KPG meeting Part 2

So I'm back in HK and I have internet that doesn't blink out on me every 10 minutes or so. (what a major headache it must be to live with that problem)

On Sunday I met with the KPG puzzlers. My first thought was: They aren't all kids! And then sadly, I realized I'm not a kid anymore either. I must apologize in advance, I don't know names to give to the people I met, or the puzzles they brought. But I can say they taught Math! That's all I managed to get.

We met our 'driver' at the hotel and he took us over to a nice little restaurant somewhere in the city. We started pulling out puzzles right away, and I found them hard to put down when the food came.

That photo was my one attempt to get everything on the table, but I didn't do a very good job of it. Every time I turned around, another puzzle was being pulled out.

I enjoyed the company almost as much as the toys. Since I'm tired and still need to head into work, I'll give a few highlights.

First would have to be finally meeting John Lin. I've watched his blog for a while, and have been impressed by his puzzle creations for years. His cylindrical 2x2x2 caught my attention first I guess so this was nice. He pulled out a few puzzles that he had put together himself (using wood cut by Mr. Mickey-I think that was the mans name) I had to take photos of one set so I can make an attempt at building my own. It was pretty cool I think.

One huge puzzle was the V7Tetrahedron made by Chiou Sheng Wen. He also brought along a few of his his other builds. A dino 2x2x2 copter, and a dino cube he made. 4 other pyramids. It wasn't all wood, there was plenty of plastic on that table as well....

Just a bit of eye candy:

While I was blown away by the clearness of the surrounding plastic, Mr. Man worked out the vacuum technique used.

One man that was there was an artist, and sadly I didn't get his name. (Although, I did get his book, I can't read Chinese and Mr. Man had to go to work today-poor guy!) He made some amazing little puzzles made of Brass. They are all about 1-1 1/2 inches. And all were made with a milling machine. Mr. Man was out taking a nap, but I made bug wake him to see these gems. They are real beauties.

I handed out some black and white SmaZ dinos to everyone, and was given a few nice toys of my own. One is a brick of a puzzle. It's a KPG cubic burr. I saw one taken apart, and haven't attempted mine yet, but will one of these days. Of course, We had to get the obligatory signing of the puzzle in.

Designer and builder signatures on this one!

I was given a link to another neat blog, but like John's it needs translating.

This short thread does not do this meet up justice. We sat and played with toys of all kinds for about 5 hours. When the restaurant closed for the day, we left too. All in all, it was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I hope one day I have the opportunity to do it again. Thank you all for a wonderful afternoon!