MagicPuzzles.org

I have a few puzzle boxes from Heartwood Creations, which is an American company founded by Mike Fisher over 30 years ago.  Their primary products seem to be puzzle boxes, jewelry boxes and secret boxes.  Their secret boxes look like wood paperweights, but have a sliding panel and a small compartment inside.  They also some other wood crafted items.  These are excellent puzzle boxes.  They are very well crafted and not easy to solve.  They are not quite as intricate as many Japanese puzzle boxes, but are much less expensive (around $50 each).  They are available from Serious Puzzles and other dealers.

Gravity Pin Box - Heartwood Creations

This is a traditional design.  The design was referred to as the “Psycho Matchbox” in Prof. Hoffman’s classic book “Puzzles Old and New”.

Seesaw box - Heartwood Creations

This is a discontinued puzzle from Heartwood Creations, and probably their hardest.  Opening involves a sequence of particular orientations of the box.

Terra I box - Heartwood Creations

The Terra I is one of their more recent releases.  The button actually is a removable piece that contains a magnet.  Hopefully there will be other Terra boxes in this series.

Navigator Box - Heartwood Creations

This is similar to but more difficult than the Terra I box.  The button is just like that of the Terra I.

Gold Coast Parking Meter - Brian Young

This is a take-apart puzzle.  The object is to disassemble it enough to allow the coin to drop into the meter (the coin is not removable without damaging the puzzle).  Mr. Puzzle, its manufactuer, refers to it as a sequential discovery puzzle because parts of the puzzle are used as tools to solve the rest of the puzzle.  I would classify it as a take-apart puzzle, since other take-apart puzzles, such as some Hoffman puzzles,  share this characteristic.

The puzzle has an interesting and satisfying mechanism.

Note that the parking meter post and base is purely to make the puzzle look like a parking meter, and has nothing to do with its solution.  I thought it might be part of the puzzle, so I twisted it.  It came apart in the hands of my co-worker who played with it after me.

Here are two non-traditional Japanese puzzle boxes.  They are both still made by Japanese craftsmen.

"New Move" puzzle box - Yamanka Kumiki Works

This is a 5 sun, 9+1 move Japanese puzzle box.  It has an interesting twist that makes it a little different from traditional Japanese puzzle boxes.

50 Move Challenge Box - Makishi

This looks like a traditional Japanese puzzle box.  However, unlike most traditional boxes with a large number of moves, it only has two sliding keys – one on either end.  It is much, MUCH harder than the 54+1 move traditional box that I have, though.

I had a 30 Move Challenge Box by Makishi.  I bought two as presents, and was able to solve one between the time I bought it and the time I gave it as a gift.  I was just barely able to solve it, though.

I was only able to get the first 10 or so moves of the box.  I was forced to ask Makishi to send me the solution.  Makishi has no web presence.  You have to call or (snail) mail him and send him checks as payment.   It’s a bit of a hassle, but it’s definitely worth it.  The puzzles are unique and very challenging.  Plus, they are much cheaper and trickier than traditional puzzle boxes with the same number of moves.

When I saw the solution, I knew there was no way I could have gotten it myself.  It’s one of those that’s a little difficult to open and close even with the instructions right in front of you.

Here are the 2008 Christmas presents I ordered from the Karakuri club.  When you pay the yearly fee ($60 to join initially plus $120 for 2008) you get a discount on purchases; the privilege to purchase new puzzle boxes before they are generally available; plug one Christmas present.   You get to choose the maker of the present, but you don’t get to find out what the present actually is.  Additional presents are available for an additional cost.  I decided to get presents by Hiroshi Iwahara and Akio Kamei.

Cube Box II - Akio Kamei

This has a very unusual and satisfying mechanism.

Confetto Box - Hiroshi Iwahara

This has 2 compartments.  The first is very easy to find.  The second one requires a very unusual movement and is very difficult to find.  I had to give up and look at the instructions.

Mini Packing Box II - Yoshiyuki Ninomiya

This is similar to a traditional Japanese puzzle box.  However, its appearance hides the sliding panels.  Also, it was very tight – so much so that I gave up and looked at the instructions rather than risk damaging it.

I didn’t order this as a Christmas present.  I got it in March.  They had some extra Christmas presents that they sold via a lottery.

Here are a few puzzle boxes by noted Japanese designer Hiroshi Iwahara of the Karakuri Creation Group:

Byway Secret #1

It’s like a traditional puzzle box, but with an extra added twist.  There are actually 3 boxes to this series; I have the first two.  Here’s #2:

Byway Secret #2 by Hiroshi Iwahara

It’s a little harder than #1.  I had some extra trouble since my box was tight.  I was reluctant to apply much force onto the panels for fear of damaging the box.

Box with a Tree by Hiroshi Iwahara

This box has a very unique mechanism.  I had a hard time figuring it out, and almost gave up.

Acorn Box by Hiroshi Iwahara

This box has a clever mechanism.  I gave up on it too quickly.  My co-worker Mike Butler figured it out very quickly.  When he showed me the solution, I felt bad about not spending a little more time on it.

Here are a couple of boxes that I purchased from Quagmire Puzzle Boxes.  I heard about Quagmire Puzzle Boxes via Cleverwood, and they were some of the first non-traditional style puzzle boxes I was aware of.   Randal Gatewood is the man behind Quagmire.

Quagmire Puzzle Boxes: "Uncle Herbart Stash & Stow Box"

Quagmire Puzzle Boxes: "Box Joint Box"

Prior to these boxes, Gatewood made more expensive limited edition boxes.  These are his two original-design, non-limited edition boxes.  The Uncle Herbart box is listed as having 8 moves and being moderately difficult, whereas the Box Joint Box has 6 moves but is more difficult.

I had to break down and look at the provided solutions for both.  They are similar in that they both are solved by moving the box into a series of different orientations.  I find that it’s practically impossible to find the “official” solution.  My coworkers have had the same experience.  However, due to the nature of the construction, I was able to get the Uncle Herbart box to open and later lock by rotating it randomly in different ways.

I was not able to open the Box Joint Box without looking at the solution.  However, my coworkers were all able to open it by “picking” it – basically, rattling it around, moving the lid a little bit, and repeating until they opened it.  The same was true for the Akio Kamei die box:

Akio Kamei: "Die Box"

Nobody go the real solution, which I think is exceptionally clever.  This is the only box I have that is not only designed by Akio Kamei, but also actually made by him (or under his direct supervision).  I have some reproductions made by Bits and Pieces, but they are of much lower quality (though much cheaper).

Traditional Japanese puzzle boxes were invented in 1893. They are primarily made in the Hakone region of Japan, which boasts a wide variety of different woods.  Every traditional style Japanese puzzle box I’ve seen has fantastic craftsmanship.  There are usually covered with Yosegi-Zaiku, which is a thin veneer sliced from glued pattern of different woods.  A few boxes are” muku”, in which the glued pattern spans the entire thickness of the panels.  Muku is more expensive, but the patterns are less elaborate that Yosegi.  Size is usually designated in “Sun,” a traditional Japanese unit of measurement equal to about 30.3 mm or 1.22 inches.  5 sun is considered to be the standard size.

The traditional puzzles boxes I’ve seen follow a characteristic opening pattern which is limited by their construction.

Triangle puzzle box

This is a 5-move box.  This is the one I give to people to try out when explaining traditional Japanese puzzle boxes.

5 sun 18 step puzzle box

This box has 2 compartments (top and bottom) to open.

6 sun 54+1 step

This is made by Yamanaka Kumiki Works in Japan.  There are 4 sliding panels.  2 of the sliding panels have 4 sliding keys each.  I thought that each time I had to move a panel with keys, I would have to go through many of the 16 possible combinations to get the panel to move.  This was not the case, as there is a simple basic pattern for most of the moves.  The pattern varies for the last 18 moves, but remains the same within those 18 moves.  The “+1″ refers to a hidden panel in the lid.  This is usually quite an expensive box, but I was able to get it for a considerable discount on eBay because of a minor cosmetic blemish.

I got the following two puzzles on loan from Robert Yarger, one of the puzzle designer/makers of Cubic Dissection.

Oskar's Matchboxes

This is a 5 piece interlocking puzzle.  It was conceived by famed designer Oskar Van Deventer.  While normally made out of 5 actual matchboxes, this version was made from wood by Cubic Dissection member Eric Fuller.

Stickman Snowflake

This is Stickman puzzle box #9, the snowflake.  All the Stickman puzzles are designed and made by Robert Yarger.  This particular one was made later by John Devost, another member of Cubic Dissection.  The pieces are made out of multiple pieces of wood, rather than a single piece of wood colored white, as in the original Yarger version.  It is a very clever little puzzle box.  After it’s opened, it can be completely disassembled into 6 pieces.

Both puzzles were very clever.  I was able to open and close each in about 5 minutes.  I didn’t fully disassemble the snowflake box.  Since I only have these for a short time, I was relieved when I was finally able to get each puzzle back together.  The solutions are complex enough that I was not able to memorize them while opening and closing them.

The Stickman puzzle box brings up an interesting point about the economics of limited-edition puzzles.  Yarger originally made a number of these as Christmas presents for family and friends.  When they sold commercially on the Cubic Dissection site in 2005, they went for $35 each.  One went for $365 on auction in 2007.

Puzzle Boxes at Cubic Dissection often sell for $400-$500.  They are usually original creations of Robert Yarger or Eric Fuller.  Yarger grosses about $26K a year.  That’s one of the most talented guys in the business working 70 hours a week to make original creations.  Even so, the boxes are too expensive for most puzzle enthusiasts to get a copy.  The problem is basically because each creator makes about 30-40 copies.  It’s too tedious to make more, and they have not been able to find a manufacturer to make high quality copies at a lower cost.

Click here for a more extensive discussion at the excellent Cubic Dissection forum.

I mentioned the IRMO box from Cubic Dissection in my last post.  Here it is:

Eric Fuller "IRMO box"

This box, which I purchased in Feb 2008 from Cubic Dissection, is one of my few expensive limited edition boxes.  It had a limited production run of 45 copies.  It tied for first prize with 2 other puzzles in the 2008 International Puzzle Party puzzle design contest (though there was also a grand prize).  Surprisingly, though the mechanism is unique (Fuller confirmed this with Jerry Slocum), I found it relatively easy to open.

Eric Fuller runs Cubic Dissection.  It is, as far as I can tell, the #1 place in America to purchase collector-quality mechanical puzzles.   Most of the puzzles are made in extremely limited quantities of around 30-40 pieces.  The puzzles definitely are not cheap, but each is a work of art.

Cubic Dissection sells work made primarily by Eric Fuller (boxes and burrs), Robert Yarger (the famous “Stickman” series of boxes).  Both have given up more lucrative careers to pursue puzzle-making full time.  Some of Eric’s puzzles have been designed by other notable puzzle designers, and he obtains their permission to make and sell copies.  I assume at least some of the designers get a cut of the profits.  It also features the work of Mark McCallum, Scott Peterson, Fritz Hoddick, Kerry Verne, Michael Toulouzas.  Recently, they have also carried some designs by William Waite, as well as the All Five Puzzle.

Since Cubic Dissection is pretty much run by Fuller, it has excellent customer service.  About 9 months or so after buying the IRMO box, I tried to show it to a friend, but couldn’t get it open.  Eventually my wife was able to open it.  I contacted Fuller, who made a few suggestions.  When that didn’t work, he had me ship it back to him.  He fixed the problem very quickly, and insisted on covering the cost I spent to ship it to him.  So when I got it back, I found he had thrown in a free Cartesian wallet:

Cartesian Wallet

This is a piece of leather that can be used to carry credit cards around in.  It unfolds like so:

Cartesian wallet - unfolded

The puzzle, of course, is to reassemble it.  It’s one of my favorite puzzles because it looks simple, but it’s actually not.  It’s not something that will keeped you stumped and frustrated for days either.  It’s also very durable by its nature.  All these aspects make it a perfect puzzle to hand out to friends in casual situations.

I got some into Fuller’s passion for puzzles recently.  I told him that I avoided interlocking burrs because I thought they were too difficult.  This was based on my experience with Triple Cross, which is a 6-piece burr I got for Christmas near the start of my puzzle collecting:

Triple Cross

I got frustrated and looked at the instructions.  I still couldn’t get it!  My wife was able to interpret the instructions and reassembled it.

I mentioned this to Fuller while I was phoning him about a Cubic Dissection auction.  He agreed that some burrs were incredibly difficult.  What he recommended was getting an Ultimate Burr Set.  This is a set of 27 different pieces from which you can assemble over 60 burrs.

After doing about 100 of these, he said, your spatial sense gets so good that you can just look at the pieces and assemble the burr in about 20 seconds.  That’s why Eric Fuller is a world-class puzzle maker, and I’m just a modest collector.

I took advantage of the Christmas sale from Bits and Pieces and got a few items.

These included a number of unique, inexpensive boxes:

Bits and Pieces "Mini Book Box"

This box is marketed as being used to house a gift card or money. I was able to open it, but it was sticky and did not open consistently. It has a simpler, different design from their “Original Kamei Book Box”.

Bits and Pieces "Snap Latch Puzzle Box"

This is clever.  Obviously, you don’t just undo the latch.

Bits and Pieces "Secret Rectangle Box"

This has the same mechanism as the “magic” box I mentioned in an earlier post

Bits and Pieces "The MatchBox"

This box was a lot of fun.

Bits and Pieces "wine puzzle box"

This is a version of the standard “magic” puzzle box that is large enough to fit a wine bottle into. I tried putting a wine bottle in, but even though it was relatively thin, it made the box difficult to open and close.

Recent Toys "Writer's Block"

This is an interesting puzzle designed by noted puzzle maker Oskar Van Deventer, made by Recent Toys International in the Netherlands, and distributed by Bits and Pieces. It has 7 pens in the frame, all of which start retracted. When they are all down (in the writing position), the frame can open. The pens’ states are changed using a key that can fit into the frame in one of 4 orientations. I found this puzzle relatively easy to solve and restore to its original state just by trying random moves.

Bits and Pieces "Oskar's Blocks"

This is another puzzle designed by Oskar Deventer. It is an easy 3-piece interlocking puzzle.

Bits and Pieces "Infinity Spiral"

This is a large, sturdy version of a classic puzzle.

I often bring new puzzles in to work so my coworkers can take a crack at it. Here are a couple fellow Mechanical Engineers, Blair LeMire (left) and Craig Johnson. They are working on the MatchBox puzzle box and brass cannon, respectively:

Blair and Craig with puzzles

As you can see, I get quite a few of my puzzles from Bits and Pieces.  The puzzles (as well as most other items from them) are cheap.  Bits and Pieces is often criticized for having poor quality puzzles.  Certainly they are lower quality than expensive premium puzzles running about $50 or more.  This does not mean that they are falling apart or their function is otherwise compromised.

Bits and Pieces also has a very good return policy.  At least they did, before they went out of business sometime in 2008.  I was able to return quite a few puzzles with no hassle.  I bought the puzzles mentioned in this post after they came back into business, so I’m not totally certain this is still the case.

Many of their puzzles are custom designed for them by notable puzzle designers such as Frank Chambers, Rocky Chiaro, Oskar Van Deventer, and Jean-Claude Constantin.  The designers are mentioned on the Bits and Pieces website if this is the case.  Since they mass produce these puzzles, they are much cheaper than if the designer made it himself.  For example, check out the “Brass Treasure Chest” on Bits and Pieces.  It’s $17 (actually, it’s on sale for $13 right now).  When designer Rocky Chiaro had versions he made himself for sale, they were $250.  Chiaro noted on his site that the puzzle is available from Bits and Pieces, and is well made.

The great thing about having cheap puzzles is that you don’t mind your friends playing with them.  If one gets trashed by accident, so what?  You lost 15 bucks or so.  Contrast that with the $425 limited edition IRMO puzzle box I got from Cubic Dissection.  Not many people even get to see that box, which I feel really limits one aspect of its enjoyment.