Hanayama releases new puzzles

[Arc Light]

Hanayama makes some of the nicest cast puzzles and they have just released a new puzzle called "Cast Marble"  You can see it here

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intellectual-cube-Puzzle-Cast-Marble-by-HANAYAMA-NIB_W0QQitemZ370190057205QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item370190057205&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A10|39%3A1|240%3A1318

If your not familiar with Hanayama here is there Japanese website translated through Google.  There puzzles are rated by difficulty from 1 to 6. If you click the 1 to 6 dice you can see all there different designs. 

http://translate.google.ca/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hanayamatoys.co.jp%2Fcast%2Findex.html&sl=ja&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[Canuck]

Thanks Peter, there's a lot of 'Hanayama' collectors out there, I don't have any but they look very cool!

If anyone has some to show from their collection, I'd like to see some pics

[Cheops]

Hi Canuck !

  You can check out my Hanayama page :
http://home.comcast.net/~l-whiting/attbi/Hanayama.html 

[Canuck]

Thanks Richard, nice collection!  My favorite is the 'Chain'...How does Oskar come up with those designs?

[LEAP]

I have the chain puzzle on my desk. It's my version of worry beads. When I'm waiting on hold for a phone its a perfect diversion. I did not know there were so many other related puzzles. Guess there will be a few more on the desk real soon!

[Arc Light]

The build quality of Hanayama Cast puzzles is very good.  Some of my favorites and I highly recommend are "Cast Radix" Designer got the idea from his garden.  "Cast O gear"  When you first pick up the puzzle and see it's motion it's hard to believe it can move that way without releasing the gear, very cool.  "Cast keys 2"  I am a big fan of key puzzles and this is a updated version to the regular two locked key puzzle.  You will be surprised at where the two keys separate!

[Cheops]

  Greetings Canuck !

  Well, in answer to your question : "How does Oskar come up with those designs?" . . . . .

 M. Oskar van Deventer is one of the world's most prolific designers of mechanical puzzles. Several tens of his designs are commercially available. Oskar also designs one-player computer thinking games. (see www.clickmazes.com).   Oskar's day-time job is at TNO where he develops new telecommunication architectures. Recently, he managed to combine his puzzle and telecommunication interests by developing the mobile interactive gaming concept Triangler.

Dr. Oskar van Deventer is chair of the FIST taskforce VoIP interconnection, that brings together companies such as Versatel, BT, BBned, UPC, Casema, KPN and Easynet.   He has extensive experience within voice-over-packet networking, including telephony network control, asynchronous transfer mode and voice-over-IP.   Oskar van Deventer has actively contributed to the standardisation of the voice-over-packet 'BICC' protocol by ITU-T Study Group, and was the author and editor of three ITU-T standards.   Oskar van Deventer holds a PhD degree on bidirectional optical transmission from the Eindhoven University of Technology.

"Puzzle solving is an art and a science which involves the organization of patience and perserverence, within the framewrok of simplistic logic influences, with a tab of intuitiveness and a slice of luck, for the purpose of effecting and augmenting creativity within an expressive matrix of imagination and three-dimensional spatial stimuli"

[Canuck]

Richard, are you sure you answered my question

By the way, Marineau's 'Piston' burr is my favorite

[Cheops]

  Greetings Canuck !  

With the kind of qualifications mentioned in the brief history of Oskar van Deventer, I would say that his brain is on permanent overdrive for his unique imaginative thought processes.

  You like my dancing kitty? 

"Puzzle solving is an art and a science which involves the organization of patience and perserverence, within the framewrok of simplistic logic influences, with a tab of intuitiveness and a slice of luck, for the purpose of effecting and augmenting creativity within an expressive matrix of imagination and three-dimensional spatial stimuli"

[Canuck]

  Greetings Canuck !  

  You like my dancing kitty? 

Ummm, yeah!  Is it wrong that I find myself staring at it...maybe a little longer than I should ?

[Roby]

My puzzlemaking bees would kick your kitty's butt.  I have to agree about Oskar.  He is one of the very best.  Love his matchbook.

[LEAP]

Got the cast marble puzzle in the mail today!   taking it apart was relatively easy but reassembly is proving to be a challenge.  If you don't hear from me for a while it's cause I'm still working on reassembly

[Canuck]

How 'bout a pic?

[Arc Light]

Cool, let us know your thoughts on the puzzle

[LEAP]

Thoughts: It is amazingly precisie for a casting. high polish, tight tolerances but a little obvious what the solution is for anyone with any puzzle experience. That said, I still have not got he damn thing back together. everything has to be aligned perfectly and the movement just right. It is beautiful in how simple yet devious the puzzle is. a true genius  of a design. I have a kind of personal scale for puzzles I call the pissed off scale, and right now this one is running pretty high for the re-assembly. I'll get a pic posted as soon as I can get my camera back from my daughter.