Hanayama puzzles, yet another update on the museum, and a job advertisement

Carrying on from my recent article in CFF, I would like to post a bit more about Hanayama.  I'm not an expert in the company, but do have a bit of insight and would like to provide it in today's blog posting.  The first thing I would like to do is to post a list of puzzles and their designers.  I've seen many people asking about these and thought it might be helpful information to have it posted here.  

Hanayama works with a number of designers the most prolific of which has to be Akio Yamamoto (Dot 2017, Dolce 2002, Baroq 2001, Amour 1992, Radix 2005, Helix 2009, Vortex 2008, Seabream 2010, Shark 2010, Claw 2010, Starfish 2019, Seahorse 2010, Reef 2010).  

Of course, the first puzzle designer was was Nob Yoshigahara (ABC 1983, Flag 1994, Horse 1984, Star 1983, S&S 1984, Ring 2000, Elk 1986, Devil 1994, Laby 1997, News 2003, Plate 2005, Cage 1997, Key 1983, W-U 1995).  Many of these were old designs which were later produced by Hanayama. 

Other designers include Oskar van Deventer (O’Gear 2002, L’oeuf 2004, Disc 2001, Twist 2013, Möbius 2015, Duet 2005, Equa 2008, Marble 2009, H&H 2010, Chain 2002, Cuby 2005, Nutcase 1987), 

Vesa Timonen (Loop 2007, Hook 2009, Square 2010, Ufo 2019, Donuts 2011, Keyhole 2015, Cylinder 2013, Dial 2016, Infinity 2016, Slider 2019, Valve 2021),

Marcel Gillen (Pawn 2015, Rook 2015, Knight 2015, Bishop 2015, King 2015, Queen 2015),

Kyoo Wong (Delta 2013, U&U 2014, Trinity 2018, Rotor 2019, Snow 2020), 

Jin-Hoo Ahn (G&G 2013, Padlock 2016, Hourglass 2018), 

Bram Cohen (Galaxy 2014, Marble 2009, Rattle 2010, Cake 2016), 

Kirill Grebnev (Harmony 2012, Shift 2017) , 

Dmitri Pevnitskiy (Harmony 2012), 

Edi Nagata (Coil 2011), 

Serhiy Grabarchuk (Coaster 2006), 

Eldon Vaughn (Enigma 2004), 

Harry Nelson (Spiral 2003), 

Scott Elliot (Love 2018, Diamond 2016), 

John Lynn (Bike 1994), 

James Dalgety (Medal 2009, Cricket 2002) 

Joseph Litle (Violin 2003), 

Andrei Ianov (Arrows 2018), 

Mineyuki Uyematsu (Quartet 2007, Hexagon 2015), 

Ken Walker (Spiral 2003), 

Jose Grant (Cast Ring 2 2004), 

Yoshi Kotani (Shift 2017), 

Yuta Akira (Box 2012).

Timothy Collins (Dice 2021)

There are also a number of puzzles that are no longer produced.  These include Oskar’s Key, Bike, Cast Key 1, Winnie the Pooh Horse, and the Ultraman marble. There were also a few puzzles produced in the early days that were much larger than they are now. Bike, W-U, Nutcase, News and Radix.  Of course, even though many of these are no longer being produced, they can still be purchased through different online retailers. If you notice any that I have missed, or mis-dated, please let me know.

The company experimented with plating the pieces in different colors.  Again we are fortunate  to have a number of these color variations in our collection.  

Over the years we have had the pleasure to visit not only the offices of Hanayama, but also a number of the factories.  We have seen the entire process from smelting to final packaging.  Photographs of our first trip can be found at My facebook album.

At first the company made molds of wood or clay.  Around 2010 they changed to puzzles made by CAD and 3D printing.  Many of the new puzzles have been made in CAD first, then produced using Injection Molding.  One puzzle, Cast Möbius was produced using spin casting and silicon molds.  A number of the puzzles are made of cut steel-Slider, Snow, and Hexagon are a few examples. The puzzles are mostly made of a cast zinc alloy. Once the puzzles are cast, they are removed from the sprue and hand sanded to remove any sharp edges.  After this, they are tumbled to remove any further imperfections before moving on to the metal plating process.  When we visited the Hanayama factory, we counted no less than 12 people who touched each puzzle during the manufacturing and 6 people in the boxing process.  When you think of it, they are incredibly inexpensive puzzles.  

Hanayama Cast puzzle was renamed Huzzle in 2015.  It is a combination of Japanese words that means “hugs and puzzle” (actually, these don’t look too Japanese to me).  Kyoo told me it is easier for Japanese to pronounce.  But then he teases me a lot so I don’t know if that is truthful.  George is reminding me of a time that Kyoo sent us to the wrong train station in China when we were going to go visit his factory.  No taxi driver would pick us up when we got off in the middle of nowhere. George had to run out in the street, stop the taxi by jumping on the hood of the car and then jumping in the cab before the driver could run away.  When we returned from the factory that night, the train station we should have gotten off at was 1 block away instead of 5 miles! What a jokester. 

 

Prototyped Puzzles

We have had the good fortune to be involved with Hanayama and their staff in one way or another for many years.  George was an early prototyper for the cast puzzles.  He worked on 14 puzzles in the early stages.  These include:  L’oeuf, H&H, Nutcase, Loop, Donut, Medallion, Duet, Square, Rattle, Twist, Hook, O’gear, Möbius, and Marble. This comes to around 19% of the puzzles produced.  I’ve been friends with the chief engineer in Hong Kong for many, many years. Because of this, we have been lucky enough to have many Hanayama prototypes in our collection.  In the photo below, only three were not made by George.  The Radix, Delta, and Keyhole were all gifts.  The Radix is made of compressed paper and is very solid. It was given to George when he held a puzzle exhibition in Sonoma, California.  Delta and Keyhole were given to me by Kyoo during visits to his office.  In the earlier days, George used a laser cutter to make the prototypes.  Later on of course, he went to 3D printing.  

Prototypes

All of these are on display and play terms for visitors to Puzzle palace.  Many of the puzzles prototyped by George are available for visitors to choose from the treasure chest.  The cast marble seems to be the favorite of most people.  

On to the weekly update of the museum build.  As of Friday, all of the cabinets have been placed and mounted.  The pool heater and pump are now both working beautifully. The outdoor recycling/garbage closet has been covered and is awaiting roofing.  The garage floor has cured and we are now just waiting on the puzzles to arrive.  We are more than ready for them.  

One container has been sitting down at Port Everglades since the 14th of May, the other is still on its way to Halifax.  In the mean time, I have shifted all materials from the main rooms so that we have area to place the moving-boxes when they come in.  I have developed a display system and each room in the museum will hold a specific type of puzzle. Being me, I have Roxified (color coded) the manifesto so that we know which room each puzzle should go into upon entering the house.  This will make the process of unboxing and displaying much quicker.  

I have also purchased a new camera and light box to photograph the puzzles as they are opened.  George has developed a cataloging system to ease the problem of display in the online database he is slowly working on.  Expect it to be completed sometime around July 2022 and be online and searchable by Christmas of the same year.  

When we contacted James about obtaining this, we were not thinking.  It was the most whimsical of purchases one has ever made.  Well, we've managed to accomplish nothing short of a miracle.  We managed to purchase a house, build it out, and have it all but ready for installation of the puzzles in less than four months time.  

Next up?  Hiring a couple of students to aid me in the photographing and cataloging of the puzzles.  Does anyone want a summer job?  Photographic knowledge required. Use of Macbook necessary.  Your own vehicle is a must. 6-8 hours a day from date of hire until puzzles are all on display or end of summer holiday. We prefer a student who is looking for experience. Pay?  Who needs money when you have puzzles? :) Oh yes, room and board included. I'm a very good cook and you can't beat the accommodations.

A puzzling day in Hong Kong

Time flies when you are busy.  Forgive me for my late posts but be prepared to be bombarded with lots of drivel from Rox.

For the past few years there has been a puzzle exhibition with talks and play time held at a local high school right next to my university.  This year was no exception.  The puzzle party was held on the 2nd of May (see how late I am!)

It all started around 10 in the morning.  I missed the talks, but ran over around lunch time and dropped off a few puzzles to put on display.  I hung around and watched people play puzzles for the next 5 hours.

This week was a real treat for me.  Not only was it a weekend of puzzling with my local puzzle friends, but others were coming into town too.

When I got to the venue, I made a beeline for my dear boy Otis who flew in from Beijing for the weekend and gave him the standard Rox greeting of a hug and kiss.  Ricky was there, as well as Victor and Smaz.  Victor brought me some brass copies of the cast quartet that were made by a man in China, and before you get your nickers in a twist, I bought two copies as is my brief and handed one off to Kyoo when I saw him a few days later.

There were stalls selling puzzles, and lots of tables set up both to display some of our collection and for people to play with.

At 5 I had to run off to the airport to pick up our favorite prototyper.  After dropping his bags at his hotel, we ran to a puzzling dinner.  Sadly he had jet lag, and the party ended for us around 9:30 so I could take him back to get some sleep and adjust to the time difference.

Earlier in the week, I saw a Facebook post from Tanya who was excited about her first trip into Hong Kong.  Sadly she couldn't join us for the day or the dinner, but the following lunchtime, we all met up and had a nice little chat.  It was  too short as usual, but she had work to do, and Otis had to go pack.  I'm not sure what the other one did, but I had a family thing that night and that was that. 

The next day, I took George over to the Hanayama offices to visit with Kyoo for a while before I had to leave everyone for a conference in China.  As always, it was great to see friends, but the time was too short.  And, I looking forward to the next puzzle party in Finland....

Hanayama Galaxy

I hope I'm not going to be beaten for this, but rather than another post about Wil's egg, I thought I'd post about another little sparkly puzzle I have recently obtained. The newest puzzle in the Hanayama line up.  This one  first hit the puzzling scene in the 2013 IPP design competition.  The puzzle was designed by Bram Cohen who has been known to design a few others in the past.  The puzzle itself earned an honorable mention in the design competition that year.  Well done Bram.  Not only on the award, but also on getting another puzzle manufactured by Hanayama.

Ok. So on to the puzzle.  It's not exactly out on the market yet.  But you see, I go to my spa just 4 floors up from the HK Hanayama office.  The other day I was over there relaxing and decided to deliver a puzzle to Kyoo Wong.  We made an exchange and had a nice little chat about the next(!) puzzle to come after Galaxy.  (No, the one in the photo is not it. That's an ancient design that I had in my pocket.)  I had an interesting conversation about puzzle designing with Kyoo, and once the next one up is put on the web, I'll write up a nice little story about it.  In the mean time, The photo above to the right is a prototype if you will of something Kyoo was working on in year past.  He gave it to me because of the similarity to the Galaxy.  If I understood the story right, he and Bram had a conversation over these four bolts around the time Bram designed the Galaxy.  (Tell me if I got that wrong Bram.)


After I got the puzzle home, I managed to take it apart quite quickly.  That part is not all that hard.  I think it took me around 15 minutes of fiddling to do so.  Putting it back together again is another story.  It has still defeated me.  But I will keep at it until I win.  This puzzle will not beat me.  You'll notice, that while each of the four pieces look identical, they aren't  there are two matching pair.  As always, Hanayama has put a bit of a twist on the original design that makes it more difficult.  I'll not tell what it is.  I know you'd rather find out for yourself when you get the puzzle.

So where can you pick this up?  I'm sure Puzzlemaster or others will have it up soon.  I do believe this puzzle will be released in July of this year.  I think it's a level 2 or 3.  I'm not sure.  See, there's no packaging done up yet.  As with all Hanayama, the quality is fantastic.  Go pick one up, you won't regret it.