Brain Candy - Mechanical Puzzles
Last year I got myself a metal Hanayama puzzle. Ever since I was a kid I enjoyed brain teasers. The physical ones always bring back memories of being with my Grandfather at a truck stop in White Pass. All the tables had those peg games that consisted of a wooden, triangle board and golf tees. The goal was to have one peg remaining.
I love to challenge my brain in various ways and think of it like a good workout. You need to have a variety of exercise to be in good shape: cardio, strength, endurance. If I'm not using my brain on creative endeavors like writing, photography, or sculpting, I'm reading about science or watching physics related videos. These mechanical puzzles are a great thing to round out the mental exercises... and they're just plain fun!
These are like mental treats. Small, easy to pick up and savor. The one I got last year is called Marble. I spent a fair amount of time with a certain approach to solve it, then accidentally stumbled on the answer. Once you've solved it, the motion is pretty satisfying.
You can see the scratches and scuffs on this puzzle in the photos. It has delivered a lot of joy over the past year. After solving it, there's more fun to be had in watching a friend try to figure it out. These puzzles also make a curious accent to my bookshelf while I'm not tinkering with them.
The Marble puzzle ignited my interest in this line of puzzles and I recently received three more for my birthday. My favorite of them has to be Equa. Its appearance and motion remind me of an atom.
These are all disassembly puzzles, so the goal is to separate every piece, then reassemble. You'd think putting it back together would be simple after you get it apart, but that's sometimes even more challenging. I feel I'm on the right track with the Equa puzzle, but I haven't solved it yet.
These three Hanayama puzzles progress in difficulty. All Hanayama puzzles are graded 1-6: Marble is a 4, Equa is level 5, and this piece, Quartet, is the most difficult at 6. As the name suggests, this puzzle comes apart into four pieces. I've yet to attempt Quartet; I figured I would solve Equa first.
Lastly, I received a wooden puzzle (not by Hanayama) called Powder Keg. It itn't particularly difficult, but still satisfying to disassemble and rebuild. This one's also more likely to be enjoyed by my kids and at my son's level of solving. He can get it apart but hasn't managed to reassemble it on his own yet.
The reason I like this one is the motion of the wooden pieces remind me of puzzles boxes. It's amazing how they must be moved in a certain order to make way for the other pieces to move. There are some impressive examples on YouTube and I'm always impressed by woodworkers capable of crafting such intricate objects.
This mass produced piece is likely cut by a CNC machine, but it's still fun to click-clack the pieces through their motions and fit it all back together again. I also enjoy the abstract angles created as it comes apart.
I hope you enjoyed these photos of my current mechanical puzzle collection. Do you enjoy brain teasers, geometry, or have childhood memories with these types of puzzles? I'd love to read your comments.
These look fun. I've always enjoyed wrapping my brain around things like this. Do you just find them online somewhere?
Amazon has a large variety of Hanayama puzzles. There is a local toy store that carries them, but only one, so all of mine have come from Amazon.
These look really cool. I'm pretty sure I would start tearing them apart in frustration, or hitting them with a hammer.
How big is Marble? I need a banana for scale.
Good point Neg. Here's a scale pic:
The size is part of the reason I call them Brain Candy. They're small like little treats, but not like M&Ms you can just keep popping. These are more like jawbreakers that take days to get through.
I feel like I'm close on Equa, but I'm not finding that "next step". I feel that hammer urge creeping up...
Can you tell us the solution to the banana puzzle? It looks challenging.
Oh, my! They are much smaller than I had originally imagined! That makes the craftsmanship even more remarkable!
My Dad made some neat wooden ones back when I still lived over there. Don't have one of them though.. he didn't make more when we grew up and moved out. But it was fun.
That's unfortunate you don't have them anymore. It's always when we're older we wish we had some of those handmade mementos, especially a cool puzzle.
I love those hanayama puzzles. Lately there are two fellows I found on YouTube (Fleb and MrPuzzle) who review all kinds of similar puzzles and give links where we can buy them, so I have started amassing quite a collection.
Yes, I know of both those two YouTubers and binged watched several of their videos earlier last year. There were a couple puzzles made by a German puzzle crafter that I was hoping to purchase but unfortunately weren't available through the links provided.
I've been really thinking with the Equa puzzle and feel like I'm on the right track bit can't figure it out. Its tempting to not just pull up MrPuzzle's video on it and try to sneak peek a hint, but I know it would ruin it and spoil the solution. I'll keep at it, but if I'm still thinking my next step is a hacksaw in about another month, I may have to cave into the pressures of Internet knowledge.
Nice photos ...looks sharp ..puzzles
Brain candy.... Thought it was some sweets....lol
It's sweets for your mind. ;)
What a delightful array of puzzles! Each piece could also be valued equally as art, both from geometric form as well as craftsmanship! Thank you for sharing these wonderful items with us! 😊
Thank you for commenting! I agree on the art aspect; I enjoy appriciating the symmetry of Equa just as much as attempting to solve it.
@aksounder this post was presented at the most recent Pimp Your Post Thursday on the Steemit Ramble Discord. I have written a post to share your featured post. Just stopping back to let you know that you can see your name in lights right here. (Just kidding about the lights :)