Assembly/Disassembly Puzzles and Tips for Solving Them

Assembly/disassembly puzzles also known as disentangle puzzles can be tricky to solve but are one of the more popular forms of brain teaser puzzles you can find in the physical form because they provide a variety of different challenges and are meant to be fun with a satisfying pay off when solved. These types of brain teasers will often look simple at first glance but usually have a challenge that is far more complicated than first meets the eye and it is that simplicity of the design that draws a lot of people in because the simplicity of the puzzles makes them look very solvable even when it is stated it is a very difficult challenge so there is often a mentality of this can't be as difficult as being claimed. These puzzles vary in difficulty from very easy for beginners in which you can learn the basics of this type of challenge to extremely difficult that is going to draw on all your experience from doing these types of challenges to complete them. There are new assembly/disassembly brain teasers being released all the time so there will likely always be new challenges even for those who have had a go or completed all the ones that have already been released and therefore these types of puzzles should have a healthy future. The goal of these brain teasers is always the same and that is to take them apart into their individual pieces and then put them back together again but how this is done is the challenge.

When first trying to solve a disentangle brain teaser you should first inspect it very closely in order to spot anything unique or out of place as this will very likely be a big clue as to how to solve it. The more difficult challenges will try to hide or obscure these clues as best as they can and the clue may even seem to be just part of the pattern of the puzzle but are actually a very important aspect of how to solve it. The shape of the pieces of the puzzle can be big clues as well as the shape of a piece will indicate what it can pass through in terms of holes or passages and what movements it can make. The way the pieces are connected and what movements this allows is another aspect of the puzzle you will need to pay attention to as it may be obvious what movement is required or it could be that you are going to need to make a unique or unconventional move to separate them or get to the next phase of the challenge.

Remembering how you took it apart is very important unless you want to make life very difficult for yourself and you should take as much time as you can doing this so that putting it together will be a much quicker and less frustrating experience. How difficult it is to remember can depend on the number of moves and pieces plus the complexity of the moves and it may not be possible for you to remember it all but the more you remember the easier it should be so anything you do remember will be an aid and of benefit. Memory can be improved with practice but if you struggle with memorizing things then writing it down can be an option that could be done in note form to save you writing a lot of information down.

Making the first move can be the most difficult part of this type of challenge as there will either be many options to choose from or there will seem to be no obvious first step. When there are many options to choose from selecting the wrong step may lead you down a long path through a series of moves to a dead-end or right back to where you started from so you can either try to look ahead and follow the path with your eyes to see if it leads to a dead-end or if this is not possible you will just have to tick each path off one at a time until you find the right one which can be very time consuming and irritating but there may often be no other way than trial and error. When there is no obvious first step to make then you will have to, as previously mentioned, inspect the puzzle very careful for anything that is unique or out of place or any sort of separation point to work with and usually when you have found the first move it will get the ball rolling and the next move or moves will become clear.

This type of puzzle may present multiple challenges, if this is the case, you must first work out in what order you do them which may not become obvious until you have completed each phase but you should try to visualize the moves in your head before you do them. If it is not obvious which order to do them then it will be a case of trial and error as there is usually only one solution that will work in which the moves must be done in a specific order and you will have to make an educated guess which experience should help with. Having a clear plan before you attempt a puzzle that has many challenges and moves to it should stop you from feeling overwhelmed by it and make what seems like an impossible task manageable but some disentangle challenges will not allow for this and you will just have to figure it out as you go along.

These types of puzzles can often incorporate other puzzles like mazes in which the pieces separate when you have completed the maze and exited it which could involve one piece of the puzzle being used to navigate the maze on the other piece. When mazes are involved with disentangle puzzles there could be two mazes to solve that may need to be done simultaneously to make it more of a challenge and this brings an extra element to a maze challenge and these will require plenty of practice to solve as you must keep track of both pieces which when alternating between them can be confusing and disorientating.

The assembly/disassembly challenge may simply be and what is quite common is to align the pieces in a certain way, which may only take a few moves, and then the pieces of the puzzle come apart and this is a challenge that is repeated with many disentangle brain teasers as there are many ways puzzles could be aligned to make them come apart. Another challenge that is common with these sorts of challenges is that you must pass one piece or multiple pieces through a gap of another piece to get them apart and this will often mean you have to position one piece or multiple pieces in a certain specific way which may mean using your imagination or a lot of trial and error to find the correct positioning of the pieces to get it to pass through the gap.

These brain teasers can be quite technical in the moves you have to perform and that may require a lot of practice to be able to perform them quickly or to be able to perform them at all. They can also require that you have steady hands so you can hold the pieces still and perform the moves in a slow precise manner which will require you to be able to get and find a good grip of the puzzle as well. If you are forcing the pieces then you are very likely doing it wrong as the solution will be designed so that it can be done in a fast and smooth way when done correctly and you may risk damaging the puzzle if you force it too much. The move you are almost always looking for should require little force and feel like a natural movement that will lead to either the solution or the next phase of the puzzle. Sometimes you can force it and have some success but this can lead to trouble in getting to a part of the puzzle you are not supposed to and the pieces may even become stuck or you do get the pieces separated but don't get the true satisfaction of how the puzzle is supposed to be solved. The pieces can often be quite small that you have to work with and again it is only through practice and learning how to grip a certain piece to perform a particular move will you likely be able to perform them in an efficient and quick manner.

Reassembling the puzzle may either be the challenge itself as taking it apart was just setting up the challenge or it could be the more difficult part of the challenge or the equal of assembling it. If it is the challenge itself then taking it apart should be easy and quick so as to not give away too easily how the puzzle fits together but there will usually be clues in the way the pieces are shaped, the patterns on them and the size of the shapes. If there are many pieces to reassemble then it can be the first few pieces that you put together that will be the most difficult as once you have a few pieces in place then it often becomes very obvious where the rest of them go. When assembling a brain teaser with many pieces it can be one piece that is the spine of the puzzle that you can use as the basis of the puzzle to connect all the other pieces to and it is usually going to be the biggest piece or most unique piece. The shape of the overall brain teaser is going to be of help as if it is a ball or sphere then the pieces it is made up of will have rounded edges that will at least tell you which way round they go as the rounded bits will form the exterior of the brain teaser. If you have a picture of the complete puzzle this would be a big help which is usually one the box or packaging it is provided with unless you want to make the challenge as difficult as possible. The pieces of the puzzle are going to most of the time only fit together in one way so the shape of these pieces will be your ultimate guide to completing it with one shaped piece fitting perfectly into the other and therefore it can be done by trial and error as well as skill though this may take some time to do. Reassembling it may be just a case of memory and retracing the steps you took to get it separated which could be difficult because it involved a lot of moves or that these moves were complex to perform which is why it is important to take your time taking it apart so you have a clear idea of how the puzzle works. Doing a task in reverse or backwards is a challenge in itself and a unique skill that requires you to remember what you have done then visualise it in reverse and then perform what you have visualised.

If you are completely stuck then you could, first of all, take a break and come back to it with a fresh mind when the next step may become clear because tired and frustrated minds are going to likely miss small details or sometimes even obvious moves. If this doesn't work and you are getting nowhere then you could read up on the puzzle online or watch a video that you will often be able to find to look for hints or clues but not the full solution in order to help you with the next step of the challenge. If you know someone who also does these types of challenges, which could be online via social media or a forum or could be in person, then that person, if they have solved it, would be ideal for asking questions or showing you how to overcome the problem you are facing and you could ask them to help you with a particular part of the puzzle you are struggling with rather than have them explain the whole puzzle and its solution to you. It is better to finish the puzzle even if it was aided by hints or looking at the solution so that the next time you have a go at that type of challenge you will be better prepared for it and have a better chance of solving it by yourself.

Experience helps a lot and the more you do these sorts of puzzles the easier it will likely be to spot what you have to do to solve the puzzle and what clues to look out for as these types of puzzles do repeat themselves somewhat in terms of the challenge and the way they solve. It is also better to start with the simpler disentangle challenges and work your way up through the various levels of difficulty as the puzzles are given difficulty ratings which will help you select a puzzle for your ability. If you do try a puzzle that is one of the more difficult ones it will likely either be impossible for you to solve or so difficult that it just won't be a fun experience and you would likely need a lot of luck to solve it rather than the way you want to solve it which is through skill.

Trying other forms of puzzles will often be a big help when trying to solve these disentangle puzzles because as mentioned they do incorporate other puzzles like mazes, for example, into them so if you have tried mazes before this will help a lot. Any sort of construction puzzle even a 3D jigsaw will help as skills learnt from one puzzle will often translate to another one and some disentangle challenges do require putting pieces back together again in a manner similar to a 3D jigsaw. It may even be that it is not a physical puzzle that is going to be of most help in solving these types of puzzles but rather written ones like a riddle or a brain teaser that will help develop your logical and lateral thinking which are skills that translate to and can help solve disentangle puzzles.

In conclusion, there is much to learn about how to solve disentangle puzzles as they present many different challenges of varying degrees of difficulty and the tips given along with practice and experience can help you to hopefully solve them in faster times and eventually master them.