Today I will be showing you how to make this knex puzzle. It is kinda like a jigsaw puzzle, only you solve it by shape, not picture, and you do it on a board. You can choose from a few different skill levels, but best of all you can make your own! Its really easy and fast to make, and lots of fun!

Step 1: Parts List

Parts time!

There are four different sets of pieces, and all are supposed to be different difficulty. (I ranked them for how hard it was for me to solve, it may be different for you)

Board:

Connectors

Purple/Gray 3D - 41

Blue 3D - 9

Rods

Green - 40

White - 41

Easy Pieces:

Connectors

Red - 4

Yellow - 12

White - 9

Rods

Greed - 11

White - 9

Intermediate Pieces:

Connectors

Red - 4

Yellow - 12

White - 9

Rods

Green - 13

White - 9

Hard Pieces:

Connectors

Red - 8

Yellow - 24

White - 18

Rods

Green - 38

White - 23

Very Hard Pieces:

Connectors

Red - 8

Yellow - 24

White - 18

Rods

Green - 30

White - 16

Step 2: Board

You can't have a puzzle without a board, can you? ⁽ᴼʰ ʷᵃᶦᵗ ʸᵒᵘ ᶜᵃⁿ... ᵇᵘᵗ ᵗʰᵃᵗ'ˢ ⁿᵒᵗ ᵗʰᵉ ᵖᵒᶦⁿᵗ⁾

This is fairly simple, just a 5x5 board of 3D pieces with white rods on top.

Note: If you aren't going to make two layer pieces, you can replace the white rods on top with green rods. They work better with one layer pieces, as it is easier to rearrange the pieces if you get them in the wrong order.

Step 3: Easy Pieces

These pieces are the easiest skill level in my opinion, and there is a lot of ways you can put it together to make a square!

Just make the pieces in the pictures, the last pic shows them all.

Step 4: Intermediate Pieces

Even though these pieces should be a bit harder to solve than the last, they are still easy to put together!

Step 5: Hard Pieces

Now is when making the pieces gets hard. Pay close attention to the pictures - if you don't you might end up with an unsolvable puzzle.

I really like these pieces, because it is not too hard, but not too easy to put together.

Step 6: Very Hard Pieces

These are the very hard pieces, and they are pretty hard to make! (but harder to solve!) Just follow the pictures closely, and you should be fine.

Step 7: Making Your Own Pieces

The best part about this puzzle is that it is easy to make your own pieces!

First put all the connectors on the board (12 yellow, 9 white, 4 red) in their right spots, then connect them with white and green rods to make the pieces! Dump the pieces out of the board, and try to solve them!

With two layer pieces, you make the pieces pretty much the same way as the one layer pieces, except you connect some parts to the ones above them.

You can even try some others things, like a three layer puzzle or a board that isn't square, or whatever else you can think of!

Step 8: Done

You are done making this puzzle! Now to solve it...

How to solve:

The white connectors go in the middle rods, the yellow on the edges, and the red in the corners. You have to fit the pieces together so that it makes a perfect, solid square.

For the two layer puzzles, it is almost the same thing, only you have to make both layers a solid, two layer, square. Sometimes you will have to lift or move a piece to fit others under it.

Tips:

Solve the edges first.

On two layer puzzles, try to solve most of the bottom layer first, then work on the top.

On pieces that only connect with white rods, you can twist the pieces to make a bit different shape. If you can't solve the puzzle, try twisting some of the pieces to see if it helps.

Have fun! :)