Brian's Puzzle Blog & other things

[Trooper]

That Snowflake has even been to Australia and the Great Barrier Reef.  I wonder where else it has travelled in this world.  That bloody puzzle has travelled more than I have!!!!! 

[brianpletcher]

George,

I have a bit more than half of the Hanayama line as well, though I started with the hard ones and am working my way backwards. I have pretty much all of the level 4, 5, and 6 ones now. Which of the easier ones did you like best? I have Cast Loop, Cast Violin, Cast S&S, and Cast O'Gear so far. Cast Loop is definitely cool.

I have been shying away from Cast W-U since it is so similar to the classic Cast Horse, and Cast Cage and Cast Star don't seem particularly clever.

Its too bad that puzzle library idea kind of died after a while. Seems like a great way to get some more exposure on puzzles that most people would never get to try. I'd love to get my hands on a Borg box, if only for a moment. We need a service like Netflix, perhaps Netpuzz.

- Brian

P.S. Just posted today's entry: mechanical-puzzles.blogspot.com

[Canuck]

Its too bad that puzzle library idea kind of died after a while. Seems like a great way to get some more exposure on puzzles that most people would never get to try. I'd love to get my hands on a Borg box, if only for a moment. We need a service like Netflix, perhaps Netpuzz.

- Brian

Brian, I had high hopes for the 'puzzle library', however only Roby and I contributed puzzles and of course shipping is always an issue 

[gibell]

Among easy Hanayamas I have Bike, Flag, Loop, Cricket, Disk, Horse, Plate, Violin, Cage, Cuby, Dolce, S&S, Star, W-U.  My favorites are Loop, Disk, Horse, Violin, Dolce, S&S, Star.  The Cricket and W-U are thinner and "cheesier" feeling.  Cast Star can be surprisingly hard.  I also have the entire marine series which is quite nice (especially in the large size).  My kids (10 and 12) play with all these and they like the theme in the marine series.  The harder Hanayamas are too frustrating for them.

I also got interested in sphere puzzles when my kids got a puzzle similar to Lonpos.  It is very similar and called "Kanoodle".  Then I bought 300 wooden spheres and drove my wife nuts gluing them together.  Now I print them out using 3D printing technology at Shapeways.