Another wonderful and challenging from one of the best metal puzzle makers around today. It’s a pretty little puzzle and even though the first impression makes one think that it consists of several pieces. Not so. It is made of only 2 pieces, but unusually shaped. You will soon see that the 2 pieces are made of 2 different colors, gold and silver. With a puzzle like this one usually shakes it to see if there are any moving parts concealed inside, could there be magnets involved, or does some part slide. Well, none of these approaches seem to work and [Read More...]

Cast Box is one of the most recent Hanayama puzzles, released at the end of 2012. This is Yuta Akira’s first contribution to the Cast Series, and I might add a great addition. The puzzle made its first appearance at the 2011 IPP Design Competition, then known as “Simple Solid Ring Maze” and also with a wooden frame. Understandably, Hanayama later changed its name to a simpler version, the Cast Box.

I must confess, the first time I saw this puzzle I immediately thought of Oskar van Deventer and his Cast O’Gear. The concepts of [Read More...]

The Parallel Dimensions has a bit of everything. Its got 3 large rings, 1 piece with a closed loop at each end, 2 “U” shaped pieces, with closed loops at each end, a wooden ball, a fairly large wooden cube, and a cord which passes through the ball and the cube as well as entwined around the two “U” shaped pieces and one of the rings. The object is to remove that ring. It looks a little intimidating, and for good reason; it is not simple and has a Difficulty of 10 out of 10. As with other [Read More...]

Hana Yama make an excellent collection of cast puzzles.  Their puzzles are exceptionally well made, a real challenge to solve, are immediate attention grabbers, beautiful to look at and feel great in the hand.

When you pick it up, it seems so loosely connected together; that one thinks it should fall apart.  As you play with it, it will remind you of a set of dentures rattleing in a blizzard.  I can’t think of any other puzzle like it.  It consists of 4 pieces of chrome metal, quite small, but heavy for its size.  No doubt about it; it well [Read More...]

Mickey is another cute design by Jean Claude Constantin. This little puzzle looks harmless, but like all string puzzles it can become a knot fest in no time. Read further as I share with you my experience with this little devil.

Just like most puzzles by Constantin, the design is quite original. The metal frame, as the name suggests, resembles the shape of Disney’s character Mickey. The frame is comprised of two small loops perpendicular to each other, and a string with a bead at the end. The goal, as you might’ve already guessed, is to remove the [Read More...]

EZ Atom by Doug Engel is a stunning looking puzzle, produced by PuzzleMaster in Canada. Doug is known for his elegant and exquisite puzzle designs, mostly in metal, as you can see here. I have a few of those in my collection.

The EZ Atom is comprised by three metal pieces coated in bronze, silver and gold, plus a blue marble, which is trapped in the middle. Looking like an impossible task at first, the object is to take all the pieces apart and free the marble.

The design principle reminds of Constantin’s Sputnik Ball, also [Read More...]

The Trick Bolt Puzzle #1 from Puzzle Master is an excellent puzzle or brainteaser. It is very well made and is 3″ long and weighs 9.6 ounces. Made of some kind of solid metal and sort of gold or brown in color. It is the type of puzzle you can carry around in your pocket and bring out when with friends. The object seems and looks simple, as all one has to do is to remove the split ring or washer. The head of the bolt is solidly attached, so it is obvious that [Read More...]