Greg Gelf

Greg Gelf owns this store. He is also, occasionally, a puzzle designer - though he would be the first to tell you he is early in that career.

Shinobi

Shinobi is Greg's design. Three flat pieces, and one goal: arrange them into a perfectly symmetrical shape on a flat surface, with no overlapping.

It looks like something you would solve in a couple of minutes. Most people do not. Medium difficulty, three pieces, 30 to 60 minutes, and it trains spatial thinking in the most direct way possible - there is nowhere to hide when the whole puzzle is lying flat in front of you.

Why Design at All

Greg spends most of his time finding other people's puzzles and getting them printed properly. Designing is the smaller half of the job, and the motivation is simple: he likes handing someone a challenge and watching the moment it clicks. That a-ha is the entire point of the shop, and designing is just another way of producing one.

More may follow. For now there is Shinobi, and it is better than a first design has any right to be.