The Big Pineapple belongs to QiYi’s series of transparent Kongming locks. Its name refers to the “pineapple”, one of the traditional shapes of Chinese interlocking-piece puzzles, which QiYi reproduces in translucent coloured plastic instead of wood. This QiYi series started with nine models and now has more than thirty, each with its own shape and assembly.

• BrandQiYi
• TypeKongming lock (burr puzzle)
• MaterialTranslucent coloured plastic
• MagnetsNo

What a Kongming lock is

Kongming locks, or Luban locks, are burr puzzles (puzzles made of pieces that interlock and hold one another in place) from the Chinese tradition. The challenge is twofold: take the figure apart by finding the order in which the pieces can come out, and then put it back together. There are no colours to match and no layers to turn; it all comes down to observing how the pieces fit together.

Design

The transparency of the plastic lets you see some of how the pieces cross as you handle it, which helps you understand the locking without revealing the order in which they come out. It has no magnets or internal mechanisms: the assembly is held together only by the way its parts fit.