Hanayama Cast Puzzles

[dasrevo]

Yeah hanayama is great! Enigma is my favourite, the organic movements, love it, extremely well designed puzzle!!
Dont like the heart. Do also like marble and elk, and vortex too, equa i hate. Also H&H i like, and chain and actually all the top level ones. They are not easy at all, for experienced puzzlers yes but not for casual puzzlers. Actually, i believe the hanayama puzzles are still in that level where "normal" people enjoy them, revomaze is well beyond that level.

[doc81]

I am looking for some puzzles that I can share with family and friends. Revos have proven to be too difficult...even Aqua. Hanayama may be exactly what I'm looking for. Puzzlemaster seems like a great place to start a collection of these as you can buy in groupings based on difficulty and save some money also. Thoughts?

[dasrevo]

Hanayama I can recommend for family and friends, although the higher difficulty levels are for alot of people also too difficult.
Dont have experience with puzzlemaster, I buy them live from shops, not from the internet.

[doc81]

Thx dasrevo! Looking through this thread people talked about buying them from puzzlemaster 6 years ago...so must be reliable.

[ghxost]

I like a lot of the online puzzle stores that have been around a bit.

Howevrt I get my hanayama puzzles from amazon

We have a distro center here, same day delivery (min purchase) but that appeals to me as they stock a lot of these puzzles.

Still tough when it shows up at 9pm on a work night hahaha

[dutch _puzzler]

I love the hanayama puzzles. I think i have them all around 70. Available and cheap but wellmade. Some of them (sea series) will change color but this is a great selection of puzzles to give to familly or friends.
Dennis

[doc81]

Looking at adding Hanayamas to my collection and will buy in bulk. Trying to figure out if I should get them all or just get levels 4-6 and skip 1-3. Are 1-3 worthwhile? I don't mind if some of them are only a 10-15 min solve but probably wouldn't want to buy difficulty levels where the majority are under 5 min to figure out. I realize solve times vary but looking for some input before I buy. Thanks!

[prodigy]

Trying to figure out if I should get them all or just get levels 4-6 and skip 1-3. Are 1-3 worthwhile? I

I don't think you should just draw a line. I have had them all in my collection but sold many of them due to display space issues. My favorites that I will keep forever (that are on level 1-3) are:

• Dolce (level 3)
  Loop (level 1)

So you should get both of them. Loop can be solved in 3 seconds but it can also take a long time Dolce is just an amazing puzzle that is so much fun to solve.

In general the level 1 is just to simple and you just open and close it in seconds and never touch them again. In general the level two is just boring trial and error puzzles that you want touch again due to that they are boring, but some of them will maybe take longer times. In the level three you might find a couple of interesting puzzles but not many and still not a puzzle to spend a lot of time with.

So my advice is that you grab Dolce and maybe also loop (depends on that you like but it is a good puzzle to hand over to friends) and then level 4-6.

[Swyrm]

As for difficult ones:
Baroq level 4 is amazing and if you like it then go for Radix (same designer IPPDC Grand Prize 25 but much harder)
The cast U and U is much more than what it seems to be as the cast padlock (both awarded on IPPDC 34) and both provides a fair challenge with multiple steps and multiple "aha" moments without the risk of getting lost with complex interlocking shapes.
Cast Baroq should be solved under 15 minutes but the three other should take you 1 or 2 hours each.
Oh and I love the cast medal! Everything about this one is nice, the story, the design... James Dalgety said me hanayama will stop producing it but he was considering making again the original puzzle out of brass (but much more expensive) but well, quite an easy one.
But my all time favorite Hanayama is not part of the Huzzle serie, it is their Pawn from the Chess serie, really nice puzzle box (yes it is a puzzle box, as all the other Chess puzzles and the Cast Nutcase (which is a really nice idea but not really enjoyable to solve sadly))
NB: Not my favorite one but you should know the Globe Ball of Hanayama is almost the same puzzle than the award winning Orange from Vesa Timonen

[doc81]

Lots of great information there so thank you! I will plan on getting level 4-6 in bulk and then buy a few of the 1-3s individually. I have seen others recommend Loop even though its a level 1...along with all the others you guys mentioned. Thank you!