https://www.getgroovetube.com/

Did anyone else seen those? I almost bought one at one store today.

Yes! I recieved two as gifts. A team of friends and I struggled for quite a long time before the first solve. We were amazed when we turned them over and saw the rankings were "simple" and "easy".

I found them at Walmart or some such place for 6.99 in Vancouver and in DC. $19.99 is a bit steep.

I guess u didn't see the price for shipping? $9.95.......

I've seen them somewhere recently. Could have been Toys"R"Us. I figured that they are the same or very similar to a Doolorinth puzzle, but much bigger in size.

Looks like a USA reseller for:

Dael O Ring


already some time available in NL; also via some toy shops.
Above website even mentions 'Groove Tube'.

Quote: Spin Master’s has the exlcusive rights (for Dael O RIng) for USA, Canada, Mexico, France and U.K.


- Splinter

I have a couple of them that I picked up in the clearance section at Toys R Us for about $6 each.

They took me about 5 minutes each to solve. The orange one is supposed to be more difficult and the yellowe the easiest but I really couldn't tell the difference. These are the kinds of puzzles that will eventually solve themselves if you keep playing with them.

It is possible to solve maze puzzles systematically, in a real maze you walk around and you hold one hand against one side of the maze all the time, you will find the way out eventually. You can use the same system with these maze tubes, use the small pin as your hand.

I've seen them at Barns & Noble here.

There was a plan to make 6 of these but considering the fact that the first ones are already on clearance racks I have my doubts that they will bother with the rest.

Except for using a cylinder instead of a flat surface, it's not really similar to Oskar's Cooksey mazes.

The distinguishing traits of Groove Tube are 1) a spring-loaded pin permits you to 'skip' over the maze when putting the ring on, but requires you to traverse the whole maze to take it off; 2) the maze is hidden from view at all times, so it has to be solved entirely by feel. These features don't depend on the cylindrical shape--they could have been implemented on a flat maze.

Likewise, the distinguishing traits of Cooksey Maze are 1) there is no continuous path--the maze is made up of small disconnected regions; 2) you can 'switch' between the two different sides at any time, thus jumping between two regions. Unlike Groove Tube there's no spring-loaded pin, so you have to go through the whole maze to put the ring on or take it off. Also unlike Groove Tube, you're supposed to look at the maze while you solve it but you face the challenge of navigating between paths that aren't directly connected to each other.

I've actually implemented a flat version of Cooksey Maze, shown here under the title of Cooksey's Griddle. It's inherently a two-sided maze, but I designed mine to be flipped so the user has to solve a second two-sided maze (interleaved into the first). I wasn't satisfied with it as a puzzle (too complicated) but it demonstrates how Richard Cooksey's premise of a switchable maze doesn't require the use of a cylinder.

In the UK a shop called Poundland sell the Groove Tube puzzle for just £1. They have Yellow and the Orange versions. I bought one today.