. the puzzle most likely comes pre-assembled with no need for a video like this to use to "cheat" and B. he always explains the solution to the puzzle in each video?

[@sw0rdz]

He should port it to the Switch. That would be an ideal game for me on the go.

[@permafrost8894]

I don't know why, but watching FLEB's puzzle vids are more soothing than watching a ASMR vid lol

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you very much! Soothing is not how people usually describe my voice... :p

[@mitchellmayo2145]

While your voice isn't a deep and meaty voice, the tone and attitude you have coupled with a good microphone makes the video soothing.

[@snuu_snuu]

agreed

[@AlinezBR]

i really like his voice :)

[@Logjambam]

for some reason all videos of people showcasing and solving puzzles are very relaxing

[@donut992]

Not sure how I found your channel but I love it!

[@rickrodiii6030]

Same i dont know how i found his channel -actually i was searching for puzzles XD-

[@skullcrusade3436]

Rick Rod penis?

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you very much!

[@rickrodiii6030]

Skull Crusade343 what

[@teamtrainor6346]

FLEB me tp

[@martynsmith6279]

I Love it when a new Fleb video appears in my sub feed!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you very much!

[@evanc4001]

Martyn Smithy

[@VICTORdoomm]

Martyn Smith congressional, you achieved the award for getting a reply from the uploaded *FLEB*

[@auggiecunningham]

Was using the wood grains intended by the creator, or was it just a loophole you found?

[@engelsseele2]

Both of which imo would be a correct way of doing things.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

The author of this puzzle is Jean-Claude Constantin, which makes me think this is the intended solution. I don't know for sure, as his puzzles don't generally come with solutions, but it's very much in his style!

[@TheWireEDM]

Probably "intended", as the puzzle looks like laser-cut from a piece of board, so intended in the sense that the pieces were unique enough and not painted and unintended in the sense that manufacturing this way is very easy and cheap.

[@Ewzenia]

hello, where i can find to buy this puzzle? :P

[@TheWireEDM]

So you are the maker of this puzzle or know the history of it?

[@torgo_]

It would be interesting to try this puzzle made from an opaque material, without the wood grain. It would still be quite possible but more difficult and you'd have to take a different approach. Makes me wonder whether the wood grain method was intentional.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Given the author, I think the wood grain was intentional. You definitely could solve it without it, though it would be much harder! You'd most likely have to use some "burr-like" techniques and find a way to test all possibilities without missing one.

[@jackass123455]

if you ignore the wood grain your solution goes from 1 to 4 possibilities

[@sungahn7386]

Your videos are sO satisfying to watch becaUse not only do you show us the puzzle at face value, you also walk us thRough with your insights and methods and strategies to solVIng the puzzles, anD whEn it is completed, it's just really satisfying! lOving thiS chAnnel so faR; i only subscribed a fEw dAys ago. and goodness, aM i reAlly glad that i joined. i especially love the puzZle hunt puzzles, because It feels like we are goiNg throuGh a maze with you. please do more of those!!!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

thank You very much! I'm trying tO focUs more on teAching people puzzles, RathEr than just solving the puzzle. Catch yOu on saturday for a videO about an impossibLe puzzle!

[@kuro13wolf]

Oh please, don't mock. He has a rare case of randomcapsitis.

[@TheRealBologna]

"Y I O U A R E C O O L" Nailed it

[@sungahn7386]

Rhyme Bito I'm pretty sure fleb isn't mocking me (Unless your comment was sarcastic haha)

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Oh whoops! That's embarrassing! Er, I hope Sung Ahn got the gist!

[@dirtwizard3769]

love your videos FLEB! anytime I'm in a chill mood and wanna watch a guy solve some puzzles i come to either you or Mr Puzzle. puts me in a calm mood and relaxes me! I'm not super into puzzling, i do own a few and have played around with friends puzzles, but i really love the art behind making these and the thought and skill needed to create such elaborate and challenging puzzles. keep up the good work! love the content.

[@Ganue512]

More great work from the awsome FLEB.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you!

[@AceMcBubblesIII]

this is an awesome puzzle and super easy solve!! great attention to detail!! I love watching the solving knowing history and everything you teach about these puzzles. you're cool.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you! Constantin is one of the greatest living puzzle designers!

[@Khonic23]

Wow, the fine detail to aid in the solution is awesome! Always look at the bigger picture

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I agree! The designer did a really good job with this puzzle!

[@TheWykedKara]

That is a really interesting puzzle, and I love the wood grain idea.

[@johnrheinheimer8651]

I love your videos FLEB. They are so different than other ones.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks!

[@natewheatshelf]

Great job Fleb! You are a master puzzler!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you!

[@collectivelight]

Looks like a fun puzzle! Nice tip on the wood grain feature.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks! I thought it was very interesting!

[@AngelaLacroix]

I love this channel I never knew I would be interested in puzzles like this before. You have opened me up to new things

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I'm glad! The goal when I started was to get more people interested in puzzles, so it always makes me very happy to hear that!

[@AngelaLacroix]

FLEB well you have gotten me interested in puzzles again

[@DevanKalaichelvan]

GENIUS!!!!...why never thought of that

[@Mazidox]

That's a very cool puzzle. I love solutions that hide in plain sight like that

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I do too!

[@beth-rg8bm]

Nice work Fleb!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks!

[@pacoadrianpaulpascua1771]

Hi Fleb! I hate solving puzzles but I love watching your video solving it! more power from the philippines!

[@bcbb997]

there are a lot of people saying that your way was kind of cheating, i see it as a smart way of solving a problem but not really a way to 'beat' the puzzle logically. the way i would try to beat this puzzle is by looking at one unique piece, which you showed before the intro was the center piece. since this piece does not fit well in any of the corners and since it is the only piece that looks like a nice 2 way symmetrical (square) piece we can assume this to be the center piece before knowing the solution. from this point on you can try certain configurations around this piece, and even though you dont have a way to check every piece right away, you can try out certain set-ups and find they fail. so you could sort of solve it like a normal puzzle by process of elimination. i dont have the puzzle myself so i cant try out if my method works, but i would love it it you would check :)

[@BigDBrian]

I find clever workarounds around trial and error to be the most natural form of a puzzle.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

You could try that. I think the puzzle would be more constrained at the edges, because constraining a piece's orientation depends on where it can't go, as opposed to where it can. But it may be possible to constrain the set of four pieces that the middle piece fits in. I do think you could start at one of those nubs and systematically go through the pieces. You have 13 pieces, each of which has 2 sides, and then multiple orientations, so you'd have 40-50 different cases for fitting a piece into a nub. But by trying to follow the edge, you should be able to rule most of those out pretty quickly.

[@thehutch4823]

bladerise I wouldn't call it cheater as it's a puzzle and puzzles are meant to test knowledge, and this clever work around is very knowledgeable

[@videos4mydad]

Fleb, you are truly the best at doing this type of videos. Your voice and style are just so unique and absolutely great for this. The pacing is perfect. Man, you are a pro and an artist.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you very much! I hope that it's getting people interested in puzzles!

[@davec8385]

Wow, that was a fantastic solution that I did not think of. Literally thinking outside the box. Props to you Fleb and have a good day.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks!

[@5434345]

Imagine the same puzzle, but made of metal or plastic.

[@fan-i-am]

That's cool! A great coffee table center-piece!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I agree! Now I need to get a coffee table...

[@hihihistudios2391]

I have no idea how i found this channel but i love it!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks!

[@johnnyp1986]

That puzzle looks really fun

[@NewZeroGames]

I love your videos!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks!

[@sw0rdz]

That's is so simple; it is crazy. From now and on, I'm going to pay attention to the grains for every wood puzzle I try to solve.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I struggled for a LONG time before finding that trick. It was a new one for me, too!

[@Br0teas]

I love the logic behind this puzzle

[@umnikos]

Really cool puzzle!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I thought it was unique and also had a neat trick!

[@boaz23mw2]

Wow, awsome and special solution.

[@spacewarpphotography1667]

That's brilliant!

[@danaondrackova3431]

Oooooh that is smart! I believe myself in those kinds of puzzles. I want some of them to solve and rage up to :D

[@SkateClipsAndTips]

Amazing how a little thing can help you solve it, I always find the starting part the hard part

[@weeksweeks9552]

Hi fleb, great video. I've enjoyed all your videos since the first few ones. I have a suggestion, maybe you can recommend us a puzzle to do together every month, and at the end of the month you can do the solution video for that puzzle.

[@Quetzachapin]

That was really amazing..

[@TruelyMadlyShallowly]

Maybe I'm a stickler for "moral correctness" but it feels to me like a betrayal of the puzzle to look at wood grain, like it's cheating.

[@hammerpark]

To me thats a reocurring theme. The puzzles often have solution which only comes from the real world and they would never work in a computer but thats the fun part of it. Thinking completely outside the box and looking at it from different perspectives and accepting the physical limitations and clues

[@YK-tr5ti]

abruzzo02 I gotta agree with you, a puzzle like this isn't about logic it's about things like how it looks. But on the other hand without the wood grain guide the puzzle would be tedious.

[@etopowertwon]

It feels like it still would be possible to solve it(though with rotated grain), just take more time. And you don't have to start from the corner, you can try from the center.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I wouldn't say it's a "betrayal of the puzzle", but it is, certainly, thinking outside the box! You could also solve it without the wood grain, but it would be even more difficult than it already is. Given the author of this puzzle (Constantin), I believe this is the intended solve path of the puzzle, as it's close to his puzzle style!

[@TheAguydude]

If the author did not intend solvers to use the wood grain, the pieces could easily have been taken from different pieces of wood. Considering that the puzzle is probably laser cut, I doubt that would compromise how well it would fit together.

[@puzzlesolution4007]

That's a neat puzzle, I'll have to look into getting it or something similar!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Puzzles by Constantin are great! I will warn you, though, they can get very expensive...

[@puzzlesolution4007]

FLEB They are really nice, do you know of any puzzles that are affordable?

[@alexg4261]

that was actually a really cool puzzle

[@TheDBest1994]

So we're going with the grain in this puzzle. Neat!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

:V

[@zaabmarine]

When he said "and as always..." I was expecting the word "enjoy" like how Chef Rob from Food Wishes say it. LOL. I love this channel, BTW. ☺

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks! I haven't seen Food Wishes, but I'll check it out!

[@Grozdor]

This puzzle satisfies my eyes!

[@RevDood]

I love how the wood grain adds a small subtlety to the puzzle. It's really not something that I'd have thought of immediately either. Good video FLEB :)

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks! Constantin is probably the world's greatest living mechanical puzzle designer, so it's always a joy to solve one of his puzzles!

[@RevDood]

I am a huge fan of escape the room type puzzle games so when I see that you do puzzles with similar concepts (e.g. the lotus box) I especially love them. It's great to see that puzzle designers can make something so intricate that they include multiple different tools to add a variety of steps to solve the puzzle.

[@donnypassary5798]

I was going to comment about whether the creator intended the puzzle to be solved that way, but seems the others already mentioned that. Now I'm curious to see more of his works though. Nice puzzle by the way!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

He's incredibly prolific! He's probably designed over 500 puzzles by this point.

[@tanksalot5671]

I really love this puzzle in articular because it has that "Method to the Madness" It appears to be a "trial and error" type of thing but there is a simple yet not blatantly obvious trick to it.

[@midwestskiesinnyc]

😱 I would never have thought of looking at the wood

[@jazzy_jz]

Wow! That was a really creative way to solve it :)

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks! I think it's the intended solution!

[@jazzy_jz]

Cool :)

[@icecuboi]

I love you fleb!

[@Kelis-melissa]

I really like this one! :)

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I really liked it too! Constantin is a very good designer!

[@edinborogh]

Awesome!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks!

[@mjgayle52]

well done!

[@netsonix6147]

me trying to solve the jigsaw puzzle *takes off all pieces* *shoves them all back in* *thinking i solved it*

[@delp]

Fleb, great video once again. Any clue where I can buy one of these?

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you! I forgot to post the link again! I bought mine from Puzzlemaster: www.puzzlemaster.ca/browse/wood/european/9928-aztek

[@rubixman7x7]

That's a very similar method that I used to solve my Sudoku Rubik's cube. I can solve a Rubik's cube if I know the solved state so a Sukdoku cube was difficult. However, the stickers had a very slight background pattern that I was able to use to figure out the solved state.

[@ValsNemesis]

genius as always

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you!

[@TheJPUniverse]

Cool!

[@julia4740]

love u fleb

[@kuro13wolf]

I love it. One thing I hate about puzzles is when they require tedious trial and error to complete, such as the dreaded Chest of Hundreds that so many people seem to love.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

With a lot of those puzzles, the trick is to find a way to systematically limit the options. I'm with you that I'd rather find a trick like the wood grain, but I understand why people like them.

[@kuro13wolf]

At least with the version I own, there's no real indication as to what size the finished puzzle is, so limiting the options is a tedious process in of itself. It would be a lot cooler if it was all cut from the same chunk of wood (which is not the case with mine) so you can use the wood grains as an advantage.

[@antequerini]

very clever Flebby, very clever...............

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you!

[@grandexandi]

what a beautiful toy

[@mdsi24601]

FLEB, thank you for all the great videos! You have refreshed my interest in puzzles and puzzle-games and I am really enjoying it. Last week, I bought and played your game "RYB" and really enjoyed it (can recommend it to everyone). Do you have some recommendations for computer puzzle-games? Which ones are your favorites?

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you! I'm really glad you enjoyed RYB! Here are a few PC puzzle games that come to mind as being really good: -Linelight -Circles -Cosmic Express -The Witness -A Good Snowman is Hard to Build -Stephen's Sausage Roll -Sokobond

[@mdsi24601]

Thank you for the list. I will make sure to check them out!

[@RamiAnadaniMedical]

Max Ihmels you can play The Room 1,2 and 3 on IPad or Iphone.Thet are amazing games! Have you played them Fleb?

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Yes! Loved those games! I would definitely recommend them as well. The list I posted wasn't comprehensive, just what came to mind!

[@nunyabiznez4408]

nice attention to detail.

[@territango6132]

yay a new vid

[@Wiggityowned]

It's like solving a regular puzzle. You first find the border pieces, then work your way in; with this you're already provided the border, just have to match the "design" on it

[@FLEBpuzzles]

That's a good way of looking at it!

[@rustycleavage]

I love your intro

[@popcornpretzel6720]

brilliant

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thanks!

[@joshuawilliams994]

When I looked at the shape of the puzzle, I figured it would have 4 quadrants with exactly the same solution, so I would have put the pieces in groups of 4, then worked on one corner to find the solution. Since there was only one of the last shape, I knew that would be in the centre.

[@tiberiu_nicolae]

Next thing you know, the manufacturer will just assemble the puzzle with pieces from different boards

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Let's hope not!

[@mazerescue]

It looks like a wooden maze, almost expected a Minotaur to jump out.

[@lucysaysrawr13]

There is this cellphone app called Blackbox that i think you should really check out. Im no puzzler but through watching your videos ive tried to use some skills to solve the puzzles in the app. Its tons of fun its something i hope you can review in the future!!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I've played it! It was fun!

[@kenthien353]

when he put in the last piece and finish the puzzle, I instintively though of YUGIOH.

[@kaiofficial7168]

Please do a video on the Cast Elk

[@anterlop]

great vid

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Thank you very much!

[@anterlop]

no problem, there's something in the way you talk that makes you sound interesting, informative yet also keeping the intriguing atmosphere that accompanies puzzling. keep it up!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Will do! :)

[@khari3836]

i want that puzzle so badly

[@Cor789]

What if it is made of plastic instead of metal?

[@infinitygeek1571]

This puzzle is so goddamn beautiful

[@FLEBpuzzles]

There's just something about puzzles cut out of wood that makes them look great!

[@JarodJL]

How clever, I think I would have taken forever to notice that.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

It took me a heckuva long time to notice it!

[@nathztolin9130]

where can i get one? it looks fun..

[@wiipaper1]

Does someone knows from where does FLEB get all this puzzles ??? I want some of them :c

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I've tried to include links when I have them. I really need to go back through my old videos and update them, though. This one has a link in the description!

[@sonaruo]

there is 2 axis symmetry in the puzzle so how hard can it be? there must be some pieces at least 2 times or 4 times, and as you said the last one has the 4 way symmetry the whole puzzle has.

[@jondowe5252]

A good hint for friends trying to solve this would be it all made from one piece of wood.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Yeah, that's a good hint!

[@pabloroman1]

"Be careful to match up the wood grains" - Proceeds to not match up the wood grains (the last piece is upside-down) 😂

[@genericasian309]

its is really the same trick with regular picture puzzle, i always do the corner first by matching the pattern on the sides.

[@masonvillegas3434]

I would never think of the solution

[@andopodes]

I've always used this method for wood puzzles! People always think I'm such a whiz with jigsaw puzzles and the like :b

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Nice!

[@samtibbitts]

I kind of want to put it together with the edge at a quarter turn to the frame and the center piece an additional quarter turn

[@GreenGod]

3:32 that piece looks like a jack o lantern

[@kordellcurl7559]

I was thinking of doing it inside out because there is one piece that would fit in the middle than work your way out

[@rfixe]

it seems to me that that is a simple puzzle (a very complex shape form puzzle but still a "put together the pices" puzzle). I don't think that the wood stripes are there for help... Yes, you can use that, but it's kind a cheating.... Now you explain the right process in the video, first you make the edge, than the center. The hard part is doing that right, but that is the main goal of every puzzle. You can try it by just simply paint or cover the the wood stripes (or just ignore them). The shape of the puzzle can be rotate making the stripes useless and thats why I think that using them is kind of cheating... But, EIH! You solved it right?! I guess it's a way xD

[@szyma0077]

do you know some page where i can buy that type of puzzles

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I forgot to post the link! I bought mine from Puzzlemaster: www.puzzlemaster.ca/browse/wood/european/9928-aztek

[@BenHC]

not sure how I got unsubscribed but I'm glad I checked and saw you had some new videos up. I feel as though I too would have used the grain but I wouldn't have been so confident that it was intentional (unless the creator had a reputation for this sort of thing). I wonder how much longer the solve is based on brute force permutations of the most constrained areas. Ultimately I don't think that would would be more fulfilling but it might seem like less of a betrayal of intentions.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

The creator of this puzzle is Constantin, who does have a reputation for this sort of thing! The solve is possible, but like you said, it's about brute forcing permutations, which is pretty long.

[@jeekee8]

Is there a link to buy this puzzle? My brother and his girlfriend love puzzles!

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I got mine from Puzzlemaster, but it looks like they've sold out: www.puzzlemaster.ca/browse/inventors/constantin/9928-aztek

[@tygrahof9268]

Would like to see an blank one of these (no grain). A little harder but still fun.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

It would be fun! But much, much harder!

[@oliverkline5240]

Okay Ive been a sub for a little while now and I still cannot understand how the F R I C K you solve a puzzle by looking at the HECKING WOOD GRAIN LIKE WHAT I DONT UNDERSTAND

[@3dpprofessor]

I initially clicked on this thinking of replicating it in 3D printing, but that would make your solution clues blind, since the parts would have no grain that matched up, as in a wood cut piece like this.

[@Buglet]

Fleb Iv been solving puzzles since I was very young I'm 15 now and I'm able to solve 3D puzzles and other hard ones the 3D puzzels normally take 2 or 3 weeks

[@FLEBpuzzles]

Nice!

[@jamesp13152]

Hey FLEB, I didn't watch the vid. I want to know where to get it so I can try it myself. Help? Amazon?

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I got mine from Puzzlemaster, but it looks like they've sold out since the video released. :( www.puzzlemaster.ca/browse/inventors/constantin/9928-aztek

[@jamesp13152]

Thanks FLEB, great vids. Love doing any kind of puzzle. Except crossword. Math minded I guess.

[@kevinvu5432]

the puzzle can be logical without the wood pattern. in fact I challenge you to try it without it and see how easy the patterns you can pick up.

[@FLEBpuzzles]

I didn't mean to imply that it's not logical without the wood pattern, that's just the way that I ended up solving it logically!

[@askthepizzaguy]

I feel like folks saying "this is cheating" also think that the only way to solve any ordinary puzzle is to do it with the picture side down. If the puzzle designer didn't want there to be such a solution, then they could have used completely flat colors and a plastic base. Would have been just as cheap. Or they could have made it so the solution actually involves pieces which are placed in the puzzle against the grain of the wood. It would look strange, but also be a harder solve.