The Future of Revomaze...

[AndrewParr]

Lately, the silence in these forums has been deafening. I check in every day to see what the latest buzz is, but more often than not, nobody's talking. Since I like hearing opinions from the Revo community, I'll start a topic.

What do you predict the state of Revomaze will be 5 years from now? What do you hope it becomes, in a perfect world?

I'd like to see the R2s become available to the rest of us soon. I thought I would have heard more feedback about the R2s by now. I still don't know if it's an amazing puzzle, or will be, once the bugs have been completely worked out. All I have heard, via PM, is that it's more difficult to map. Perhaps the comments are being posted in a forum I don't have access to. Anyone know the company's plans for the R2s after all the Voyagers have received their puzzles?

I REALLY hope they don't completely abandon the R1 puzzles. They are awesome. We all got hooked on them and I'm sure the puzzling community would welcome new designs. For me, the R1s don't have great replay value, but simply opening the puzzle for the first time is worth the steep price tag. And now I'm sharing my collection with others. You really can tell who is a serious puzzle enthusiast by how they react to the Revomaze. Most people I show the Revos to have no interest in them and can't understand why its fun to open a maze you can't see. But now and then, I'll share a Revo with someone who gets it. As they move the shaft and learn how the traps work, they get that "staring into the middle distance" look in their eyes as they visualize the path they're navigating. That too is worth the price of the puzzle.

I hope there will be some new R1 puzzle designs manufactured at some point in the future. And focusing on the Obsession series (and that price point) could get these puzzles in the hands of many more people, possibly increasing the demand for the higher priced extremes. But from the looks of the Revo webstore, the R1s are no longer being produced. I think this is a shame. It's such an amazing puzzle.

I guess it goes without saying I'd like to see the production problems get sorted out so supply can keep up with demand, and all prepaid puzzles get shipped soon.

I should also say I'm not trying to stir up trouble or salt any fresh wounds with this topic. Just up late on a Saturday reading the posts and trying to ensure the revo community still enjoys being here.

So what do you think?

[pcad]

I agree, it's been very quiet lately. First off, I have absolutely no idea what's going on with the RevoMaze company.

It seems to me that a bunch of long term members monitor the forums and jump in when a newbie posts something. I guess I'm one of them at this point. Since we've opened our mazes were not doing much posting of our own. So what's needed are new RevoMaze owners participating on the forum as they work on their puzzles. In order to have new owners, there have to be puzzles for people to buy.

I get the impression the Chris is planning to continue producing the most popular mazes. My choice would be to make the Blue, the Green, the Bronze, and the remainder of the limited mazes, the Orange and the Lime. I'm not too sure the Silver needs to be continued unless its more predictable. I doubt the Gold, the Red, the Blacks the HandMade and the Titanium would continue to be made for a variety of reasons.

Of these the Blue and Green are the easiest to make and might be made out of house. That's important since Chris has his hands full with the Mercury and existing orders for other puzzles.

The Mercury had a rocky start with the first 20 puzzles. There is good news. Chris has reworked parts of the puzzle to improve it. I don't know exactly what changes he plans to make part of the remaining mercuries, but I know that they can be greatly improved. In my case, I was able to make some very easy home made modifications that made the mercury behave itself, even using the original parts. In case the mercury forums are not available to everyone, I recently posted an opening time of 3:15 . At this point I've opened the mercury dozens of times, something I thought I'd never be able to do.

So, knowing that the mercury can work well as a puzzle I think future R2's will benefit from the learning curve that the mercury went through.

Even so, the R2's are very different from the R1's. If they didn't have the word Revomaze on them you'd think they were made by different companies. Whether this ends up being a good thing or not, I have no idea. At this point I'm looking forward to the next R2, Venus. I may have to wait awhile. Some things never change.

[Fabregas485]

I am guilty of being a rare lurker on the forums. I hope that revomaze is still around in five years, and think that when the new puzzles are made and people start to review them, business will most likely pick up.

[pcad]

In five years I hope they will still be able to sell the Blue, Green, and Bronze R1's. I wouldn't mind a replacement for the Green but whatever. I hope the R2 series are finished and they will be available to non voyager customers. After that, who knows, R3's?

[halfbake69]

I sure hope they Will still be there in 5 years but the drastic change they went with R2 didn't had a good start BUT since it's a new desing i think it Will get better in due Time and i hope the decision to stick with a 100 number Will not scare people

Only advice : keep an eye open on buyer seller section for R2 ... Some already switch hand i think

Also : almost all feedback from the puzzle are lock in the forum registered mercury section so you wont See them unless your part of the 100 voyagers group

[AndrewParr]

I have seen a few offers for voyager status in the buyers & sellers forum. Sophie also contacted me a few weeks ago about getting on the list, but money for puzzles is a little tight with the new baby. Forums are free, so I'll just keep posting new topics.

Regarding pcad's comments: I think it's important for collectors that the limited edition revos remain limited in quantity. I like having a few limited editions in my collection. But it would be cool if Chris continued producing the blue, green, bronze and silver.

So how does the company increase productivity without causing prices to go up again? Is that even possible?

I wonder if Chris has even started thinking about the R3 line... interesting...

[halfbake69]

If R3 are planned they should realy think about a molding process instead of machining it would make them plastic and cheap and getting out the door realy fast !!!!!!
That would bring more income and more player to the game of Revomaze and make metal piece even more apealing !

[robbaylis79]

Ive actually lost interest after all the messing about I had with my Mercury and have not even touched it since it came back. I feel the need to complete it is more to see if it actually works rather than the excitement of playing it, which is quite worrying. I too am considering selling my status if I haven't played with it in the next month or so...

[Killerkel]

I have one of the first 20 R2 Mercury, and I'm not a lover of it. I have now cancelled my R2 pre-orders and ask to sell my voyage status. I was told that they have a long waiting list for the voyage status but no one has come forward yet to buy it back

Looking at the first 20 Mercury, How many have been opened is 1 or 2?
Has anyone a Revo HQ asked me for my feedback? well not yet.
Have they asked the other 19 for feedback yet?

It's a shame as I love my R1s, anyway Andrew you got us all talking again, not sure Revo HQ are going to like what they hear though.

[Mrhero]

Well i trust Chris that he will make the R2's a lot better that what they are now. I know how shiddy it is to recieve an expensive awesome looking puzzle but wont be able to get the full experience. But i think that they really should make more obsessions! A lot of my friends wont buy puzzles that worth 150£. But im sure that about 10 out of my friends will buy the obsession if they were available.