Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast Cage

Puzzle: Cast Cage
Brand: Hanayama
Inventor: NOB Yoshigahara
ST: ~15 m

Cast Cage

This is the Cast Cage from Hanayama, rated level 3 on their scale of 6. Having black and gold as the color choice, it has a unique appearance. This puzzle was similar in concept to those "free the..." puzzles, such as this one, but also had it's own different features. A dark cage, with openings on four sides, imprisons a star, and your goal was, of course, to rescue it. The star's legs has different lengths, and the openings were also different shapes. Only one was (supposed to be) the correct exit, and you'll need to find both the correct opening as well as the series of movements of the star in order to take it out.

Star out of it's prison

After a few tries I quickly deduced where the opening should be and after some fiddling the star was out! Putting it back I tried to do the solution again to make sure I remember it, and showed it to a friend who was at the time with me. He was also able to have done it pretty quickly- but had it out on a different side! Thinking he's broken the puzzle a panicked Will took the puzzle back only to find that there's not just one solution... There was three! I don't know if it was a defective on my puzzle or a general problem, but with the design that's a little inconsistency. Somewhat similar to my experience with the Cast H&H-It is not too big a problem but does let down the overall rating of the puzzle.

Despite that the Cage was another good cage-type puzzle to fiddle with, and I say with Hanayamas the more the better! And as usual, the link to the shop.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast H&H

Puzzle: Cast H&H
Brand: Hanayama
Inventor: Oscar Van Deventer
ST: ~20 min

Cast H&H

Here's another Cast Puzzle for review: the H&H. At first sight it doesn't immediately show how it should work-but after picking it up it became fairly obvious, like the Cast Disk. The puzzle consists of two "H" shaped pieces intertwined with each other, some grooves on the puzzle makes it not possible to just pull the pieces apart but having to go through a serie of movements in order to separate them. The puzzle is a 3-D maze, and has some really interesting moves. It somehow resembles another puzzle in the series, the Cast Keyring, with similar aspects. As you can see in the photo the name and brand is engraved onto one of the piece, a little detail Hanayama puzzles always have.

The H's in pieces

Now although the puzzle was rated 5/6 in my opinion it was rather easy and I personally would rate it as more of a 3 or 4. Though there are other problems such as solving the parity issue the maze don't have too many dead-ends, and when it do, they don't extend long. I solved the puzzle rather quick-in total there were 26 moves at my count, although there was one kind of move the solution did not use, which is a bit let-down for me. A few days later, I was surfing on the web, and finds a copy of the solution of the H&H. But the problem is-the official solution was totally different with mine! It turned out that the puzzle has actually multiple solutions, and th official solution includes all six moves, not counting that it was the shortest one with only 20 moves (no pun intended). I'm not a big fan of puzzles with more than one solutions, but I guess for some maze puzzles it's just impossible to prevent that. Despite that, the Cast H&H pops out on the range of maze-type puzzles because the way the pieces interact with each other is very clever, maintaining your interest and made the solving progress fun.

On the shelf the nice silver coating made it look nice, and with the reasonable price you just can't go wrong with buying one here.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast Elk

Puzzle: Cast Elk
Brand: Hanayama (forgive me)
Inventor: NOB Yoshigahara
ST: 15m

The intertwined elks

This is the Cast Elk from again Hanayama, with the highest rating of 6. I currently was stepping up from the medium range and buying lots of harder puzzles. The elk is one of them.

The designer's name engraved
on one of the pieces

This puzzle is, indeed, shaped as two elks, their horn entangled, and the letters NOB, the name of the designer, engraved onto one of the pieces. Then of course, your task is to separate them. I have classified the Hanayamas into two categories: the first includes puzzles that needs just a few steps to solve, but requires hard thinking. Examples may include Cast Nutcase, Cast News, Cast Spiral, and this one. the other is maze-like puzzles that require a long series of move to solve, and most of them requires the trial and error method (although Cast O'gear is a exception, see an earlier post). Puzzles that fit into this category might be Cast H&H, Cast Disk, Cast Keyring, and Cast Bike. I personally prefer the first one, as they require more thinking and not luck.


Back to the topic, Cast Elk is one of my favorite puzzles because of this reason. They are also beautifully crafted with detail, a common trait among the Hanayamas-beautiful and hard. I have been manipulating the two pieces for some time and was just going in circles. The horns' shape interact with each other to just block you from the last move!

The Elks separated

Later in the day I was watching TV, and taking the puzzle out from my pocket I suddenly found that it was in a whole new position I have not gone to-Kevin have I found another Magic jacket ? :D From that point I was able to progress and finally separate the two pieces. It turns out that I have tried a similar thing before, but the designer has made the two pieces slightly different, so out of the four similar moves only one works. I counted and there were about three moves total in order to save the Elks, but they were really tricky!

Overall the Cast Elk is a lovely puzzle to get, it's a "beginner" level 6, and as always worth your sacrifice. The Elk can be brought from here.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast Loop

Puzzle: Cast Loop
Brand: Hanayama
Inventor: Vesa Timonen
ST: ~15 m

Cast Loop

First I would like to apologize of my small variety of puzzles, more specifically, I have been reviewing on Hanayama puzzles ALL THE TIME! I have been, as said, starting on this series for my puzzling and will be getting more different puzzles in the future.


After solving the previous ones I had confidence that I am more of a level-fourish person, and didn't "waste" my money on easier levels. But upon my researching I stumbled upon the Cast Loop which has a pretty high rating. After seeing several blog reviews, I decided that it's time to have it on my hands. It arrives with a string so that you can wear it as a accessory . (how nice!) But considering it's weight I gave up that use.

A rather heavy necklace!

Cast Loop's first assembly, as comes in package

The Cast Loop comes a shiny ring, the words "LOOP" and "Hanayama" is written on each of the pieces. With only two pieces it is not hard, but a bit tricky. The goal is to assemble the puzzle into a complete ring. It has two different assemblies, one of which the puzzle comes in the box, and the other which is the solution. This is not the kind of puzzle where you have to use the trial-and-error method, but rather you can just put the pieces on the coffee table and literally think out the answer. I am known to be slow among the puzzlers, so a good fifteen minutes were used before I solved the puzzle.

the beautiful symmetry

Apart from the puzzling on it, the puzzle itself is a beautiful piece of work, with a nice symmetry to the two pieces. Although rated as in the easiest range of Hanayamas, I personally recommend this one to you as it isn't only a clever puzzle on an old concept, but an artwork as well. Definitely worth buying! The Hanayama series can be obtained from Puzzlemaster, Puzzlethis, Sloyd, and MrPuzzle.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast NEWS

Compass?

Puzzle: Cast NEWS
Brand: Hanayama
Inventor: NOB Yoshigahara
ST: ~1 week


Now to introduce one of my favorite puzzles...The Cast News. It was invented by Mr. Yoshigahara at the age of 19, pretty amazing isn't it? Some people are born for you to look up onto. The puzzle was rated the highest rating on the Hanayama scale-6. I expected much of a challenge when I brought it-and it definitely give me a good amount of torture time! It was made of two pieces that join together to firm a octagon. The puzzle was defined to be somehow like a compass, with N, E, W, and S engraved on it. It was made of good bronze, and was designed to have a aged look, similar to several other Hanayamas, such as the Enigma, the Coil etc.

Opened

When having a first try, you'll notice things going inside there. Sort of like a marble rolling around. So this must be the locking mechanism! There seemed to be a LOT of things inside because in every direction you tilt, something clicks. Still, being the unexperienced me and haven't seen puzzles of the like, I figured that this must be a multiple-step puzzle where you tilt it in the correct direction, and let one thing block each other until it was finally able to come apart. Oh how wrong I was. Fiddle-Fiddle-dee, no avail after sometime, I finally thought of a approach using a simple law of physics. I tried it-No avail. So back to the fiddling, and I at last determined what was going on there. If I really was right, then NOB was really a clever dude... So five minuted later lo and behold it opened! Examining it, i could tell that I am right. The inventor added a nice twist to a simple concept that makes the puzzle more interesting, which is why I so liked this one. I can only say that if your idea didn’t work, it might not be wrong-Think of your theories again, and figuring the positions of the things inside will surely help.

A good puzzle indeed-To my suggestion you must have it, great invention by NOB again!

Here is where you’ll get this puzzle.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast Spiral

Puzzle: Cast Spiral

Cast Spiral

Brand: Hanayama
Inventor: Kennet Walker, NOB Yoshigahara
ST: 30 m

This is another Cast Puzzle by Hanayama, rated level five on their six-point scale. It’s shaped like five unique jigsaw pieces put together to form a circle. The puzzle really gives a elegant feeling, and feels smooth when holding it. All Hanayama puzzles seems to be manufactured well, and considering its price, every single puzzle by them is worth to buy. Back to the topic, if you haven’t seen those kinds of puzzles, you will really be puzzled by how this puzzle works. (no pun intended) Exactly what I have experienced-what kind of a puzzle is supposed to be there if it’s only about jigsaw, not considering that there’s only five pieces? Oh how wrong I was. Those kinds of puzzles had a slope in the place where they connect to form a unique interlocking system. Two pieces can slide out in one direction-but will be blocked in the other. That’s easy, you say. The problem is that there’s five! Whenever two pieces want to slide apart, they will be kindly blocked by the other piece beside them. Now the puzzle rating goes from easy to impossible in a minute, huh? This is what I like about the Hanayamas. So when you hold one piece and let go the rest, none will fall out, but instead forms a staircase or spiral-like pattern (hence the name). There’s another more original puzzle like this which is a square formed from four jigsaw pieces, in which they interlock just like this puzzle. The spiral has given a twist to the original, changing the shape and increasing the number of pieces.

The staircase-a unique locking system

Having never seen any type of those puzzles before, i was pretty dumbfounded for some time. I have the basic idea of how it should open, but applied it in the wrong way-and not until some time later did I found the correct solution-pretty clever!

The assembly was trickier-If you didn’t have the pieces labeled, or somehow remembered the correct order, you could sort them into what was called the “Cast Spiral Paradox”. The pieces was constructed in such a way that they could only fit in one way, and all other possibilities were denied. But, because of the joins’ different shapes, some pieces will tend to stuck together when wrongly placed. In fact, they could be stuck in such a manner that you’d have to get a replacement of the puzzle-pretty dangerous! There was also a alternate assembly which is also a paradox-once you got in that formation you were unlikely to fix your puzzle. So I, always doing a lot of research before I bought a puzzle, were well aware of this and labeled the pieces with a pencil before I dissected them-Although later I was able to memorize the order.

Opened!

The puzzle itself was beautifully manufactured-and its quality is great. So if you want a hard, beautiful puzzle this was for you! In fact, it was so smooth that one of my fellow puzzlers joked that it could be a hand massager! While I don't suggest that use, the puzzle was definitely worth buying.

You could get your own copy of the puzzle here.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast Enigma

Puzzle: Cast Enigma
Brand: Hanayama
Inventor: Eldon Vaughn
ST: 40 m

Unsolvable Puzzle!!!-or is it?

I realized that I wasn't reviewing my poor little collection in order-Has ben a while since I brought some of them. Hope it doesn't affect this blog! This is the Cast Enigma (yes, sorry for reviewing Cast Puzzles all the time, be patient... Other puzzles coming), rated level 6 (a.k.a MAX) on the Hanayama scale. In fact, it has been so hard that some people considered it unsolvable. I was NOT aware of this fact when I bought this. At first, I was buying this as a birthday present for one of my puzzler friends, and to be sure he got it on time I purchased it a couple of weeks earlier. Well it was so tempting sitting ghtere on my shelf! What happens with a tempting puzzle and a puzzle obsessionist? NOTHING if I was buying it for a friend, so it arrived as his doorstep undamaged. But it so tempts me that I brought an extra one right after his birthday. As you know, I am a serious rookie, so I am not planning to buy Enigma at first when I'm stuck with some level fours. But you know what happens with a hopelessly obsessed puzzler and money! So there a enigmatic chain lay at my hands.

The solved unsolvable

The puzzle consists of three parts, two of them being spiral-looking, and the other one is a distorted "O" shape The thing was polished in a kind of aged gold color, and certainly looks nice if you hang it. Not-so-attractive if it was jumbled up on a shelf!

As of me, I've found this puzzle as very straight-forward, and except one move that delayed me a little, I worked smoothly through and the thing was in pieces in 20 minutes. As of assembly, I have watched closely, and it took me around the same time to put it back. Not here to boast at all, but I have found nothing enigmatic about this one.


The Next Section Is For People Who Already Solved The Enigma

The same thing? No...

And what now? Well, I am not sure if the designer even realized this: There's two other alternate assemblies to challenge you! I've found those when I'm fiddling with this on a very, very bored Saturday. Anyone who solved the Enigma will know how the longer spiral piece and the "O" piece come out. Put them in upside-down, and you've got a alternate assembly with a mirror image of the original Enigma. For people familiar to the puzzle it should not be hard to assemble/disassemble using the method, but it is a fun approach!

Whole-new stuff

The second one is more complicated. Assemble the puzzle having one of the pieces upside-down but with the other up straight will result in a whole-new puzzle. Looking at the picture, you will realize that the bottom two parts has switched! And no this is not a middle state of the original puzzle! It is your own matter to figure out how to exchange the two pieces ad turn it to its starting position.


Back To Normal


So over all a fun and challenging puzzle. Great to buy, as it can took you quite a while (sadly not in my case). A must-have in your collection.

The puzzle is available from Puzzle Master here.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast O'Gear

Puzzle: Cast O'Gear

Brand: Hanayama

Inventor: Oscar Van Deventer

ST (solve time): ~1-2 h

Cast O'gear

This is the Cast O'gear, one of my first puzzles. It has a level three rating on the Hanayama scale, so it will be a fairly moderate challenge. As with most of my first Hanayamas, they were available from a nearby store for me-lucky me eh? It consists of two parts (the same for most hanayamas isn't it?), a gear with five point like a star, and a box with strange holes on each of its six faces.


Just looking at it, one isn't likely to figure out how this puzzle works until you actually have a go with it. Basically, the gear doesn't just came off when you lift it, but can be turned to other faces. It can rotate 90 degrees in one specific direction on any faces, so it can walk over all faces of the box. However, its movements are limited, because some of the sides are straight, and not curved. To cut a long story short, this is a somehow complicated 3-D maze.


Two of the gears have a part of them being thinner than usual, and this is the key to the solution. One of the face is different than the others, and getting the correct point of the gear to the correct face in the correct direction will free the star. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. There's two ways to solve a maze puzzle-to use the trial-and-error method, or try to make logic out of it and make a map. As with this puzzle, it can be solved using a mathematical approach-I'll explain it later.

Opened-Not enough!

So I got this puzzle. Opened the package. Lost total order in about five minutes. Just randomly fiddled with the gear with no idea what I am doing. After sometime I put it down to rest, and to clear my mind. Thinking I should keep order, I tried a more logical approach. I managed to return the puzzle to it's starting position, then labeled the six sides with symbols. So I recorded (with a paper) all my moves in my second try-half an hour later it lay in two pieces. 100% luck. From now on I used the paper as the answer to the puzzle, following the long sequence whenever I wanted to solve it, and went barsec if a friend scrambles it up.

Satisfied!
My scribble notes about O'gear's route

Well in total not satisfied! And (not learning my lesson obviously) picked up my puzzle after two days. This time, I tried to create a map of the puzzle. (picture coming) It clearly shows me the possible ways. Then, I figured that if the gear has five points and the box, six sides, going over the box with the gear will eventually have all possible combinations together. Trial 1 created. To my surprise it didn't work! I've got the correct point of the gear to the correct face in the Wrong direction! Now oscar throws in another twist! Think (c) Allard... And trial 2 was here to flip the gear 180 degrees. (if you are interested I will email you the trials but I won't write it here as to not spoil the experience for others.) Using the combination, the gear was opened and I won't ever worry again if it was scrambled.


Okay, if you are not asleep yet, my last paragrappppph..
This puzzle was a nice maze, with a great concept. No waste of your money on this one! The top face has two holes that holds the puzzle nicely together, and a great coffee table piece it will be.


There!

P.S The puzzle is available from Puzzle Master here.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast Ring I

Puzzle: Cast Ring I

Brand: Hanayama

Inventor: Bram Cohen & Oscar Van Deventer

ST (solve time): FAILED

Cast Ring I

Yes... Another puzzle from Hanayama. Since this brand led me into exploring puzzles, I brought most of my first puzzles in this series.

This is the Cast Ring I, with the shape of a ring (obviously) combined with four rings, and was rated a four in the hanayama scale. Unlike most Hanayama puzzles, the goal of this puzzle was mainly focused on putting it back together, since the puzzle just falls apart by itself.

I brought this puzzle along with Cast Spiral in a nearby puzzle store. After the experience with Marble, I was then attracted into puzzles and brought this one shortly after. I was quite surprised when i got it, since it was called ring-I have somehow expected it to be smaller. Actually, the size was too big for a ring, but small for a bracelet-I would really appreciate if the size was somehow adjusted so it could double up as an accessory (As the case with some other ring puzzles and some Hanayama puzzles). Okay, enough opinions, down to my experience. This being my second-only puzzle, I didn’t expect it to fall apart in my hands. After panicking, I worked to put it back together. Here I give a warning-THE PUZZLE FALLS APART SO BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU OPENED IT! Not having enough time to examine the puzzle, I used the picture on the box to know what the solved state was, which isn’t a lot of help. After a while I gave up, and peeked at the solution. (God forgave me! I was only a junior at the time!) With the beginning position ready, I was able to put it back. It seemes that i gained too much confidence on my success with the Marble-I’ll have to be careful afterwards!

The opened puzzle

Overall not a bad puzzle, looks great on a shelf-but be sure to remind people who are tempted to try of the puzzle’s looseness!

I brought it from a nearby store, but you can buy it from Puzzlemaster here.

Hanayama Cast Puzzle: Cast Marble

Puzzle: Cast Marble

Brand: Hanayama

Inventor: Bram Cohen & Oscar Van Deventer

ST (solve time): ~30 m

Cast Marble

Ok, this is my first blog post so I think I would just start reviewing with my first puzzle. This is the Cast Marble, shaped like a round marble trapped inside a square. At first sight it might seem impossible to get the ball out, but after further examination you'll find that it's actually made of four pieces-two formed the outside cube, and two formed the steel ball. The puzzle had a nice metal finish, which you can tell by how smooth the parts turn and move along.

Before I discovered the Marble, my interest in puzzles were really inactive, since I'm never so into puzzles and haven't did a lot of research (Which I'm starting to do now). I've thought that puzzles were boring wire stuff that ended up with a jumbled mess on your hand, but the Marble in a store really caught up my attention. Since it has a reasonable price, I just bought it-Which proves to be a right choice. Now I'm really exploring the puzzle world in a full new prospective! Thank you Marble!

Opened

The first thing you'll notice when you opened the package is that the two outer parts of the puzzle tends to move in a sideway motion. Don't get trapped! It does let you see and understand the puzzle better-but has nothing to do with the solution. Since I haven't had a puzzle in years, I fiddled with the puzzle with 0% experience. Finally after five minutes I put it down and looked at the [SPOILER] package box for hints. And I did find one indeed! Using the hint, I was able to solve it in a fairly quick time. The solution was precise, but one was able to find it using logic. Looking at others' experience with Marble, I found that even if anyone is able to solve it, they tend to forget how they opened it, thus having trouble in assembling. The same thing happened to me-It isn't until ten minutes later did I put it back into it's original position. Also, the four pieces were hard to manipulate, so usually in the first few times of reassembling another person was needed to help assemble the puzzle. After some practice one can be able to assemble the puzzle by himself. (Thanks Louis!)

Overall a fun puzzle-I recommand this to everybody. A really attractive one on a bookshelf. The only letdown is that the outer part tends to catch fingerprints, and the paint wears off, so may the cleaning cloth be with you!

I brought it from a store in my city, but you can buy it from Puzzlemaster here.