Disclaimer: No Rubiks cubes! 
So, time for a random topic. I found a related thread from 2011, but as its rather old, maybe someone else has some new input on this topic by now. I have recently bought a few pieces I really like (more on that later) and just did a few hours of research on possible next purchases, preferably up to the 50$ range, but no need to restrict it to that limit. Turns out ... its pretty freaking hard to find good info.
When I was a kid, I often got my hands on these "disentanglement" wire puzzles. You have probably seen plenty of those in your lifetime:
Despite me loving puzzles of all kinds of varieties, those never clicked with me. I didnt like the feeling, the cheapness and it was just... off. Well, time travel 20 years in the future and I found similar puzzles that are not just of a wire based nature and it turns out...I freaking love them. If you were always interested in these puzzles, but the wire ones never clicked for you, I heartily recommend you the higher level Hanayama Cast puzzles. I will go into the stuff that I was able to find after todays research and if you know ANYTHING else that fits the bill, please let me know. Alternatively, if you tried/ended up trying any of the others, let us know here as wel!
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Hanayama Cast Puzzles - http://www.hanayama-toys.com/
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Burr Puzzles
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String Puzzles
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Maze puzzles
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Revomaze - https://www.revomaze.co.uk/wordpress/?post_type=product
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Isis - https://www.isisadventure.co.uk/
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Open Box Puzzles/Combination Puzzles/Sequential puzzles/Extraction puzzles
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And now the fun part: Individual Designers
Anyway, the puzzles in the picture above have 2 striking similarities: They all won the first or Grand prize in 2015 and 2016 respectively and they cant be bought in any shop online. Actually, a huge amount of the submitted puzzles cant be bought at all, while many can be inquired about via email to the designer directly and only very, very few have an online shop where you can buy them. I sent out several mails today to figure out how to acquire certain puzzles and so far the only one which is even available via mail contact is the last one above (50 pounds, but supposed to have a very intriguing mechanism).
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So much amazing stuff out there and you cant get to it. Maddening. Now, I wouldnt have enough money to buy most of these anyway, but I guess one thought will keep me warm tonight when I mourn the hidden mysteries forever lost to me - There is indeed something not even money can buy.
Let me know if you have any similar ones, how do you like your puzzles? Any recommendations? Not required, but bonus if its something in the 50€ range.
Fake Edit: Shot in the dark, but if anyone has some cool similar puzzles that are feeling lonely in your attic, feel free to send me a link/picture and your price idea via PM. No guarantee I'll buy anything, but I am very willing to consider offers after a rather frustrating search today.
So, time for a random topic. I found a related thread from 2011, but as its rather old, maybe someone else has some new input on this topic by now. I have recently bought a few pieces I really like (more on that later) and just did a few hours of research on possible next purchases, preferably up to the 50$ range, but no need to restrict it to that limit. Turns out ... its pretty freaking hard to find good info.
When I was a kid, I often got my hands on these "disentanglement" wire puzzles. You have probably seen plenty of those in your lifetime:
Despite me loving puzzles of all kinds of varieties, those never clicked with me. I didnt like the feeling, the cheapness and it was just... off. Well, time travel 20 years in the future and I found similar puzzles that are not just of a wire based nature and it turns out...I freaking love them. If you were always interested in these puzzles, but the wire ones never clicked for you, I heartily recommend you the higher level Hanayama Cast puzzles. I will go into the stuff that I was able to find after todays research and if you know ANYTHING else that fits the bill, please let me know. Alternatively, if you tried/ended up trying any of the others, let us know here as wel!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hanayama Cast Puzzles - http://www.hanayama-toys.com/
These are great, come in different difficulties, feel very tactile, have a different approach to the solution to every puzzle and, are easily available and are surprisingly cheap! Only bummer is that there hasnt been anything from from them since 2014. You can find most of these for about 12-15$ and if you buy the hardest ones, you often get a good amount of play time for yourself and your friends out of them. I bought 4 so far and have solved 2 of them. The first in the row above was medium tricky to figure out (Cast Marble: Level 5/6), while the second one was pretty easy (Cast o Gear: Level 3/6). I havent beaten the last one yet (Cast Equa: Level 6/6), but they are stupidly fun to fiddle around with. They feel nice and all have an interesting mechanism. Now, the Cast series also has some of the more normal "wire puzzles" on the lower difficulties, but as I said, not too big of a fan of those. Cast Marble was my first to arrive and I solve it within 40 minutes and fiddled with it for the rest of the day. So if I want more complexity, more intricacy and more clever ideas, where to look next?
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Burr Puzzles
Burr Puzzles task you take apart longer pieces in a construction in the right order to untangle it. These should be right up my alley, but similar to wire puzzles, I had an intense but eventually ending relationship with similar puzzles when I was younger. Atm it just doesnt seem too appealing to me to fiddle around with 20+ wooden pieces, plus its just not as awe inspiring as figuring out the incredibly clever design mechanisms hidden in other puzzles like the Hanayama ones. I might grab one eventually that is supposed to be especially tricky without relying on just a high amount of individual pieces. Fun fact: Those Origami stars made from many small square pieces of paper are also Burr puzzles.
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String Puzzles
This is actually one of the most easily available puzzle types. They are very similar in idea to other disassemble puzzles, in that it requires a very specific set of moves to untangle and solve these. My two biggest problems with those are that they all seem to revolve around similar mechanics and they basically never look appealing. I dont need everything to look nice and I might give a recommended one a whirl if it has a really interesting solution and feels a bit more high quality, though. Let me know!
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Maze puzzles
Technically not really disassembling, but I feel like they should be included here anyway. These puzzles usually rely on you guiding a ball, stick etc through a maze to the exit. I will probably get one of these in the future, but its not currently what I am looking for as you arent looking at any clever tricks here, but mostly just guiding something through a maze.
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Revomaze - https://www.revomaze.co.uk/wordpress/?post_type=product
Revomazes fall under the maze category as well, but they deserve their own mention here for being rather popular and one of the very few commercially widely available products. These are actually pretty high on my preference list right now, mostly due to the reported difficulty. They are basically invisible labyrinths that task you via trial, error and dexterity to search, hold and remember the right route through the internals. To solve these takes about 10-50 hours depending on the version you buy. The only issue: They cost a hefty sum, averaging around 150 pounds.
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Isis - https://www.isisadventure.co.uk/
These are interesting as they are also connected to a sort of contest, where solving all nets you 10.000 dollars. (Not entirely sure what the current state of that contest is). They have a great quality, have some clever tricks and cost... 300$. Yeah. Unfortunate, that I cant get my hand on any of these, but I also read that the first one at least relies on a very cheap trick, which by now seems to be REALLY frowned upon in the puzzle community. So much so, that I read around 30 times that other puzzles didnt use that particular mechanic. Spoiler if you are curious:
It has a magnetic element attached to the inside of the ball, which you need to knock off with A LOT of force, about as much to make a nicely visible dent in a wooden table
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Open Box Puzzles/Combination Puzzles/Sequential puzzles/Extraction puzzles
These are the most intriguing of them all. They come in two varieties: Simple open box puzzles and hidden item puzzles. The normal variety just tasks you to move and slide pieces, use intricate mechanisms and some clever thinking to open it. The second variety unearthes more tools over time, which which you can approach other elements of the puzzles that you couldnt get to before (think pins, magnets, etc). I absolutely adore the idea and would love to fiddle around with any of these. The problem: VERY expensive (~300$-1000$, yes that cute Koala would cost 1000$), but I understand that for the craftsmanship that goes into these. Even though I wouldnt be able to afford these, the actually bigger problem: See the awesome pictures above? All sold out. To be fair, there are some other options, but for a 100$+ purchase, you kinda need to rely on other peoples reviews if a box with hidden mechanisms is actually worth it. And pretty much all the interesting ones I could find today were sold out.
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And now the fun part: Individual Designers
While these creations technically fall into the other categories as well, there is a fun tidbit about these that made me start this thread actually. I found these via the (I guess) biggest contest for puzzle creators, which is being held every year. You can check out their website, winners and entrants here: http://www.puzzleworld.org/DesignCompetition/
Anyway, the puzzles in the picture above have 2 striking similarities: They all won the first or Grand prize in 2015 and 2016 respectively and they cant be bought in any shop online. Actually, a huge amount of the submitted puzzles cant be bought at all, while many can be inquired about via email to the designer directly and only very, very few have an online shop where you can buy them. I sent out several mails today to figure out how to acquire certain puzzles and so far the only one which is even available via mail contact is the last one above (50 pounds, but supposed to have a very intriguing mechanism).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So much amazing stuff out there and you cant get to it. Maddening. Now, I wouldnt have enough money to buy most of these anyway, but I guess one thought will keep me warm tonight when I mourn the hidden mysteries forever lost to me - There is indeed something not even money can buy.
Let me know if you have any similar ones, how do you like your puzzles? Any recommendations? Not required, but bonus if its something in the 50€ range.
Fake Edit: Shot in the dark, but if anyone has some cool similar puzzles that are feeling lonely in your attic, feel free to send me a link/picture and your price idea via PM. No guarantee I'll buy anything, but I am very willing to consider offers after a rather frustrating search today.
