Special post for 3d crystal puzzle collectors

As many of you may know, I have an almost complete collection of crystal puzzles.  I've been collecting them since they first came out in 1977. Basically there are currently 3 companies that make these: Hanayama, Beverly/Jeruel, and YongJun.  There are others that you will find on the market, but they aren't as prevalent.  You can read about our collection here.  Please bear in mind, that post is almost a year old and I've had quite a few lunches since then.

Many times over the last year or two I've been asked where I purchase them from.  This post will tell you sites around the world that I go to to purchase my puzzles.  Be warned, the list is extensive and while the prices of the puzzles may seem very good on some of them, there is always a trade-off:  Time for delivery, or cost of shipping.  As a disclaimer, I don't get any form of compensation from any of these companies.  Clicking on each of the company names in the list below will take you to that webpage.

1) Amazon

2) eBay  - caveat emptor

3) Plaza Japan

4) Walmart

5) Barnes & Noble

6) Kohls

7) Are You Game

8) Macy's

9) Amazon Japan

10) Jayz

11) Mr. Puzzle

12) Sloyd

13) Wish

14) Mercari

15) AliExpress

16) TaoBao Focus

17) Bits and pieces

18) Puzzle Master

19) Hobby Link

20) Buyee

21) Target

22) Brilliant Puzzles

23) Puzzle Warehouse

24) shopee.tw

25) Megacuber

26) rc-today

27) 3DCrystal Puzzles

28) LBJ.tw

29) carousell.my

30) carouseell.sg

31) Soviet Express

There are of course many other places you can purchase these puzzles, but I think 31 is enough. I can't give away all my secrets. If searching on places like Amazon or eBay, don't forget to check the other countries.  I've bought from the UK, Germany, Spain... 

It also helps to have friends in many countries around the world.  My puzzling friends know I like these things and they send me puzzles when they find them.  

Some of the websites will need a reciever/shipper to send them to you.  I've had great success with these companies and have yet to have a problem.  

There are so many crystal puzzles out there.  Our collection has over 500 completed pieces and probably another 100 unfinished pieces and yet I'm still missing around 20 or so.  The hunt goes on.  I wish you all the best of luck in your hunt for puzzles.  

Thanksgiving

You know, one puzzle I don't have is a Turkey.  I guess I will have to rectify that problem.  Maybe I can go get a puzzle and glue some feathers and a waddle to it.  Now there's an idea, DIY turkey.  Come to think of it, I don't have a cornucopia or any of the other Thanksgiving fixings.

But I do have A LOT to be thankful for this year.  I still have Mr. Man and he's still putting up with my collecting obsession.  Bug is still not into puzzles, but always helps with the crystal puzzle assembly.

I've got some amazing friends who I adore. I get to see SmaZ and his new creations on a regular basis, I meet Uwe for dinner once a fortnight at least.

I get to go on around 5 or 6 puzzle trips a year.  I love IPP and the Guangzhou parties are just a blast.

I get to travel quite a bit for work and I usually manage to make a few puzzle purchases and a side trip to meet a fellow puzzler or two.

I accomplished a dream by mass producing my own puzzle.  (and if my luck holds, it will be at a local attraction in the spring.)

I get to read Allard's and Kevin's and Gabriel's and Jerry's and Brian's  and Neil's and Oli's blogs.  That keeps me looking for puzzles to purchase, and others to drool over.  All of them write so much better than I do, so if you haven't read their posts yet, go do so today!

Oh yes, and I got a few new puzzles this year....a few hundred that is!

Yep.  Life is good.  I have a lot to be thankful for.  I hope you take the time to sit back and think over your puzzle blessings.

Sick day puzzling

I've been having one of those holidays. You know the kind-four days off and all of them sick.  This horrid bug was brought home by my bug and by Sunday evening I was ready to kill her.  I had a weekend full of puzzling planned and instead, all I got to do was put together some crystal puzzles.  My poor body and brain would take no more than that.

Some of them are from Hanayama:

Some of them are from Beverly:

but most of them are from China:

 All of them are dead simple to put together.  They each have between 36-42 pieces so it's not even a big jig-saw puzzle we're talking about. Bug lives these things, and as they come out, I get them for her. The Hanayama are fantastic because the pieces are numbered and she just needs to follow them.  The Beverly are great because the paper that comes with the puzzle tells you how to put it together.  The China made ones?  They are a pain in the bum!  That upside-down octopus is so badly made its legs don't lay flat so the base is opened.  Nice thought though.

My only complaint?  I'm missing a couple of dwarfs!  Now I ask you, what is Snow White going to do with only 5 dwarfs???

:

magna cube

The last puzzle of the weekend is called Magna Cube.  this version is made by Beverly.  I found it hiding under my bed with a bit of tape on it from a shop that is no longer in business so I guess I've had it for a while.  You know you have a puzzle problem when you have puzzles that you've never even opened.  Well I had to set that right so here it is for you folks.  All taken apart and everything.  

This one has 5 cubes that have 3 bits and 4 cubes with 4 bits.  Ok, so they aren't cubes but you get what I mean.  First impression as I took it out of the box?  Nice that they beveled the edges and did it uniformly too. But then when I started to take it apart, the magnets...yuck!  They have some kind of covering on them which had started to come off.  I took a long time just getting the metal shavings off.  Good thing I was in a hotel with a toothbrush!  You will also notice that each piece is formed in one of two ways.  Any straight edges of 2 or 3 pieces are made of one piece with a shallow groove carved in to it.  The bits that go around the corners are glued on and not always straight.  They aren't askew enough to cause problems with solving, but it's just noticeable.

So solving?  Well, this one took me the better part of Sunday afternoon and to be honest, I think I stumbled upon the solution when I was packing up to go home.  the magnets with all their coming apart still worked well enough to do their job and trying to come up with the solution was nerve wracking.  I managed to find a couple of different solutions throughout the day, but when I checked I almost always had a magnet or two exposed.

All in all, I would recommend this one. It was a tricky bugger, but loads of fun to play with!

HK Toys and Games Fair

SmaZ and I left GZ on the 9:45 train for Shenzhen.  By the time I got home it was midnight.  I know he had further to go so I feel for him.  The next morning I was up by 10 and headed straight over to Wan Chi for the toys fair.  V-Cubes had a booth there again this year and I looked forward to seeing my friend Konstantinos again.  When I got to the booth, he was no where to be found, but ther was a lad inside with a funny accent, kind of tall, dark eyes....I took a gamble, gave him a hug and said "you must be the cousin" gamble paid off.  This was cousin Bill. He's a nice handsome fellow with another of those verdes smiles. A tall drink of water as well.  I spent the better part of the fair looking up. 

 So.  The fair.  I'm disappointed this year.  I mean I did see lots of old friends but there were so many more I didn't have the chance to see.  My normal 'fair' is to stay and work the booths with someone for the full 4 days.  I take time off work, reschedule classes, what ever...well this year I had blasted meetings didn't I? Way too many of them truth be told! Wednesday morning I went in for my class and figured I'd spend at least the aftrnoons with the boys.  No such luck! I was stuck all day.  So Thursday then.  Well nuts if I didn't have another meeting Thursday morning so I ran like the wind to get to the fair by 1.  I was meeting puzzle master there and didn't want to miss them.  We chatted for a bit and I went off for a few hours to find oth old friends.  I found east sheen and had a good laugh about getting a taiwan puzzle in HK.

 It seems my friend Wil told a company from HK about me in Germany last year and I had to go take a look at their new products.  I laughed because I met them a couple of years back, talked about puzzles in schools and had a nice convsation.  They wouldnt sell me a sample though because they thought I would copy it.  Thanks to Wil, I now have samples on the way after the NY fair.  This one I purchased from Wil I think in Japan.  Go figure.. But so very typical.  Think of my problems with getting Hanayama puzzles in HK.

  Took a look at what smart games had on offer then visited with the folks from Dilemma for a bit.  Next stop Beverly to place an order for next month when the next fair is over.  They have a few new crystal puzzles coming out.  I stopped by and said hello to the bouncy ball guy and got  a few for the bug (you can never have too many bouncy balls can you) picked up a Teddy bear for her and went back to the booth.  No tangle this year.  So sad.  That means I have to go during the summer sourcing fair.  Oh well, more fun. 

Calvin and Tiffany came by and we started to pack up.  Konstantinos wanted a dress for his girl so we headed out to do a bit of shopping.  We said goodbye to them in causeway bay, then headed back to the hotel because Bill said he needed a change.  I hopped a cab with them and off they went to the airport.  Because of strange scheduling next year, I'll have the whole fair off.  Konstantinos has threatened to stay home and have cousin Bill do it himself.  Fine by me, I'll enjoy his company just as much! 

No photos of this one today. Sorry guys.  I flubbed up making a video of a puzzle (which has since been removed) I want to end this posting with an apology to V-Cubes and Konstantinos.  All the rubbish and nasties I kept reading, I made the video to show how great the new one is.  I didn't stop to think at all about your wishes.  I do hope eventually I will be forgiven.