A puzzling road trip

 On the 2nd of October my older daughter got married.  As she lives in Illinois, we decided to take a road trip to go to the wedding.  3 days of driving for anyone who cares.  We had the time so why not do it.  I am not from Illinois.  My family moved there after my mother passed away, so going 'home' doesn't appeal to me.  It's nice to see family, but it's just not home any more.  

On the way we stopped at a few puzzlers homes to see friends and what they are up to.  

Our first stop was in Georgia to see Mat Nedeljko.  His workshop has got to be the cleanest one I have ever seen.  The floors were so dust free and there was not a speck of wood dust anywhere!  He showed us his beautiful work using an antique french designed machine to cut marquetry that he built by hand.  I've not been so impressed in quite a while.  

George learned how to change the color of wood using vinegar and steel wool and Katherine had fun playing with the world's cleverest dog. 

From there, we went on to Chicago for a visit with Bill Cutler.  It was nice to see some of his early designs, and to verify a few IPP exchanges.  We had a wonderful although short visit because I just kept forgetting to add charging times to our ETA.  Bill even showed us a puzzle he designed and made when he was a teenager.  

The visit to him ended with the gift of a few articles he wrote on burr puzzles that I had been looking for and a very nice dinner in a Greek restaurant. The flaming cheese was interesting, I'm glad we tried it, but once is more than enough.

The next morning saw us at Jerry McFarland's house.  Upon arrival, we went straight to the basement where his workshop is.  This one is much different from the first we saw on this trip.  I was super impressed by the vacuum cutting machine he had set up.  It uses a pneumatic pump that comes complete with a whistle!  

Pneumatic saw

He told me he uses this to cut out all of his puzzles on.  It was run by one of the oldest computers I have ever seen.  The adage, if it works don't fix it fits very well in Jerry's shop. From here we went around the corner and saw his CNC machine.  Again run by an ancient computer.  I was impressed that he could get it down the steps and into his basement.  That thing was huge! Equally impressive to me was that all of his files are written in G-code.  I had no idea one could program with that. 

CNC machine

We watched it cut a few pieces, and then headed out for lunch where I had the opportunity to try and solve burrliphant and another he brought along.  We made a deal and hopefully these two puzzles will find their way to the Puzzle Palace Museum soon.  

Our next stop was an auction house in Chicago where I picked up a number of puzzles I had just won.  And then on to the wedding.  We rushed home to clean the house and get ready for the first Boca Bash.  

A few new boxes

This year even though G4G was cancelled, we decided to go ahead and have Boca Bash for fully vaccinated guests.  Our first, Tanner arrived on Monday evening and after a delayed flight, We were able to pick him up and return home to fall into bed and a blissful slumber.  

The next morning George and Tanner set to work assembling the Fuse 1 SLS Printer that arrived in February! It is now up and running and hopefully this weekend it will have a puzzle or two made on it.  Tanner of course did a self guided tour of the Puzzle Palace, and over lunch he told us that he thought he was in the museum and just missed a room or two because the number of puzzles here didn't match what he expected.  

After lunch, while George was napping, I took Tanner to the museum where he was rendered speechless for a while.  I showed him all of the rooms and left the chess room for last as he told me he was wanting some time alone with the Apothecary Chest.  I dutifully took it down and placed it on the puzzle table in the room.  We chatted for a while while he simply looked at the chest.  And then it happened!  He jumped in and began solving. 

Analyzing the back

He solved his first box
from the chest

I had to return to the house to get dinner started, and sadly we had to go.  When we returned to Puzzle Palace, I had an epiphany an gave Tanner the scooter.  He shot right back over to the Museum and carried on until I called him to dinner.

He and George shot a few games of pool after our meal, and then it was time for bed.  

This morning we pick up Stan Issacs, and the rest of our guests arrive on Friday.  I'm sure someone will post photos of the puzzle party on some form of social media somewhere.  

On to the museum update.  We spent the week tidying up for the puzzle party so not much was done.  The main item to be finished was to get the plates placed on the wall above the breakfast room table.  This is the last major project and now we can get on to the cataloguing. Expect no work done to be posted next week.  

The final plate is placed

He's proud of his work

And now I'm off to enjoy Boca Bash!  Happy puzzling everyone!

A small puzzle party

 This past weekend we had a small (7 people) puzzle party at the house.  Covid restrictions are in place and all were respectful of our vaccination mandate. One can't be too careful these days.  Especially in Florida with its high number of hospitalizations and daily new cases.

This group of people are from South Florida and one lone temporarily transported from Kansas. All met on the Mechanical Puzzles Discord.  Given the close proximity of puzzlers, we thought it would be good to get together for a bit of puzzling fun. We all met at Puzzle Palace around 10 am and after a tour and George's post golf shower we headed to the museum.  The folks come from all walks of life and that is what I love about puzzlers. You have nothing in common, yet everything. I'm afraid I must apologize to our guests, I get long winded.  I believe the tour or Puzzle Palace was around 2 hours.  I just love this place and all the puzzles inside but even more so the stories that go with them and once I start with the stories, there is no telling how long something will take.

Needless to say, the chaps were impressed with what was on display and loved George's trip through the dormitory and storage attic. All 5 of our guess attempted the trick door, and surprisingly, the NPSO verbally told them how to open it.  Of course they didn't listen to her and it was hard not to laugh at them when George did his usual opening 'trick move'.  I'm not telling because it is just so much fun to watch people do everything except the solution. Bill said he bets playing hide and seek in this house would be super fun.  I hadn't thought about that, but the few children who have been up there sure go crazy crawling through the mouse door.  

Tevin brought over a box of puzzles that we took a look at and I finally got a chance to see ResQ.  I missed it when it was on sale, and I decided the last CubicDissection auction prices are just too high for me.  I'm glad I got a chance to play with it a bit, I don't feel as though I'm missing that much now.  Although there is always the joy of just being able to play again.  But I digress. I also got a chance to play with the Revomaze Mercury. It of course stumped me but that is expected.  

Each of the lads donated a puzzle or two to the Museum which is greatly appreciated.  I immediately added their names and donation date to the puzzle so they are now immortalized here. Bill and Scarlet donated 3 gravitese water mazes, Tevin gave a free the euro 4 and a puzzle box 4 by Constantin.  Chris gave up his newly purchased mighty pin which thrilled me as I keep missing out on those puzzles when they hit the stores.  I'm not as fast on the keyboard as these young people or maybe our internet speed is too slow.  All 6 puzzles can be seen and played with in the Puzzle Palace Museum. (Shameful plug: we will gladly take any of your castoffs.  Donations are not required to visit, but are greatly appreciated.)

After George finished his shower, we packed up and went to the museum for lunch and another tour.  This time it was George's turn to do the talking while I threw together some lunch. I kept saying play. Play. PLAY! And eventually they took me up on that.  Lunch was a simple affair, brats, grilled corn, shepherds pie, and a macaroni and shrimp salad (did I mention that I love to cook?) Bill brought a bottle of Prosecco and and some beer and all enjoyed the food. After a bit of chit-chat they settled down to playing with a few puzzles.  All were given a post-it placement and took off to look. Scarlet wasn't shy and dove right in to the boxes.  Chris commented that he was just so overwhelmed and was just taking it all in.  

Everyone signed the guestbook and after a few hours we returned to Puzzle Palace where they continued to puzzle.  It tickled me that by this time they all felt comfortable enough to grab a puzzle, plop on the floor or in a chair and just play.  I guess I can understand the early hesitation, I mean where do you start with so many puzzles around.  

Bill solved Tornado, Tevin worked on some packing puzzles and Chris got a kick out of a Rose dovetail.  Scarlet was like a butterfly hopping from one puzzle to the next.   They never stopped smiling and there was laughter all around.  Overall, I'd say it was a good day. 

I ordered dinner from the club and while Bill and I went to get it someone upstairs discovered the pool table.  We all enjoyed some simple overlarge sandwiches and thankfully I didn't need to twist their arms to have them take the leftovers home. When everyone left, we lead them to the treasure chest to get a puzzle of their choice.  When at the Museum the girls got theirs after working out how to open it first. No digging until you unlock it :)

(I have gratefully and shamelessly taken some of the photos Chris sent me for this post)

On to the weekly update.  This week our young man did not come over for the weekend photographs, and I'll be honest, I didn't get many taken yesterday myself.  George is plugging along with the installation of shelves, I finally 'finished' the jigsaw room and Alcoholics Anonymous (don't get any ideas, it's the Museum bar that has keychains around the walls.) We moved all of the perplexus puzzles to the museum and I've almost finished the transfer of wood from my office to the great room.  We have plans to go on a 6 month world cruise in December but is looking increasingly less likely to happen with each passing day.  Because of this, I've slowed down a bit and am starting to enjoy the process rather than rush through it like a dervish.  

I'm pleased to report that we are now only missing 204 of the 2320 official IPP exchanges.  Who knows how many exchanges were made before IPP 10 when it became a real thing. Our ultimate goal is to have a complete set.  There is a massive amount of puzzling history on that wall and it would be a shame to be missing any of it. Once I finish going through the disentanglement puzzles, I will post a list of the missing pieces in the hopes that someone will have them.

Because we are almost at a full set of IPP puzzles, I finally decided to shift the puzzles on the wall.  It is a disastrous mess right now.  This means labeling all the puzzles with an identifier, photographing them, and finally putting them in their new place on the wall. While it sounds like an easy task, I can only label 3 years worth of puzzles in a day. It takes me another day to photograph the same puzzles, A very slow process.  I've really shifted my attention to this task now.  If all the stars align and people start getting vaccinated, we will be hosting a puzzle party here in the next few months so I'd like to have at least this done. With the fools in Florida though, I'm not holding my breath.  

Which leaves me with a bit of advice: For heavens sake, go get vaccinated. End this Pandemic, it's time to go back to living and seeing our friends again.  We all miss our puzzle parties and while Allard and the guys at MPP do a great job with the zoom VMPP's, it's just not the same thing.  We want to invite everyone to come visit this wonderful resource, but have come to the decision that if I don't see a vaccination card you will not be invited.  While the museum is available for all to see and use, it is ultimately a private home and if you don't have the vaccine, don't bother asking for an invitation.  

Until next week, Happy puzzling all!

Kilroy was here!

...and he's now blind.  I was unable to put eyes into his head.  I could try for hours to solve these things and I'm unable to solve any of them. This puzzle intrigued me.  George and I were moving the cabinets around and I came to a complete stop when I saw these puzzles. It brought back memories of my childhood when I first learned of Kilroy.  

Because I'm beginning to realize just how old I am, I'll explain Kilroy.  I first encountered Kilroy when I was in grade school. At that time, he was becoming harder and harder to find.  I'm not sure if he's around anymore at all other than on wikipedia and in a few movies.  Kilroy as I heard the story first showed up during WWII.  He was supposedly engraved on the bolts of ship hulls being built during the war.  These bolts were later found by shipmen who spread the early meme throughout Europe and later Asia.*

As is usually the case for these puzzles, I was unable to solve them.  Why?  I have no patience for dexterity (or patience) puzzles.  I guess I have the attention span of a gnat.  There are too many other things to entertain myself with right now.  These puzzles are both made of a glass top with a cardboard base and 2 steel balls to place in the eyes.  They are from the WWII period so must have been produced after 1940. The Lily library credits this puzzle to 1942,  (was it purchased by them in London circa 1942?).  My research has discovered that Kilroy first appeared on British shores when it was painted on the wing of a glider for Operation Market Garden in 1944.  According to the same webpage, Kilroy was spotted in Italy in 1943.  He was said to be in the African theater earlier than that.  Who knows when he showed up, but I'm glad he did.  It makes for a good run down a rabbit hole* and a good old man joke: 

Knock knock

Who's there?

Kilroy

Kilroy who?

Kill Roy Rogers, I'm a Gene Autry fan. 

On to the museum update: 

We have been staying here for the past few weeks again.  I'm now on a reorganizing kick.  When I first put all of the puzzles on the shelves, I tried to organize them by alphabetical order but not having a master list who the builders/designers were I didn't succeed. I think I'm doing well with names now and have been doing it the right way.  Currently I'm up to the H's and should be able to finish by weeks end.  At the same time I am reorganizing, I am photographing the pieces.  This is a major part of the job.  All of the ceramics have been photographed as they were placed on the vase wall (Yes James, I know these words are not interchangeable, but it is our place and these are the names I have chosen for them.  It makes it easier when turning out the lights.) 

When our young photographer comes in, I switch to working on cataloguing the library books. I've not gotten a master list from James, just a vague number.  Fair enough.  There are a lot!  I have a few books I want to purchase, but don't want to do it until I have an idea of what we are holding.  This process has been made so much easier with the invention of the barcode and ISBN's.  Sadly, not all books have an ISBN and need to be manually processed.  The convention didn't start until 1969, and even then not all books can be found using that number.  You can see a start of the collection at my google books page. We have chosen to make this public to help other puzzlers find books they may be looking for.  The 154 books that have been catalogued so far took me 3 hours to enter.  Those are only 1/8th of the collection including our own contributions to the library.  I expect to have this finished by the end of the month.

Until next week, Happy Puzzling!

  

*Upon searching the internet later as my curiosity has now been engaged, I came across this little blip from Wikipedia:  "The Lowell Sun reported in November 1945 that Sgt. Francis J. Kilroy Jr. from Everett, Massachusetts, wrote "Kilroy will be here next week" on a barracks bulletin board at a Boca Raton, Florida, airbase while ill with flu, and the phrase was picked up by other airmen and quickly spread abroad.^[9] The Associated Press similarly reported Sgt. Kilroy's account of being hospitalized early in World War II, and his friend Sgt. James Maloney wrote the phrase on a bulletin board. Maloney continued to write the shortened phrase when he was shipped out a month later, according to the AP account, and other airmen soon picked it up. Francis Kilroy only wrote the phrase a couple of times.^[6][17]"  I guess it is fitting that these two pieces ended up here. 

The museum is puzzle ready!

 Today I am thrilled to announce that the museum build is now complete.  We are now just waiting for the puzzles to come in.  There are a few minor items on the punch list but for the most part everything is done. We still need to buy at least 3 more sofa sleepers and a dining room table and chairs, but those will wait until we have placed the majority of the puzzles. The smaller coffee tables and end tables are all on order and will be arriving in a month or two.  

All of the cabinets are in place.  All the floors are completed.  The garage is no longer a garage.  We are ready to accept puzzles and to get sorting and cataloging them.  

We really had no idea what we were getting into when we acquired this collection and the house in January.  I think we have pulled off nothing short of a miracle. 

As of this morning, both containers of puzzles from the Hordern-Dalgety collection are in Ft. Lauderdale.  One is already at the storage facility for the moving company and the other has just been unloaded.  With this being a long holiday weekend, I don't expect anything next week either.  Yet I remain hopeful.

To see a video of the completed museum click here. 

Armada Chest, special delivery and museum update

 Very recently I won an auction of an Armada Chest.  I first saw one of these in Florida when I was around 13 and have always wanted a pirates chest.  When it came up on Invaluable I couldn't resist.  George and I were glued to the computer screen and saw the price climbing ever closer to our maximum bid.  The inevitable happened and we were outbid.  I asked to put in one more, and we just made it before the auctioneer said sold.  The competing bidder gave up and we walked away with a real deal.  

Our chest measures 82cm x 42cm x 40cm and weighs in at around 200 pounds.  Like most chests of this type, it is one massively solid piece of iron.  It has 5 locking latches and 3 hooks that hold the lid in place.  Unlike many that I have seen on the web this pieces is a solid iron box rather than being made of iron bands.  It is reinforced with a number of Iron bands around the outside.  Inside the chest is a coffer to hold yet more valuables (How strange is that? Unless these were originally designed to hold clothes....) Sadly, the false cover that hides the key has been rusted into an open position.  The locking mechanism here is half missing as is the key.  No big deal.  We just love the idea of having a 'real' treasure chest. The outer chest has a large number of rivets on it which have been etched to look like flowers.  The two handles are turned wrought iron.  I can only begin to imagine the amount of work that went into building these. I've found many of them on the internet while researching the history of these things and what I have found makes me even happier we managed to find ours.  These things are not cheap!  The low end for a rusted one is around $8000.  The more finely decorated or painted see double that price and then some.  We can live with a botched up inner coffer. 

A bit of history on these chests.  They were made primarily in Germany in the 16th and 17th centuries. Nuremberg seems to be the main city, but they were also made in Augsburg.  There were also a few blacksmiths in Austria, Switzerland, and France that made them.  Many were later sent to Holland to be painted with rather intricate designs.  They were originally known as a Corsair and later became Armada Chests during Victorian times to add to the illusion that they washed up on shore from wrecked Spanish Armada ships.  Chests made in Switzerland had a double wall unlike the single walled German versions.  Many of these had more than just a hidden keyhole to open.  Some had an elaborate puzzle like opening to them much like a modern sequential discovery puzzle.  Most had an ornamental iron plate covering the lock mechanism.  Doing a web search, I came across this very interesting webpage that gives a good background on Armada Chests and all things locks. 

Heavy metal

THAT is a lock!

Internal coffer lock

My pirate and his booty chest

And now for a sneak peak at a special delivery.  Chris Ramasy and his "one of a kind", "very expensive", "largest ever" puzzles have nothing on this.  Today we took delivery of an obviously custom made puzzle.  It will be revealed at Boca Bash for those who were invited.  This one came in two massive crates and weighs in at 1000 pounds of shipping weight.  As you can see, it took 5 men to bring each piece into the house.  This puzzle will become an immovable object in the Puzzle Palace. It will have pride of place in the void overlooking the swimming pool.  I started dreaming of this puzzle when we first bought the house. About 1 1/2 years ago we met the grandson of one of George's golfing friends and as it turned out, he's an artist.  One thing lead to another and a rather unique puzzle was born.  I'll say no more and will update again on this after the October unveiling. 

UPS freight delivery

5 men to bring in each piece

Moving it into place

And now for the museum update.  George and I decided to use Ikea KALLAX boxes to kit out all the walls for puzzle storage.  We discovered that we were about 10 quads short and took a drive to Ikea last month to get what was needed. Sadly, I was told they were out of stock in Florida and wouldn't be arriving until late June.  This week Monday on a whim George and I drove south again and discovered those missing quads!  We purchased them and a few single units so we could get the cabinets all installed and trimmed before the puzzles come in.  I returned the next day to pick up a few more single units and a thin bookcase to place in a closet.  While I was there, I looked for the KALLAX quads and boy am I glad we went the night we did.  All were gone yet again. These are very popular cases I guess. I'm happy to say we now have all of them mounted to the wall and 95% of them are trimmed out.  

I've Roxified (color coded) the container manifesto and have purchased matching colored stickers so I can label the boxes as they are removed from the container.  This will help us to place each box in the room the puzzles will be stored in.  We are ready to bring in the puzzles now.  The little bit that we have left to do can be finished at any time.  All work was stopped at the museum on Thursday to install that mystery puzzle at Puzzle Palace.  

The final container has been delayed by a day.  It now should arrive sometime today.  

Finally, after looking at the dates that most blogs are posted, I've discovered they come out on Saturday and Sunday.  In an attempt to allow puzzlers to read all blogs, I'm slowly shifting the date of release backwards.  Our plan for the future is to continue the weekly museum progress update.  We also plan to have a weekly in-depth post about one puzzle-much like I've been doing here.  George also has a few surprises in store.  Stay tuned.  

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 visitor, two tables, and a ship

This past week, I had a visit request on Discord from a fellow twisty puzzler.  He's from out west and his girlfriend has a mother in Boca and he's in town for the weekend and wanted to visit, and boy does this sound familiar...We are always open to visitors to the Puzzle Palace from fellow puzzlers so I said sure.  Now, this isn't the first time it has happened that strangers request a visit. But why not.  We said sure, thinking if it's like the last time, the visitor in question will come up with some excuse and not show up.  No big deal, George played golf as usual and I did my normal Sunday puzzling.  We told him that before he was able to come into the (empty) museum he had to do the following: Please come to 7923 mandarin. Outside the front doors you will find 4 sided pyramid. Take it out of the box and rearrange it into a tetrahedron and put it back in the box. Only then can you ring the bell. Failure to do this will lead only lead to frustration and inability to see the museum.

We also asked him three questions that are required for visitation: “WHAT..... is your name?", "WHAT..... is your quest?, "WHAT..... is the air speed velocity of an unladen swallow?" (George has a warped sense of humor.)  I'll hand it to Gage (our visitor); he played along and replied: Love it and my quest is to bear witness to the most epic puzzle collection known to man!!!

Well, much to my surprise, he did show up on Sunday along with his girlfriend and her mother. I was in the kitchen of the museum faffing about and allowed him a good 5 minutes to work on the puzzle at the entrance. To his credit, he did manage to get it out of the box, he did disassemble it, but he could not rearrange it. Given't he's a twisty puzzler, I said good job and let him in. Gage has the distinction to be the first puzzler to enter the museum and he therefore has his name first in the guest registry. I gave him a quick tour of what will be in about 3 months time, and dealt with a contractor in the garage. After locking up the doors, I had them follow me to Puzzle Palace. I gave an explanation of the driveway and the entrance mosaic, and welcomed them in. I got as far as the Berrocals in the entranceway when George came over and temporarily took over the tour while I put the groceries away. When I returned, I began speaking with the mother and quickly realized she was more interested in the architecture of the house than the puzzles so we went off on a different type of tour. In the mean time, George took the young couple on a puzzling tour of the house.

Solving Joe's head

Simple salads lunch

Through that silent language that only lovers have, we had mutually agreed to head off in different directions and end the tour in the mirror room. While in the kitchen, I offered Ingrid (the mother) a glass of wine because we had been discussing the difference between California and Old World wines along the way. I later offered wine to the younger ones and we sat and enjoyed the mirror room puzzles for a while. We gave Gage two puzzles to solve, Joe's head (a 2x2x2 of George's son) and the Advent calendar gingerbread house. He did both in no time at all.

Treasure chest diving

By this time, we had been touring for around 2 hours and I knew my lover must be starving so I did as I always do and invited them to have a simple lunch with us. Over lunch, George had me bring out Blockistry and they enjoyed solving a puzzle or two. All in all, we enjoyed a rather nice visit and would welcome them into our home again. I hope on their next visit to Boca the museum will be up and running. As always, when they left we had them open the treasure chest.

On to my puzzle of the week. This time I have chosen two puzzle tables that we have purchased. The first is a White Rhino that we purchased from Alibaba. This was a impulse buy and I'm glad I am so impulsive. It's such a cute little table. Easy to put together. I'm sure if I can do it, anyone can. The cost? $195. It looks adorable in the Library next to George's nap time bean bag chair.

Our next puzzle table was a kickstarter that I purchased sometime last year, to be delivered in January. Like many things during the pandemic, these were delayed and just arrived this past week. Cost? $158. Not bad for a table. I had originally planned to put it in the Puzzle Palace, but the place for it is now getting a custom table to be unveiled in October so this table now resides in the master bedroom at the Museum.

Big George Approves

And now onto a ship (and the weekly museum update). I've been watching the NYK Nebula for the last 20 days. On Tuesday in the wee hours of the morning, it left Halifax Canada on its way to Miami. The wait was killing me. I watch it go out into the ocean and then just poof! It's gone without the paid satellite subscription. Then the next day it shows up again near the coast. The wait was driving me crazy. And not for the reason you might think. Yes, I'm eager to get the shipment in, but I am also not ready for it. Friday morning it moored at Port Everglades. 1/2 hour south of here. The excitement is increasing. I keep looking at the container information waiting for it to be unloaded. It's foolish to try and anticipate the delivery date, but then, I've often been told I'm a fool.

Tesla had finished installing the solar panels, but the power walls are not hooked up and we are still fully on the grid. The guy putting down the epoxy floor was an oaf and there were bubbles all over the floor on Sunday last. He came over, sanded them down and applied a new coat of white epoxy. Well, the damned things bubbled again. Monday we had the man come to lay the decals but because of the bubbles, it couldn't be done. I had to leave because I was about to start screaming at someone. George came up with a solution. We will now have a stippled effect on the floor, the epoxy fool will sand the floor yet again and put down a clear layer that can't bubble on Tuesday, and on Wednesday the decal will be placed before putting down the final clear coat. I think this is going to end in disaster but I've my fingers crossed. (I'm writing this on Monday night-I'll edit later for an update.) As it turned out, our general contractor came up with the solution. We now have a blowtorch that we can attach to our propane tank. The solution was to melt the bubbles as soon as the epoxy is laid down. Problem solved. We managed to get the garage finished before the first container arrived. Both decals have been placed in the floor along with a small collection of coins from our travels.

So I guess it's time to announce the winners of the competition. First is Nick Baxter. In a phone call, he mentioned to George that we should look at some of the tessellations of Robert Reid. Eureka! Why hadn't we thought of that? George then set about designing the decal and we had it printed and mounted by a company here in Boca Raton. The second decal came from our shared love of the Big Bang Theory. I have the melting cube on a t-shirt, so we decided to have it printed and place it on the floor. This was done by a company in California because we wanted it to have an anamorphic illusion to it. This company was able to take the image from the t-shirt and a youtube video and made it a 2D decal for our floor.

The work inside the house goes on. The ceilings are being painted, the drywall holes are being patched, and the cabinets are being mounted in the bedrooms. Once the garage is finished there are another 20 or so Kallax's that will be mounted in there. We've got a new roof going over what one can only believe was intended to be an outdoor shower. Now it houses pool equipment and the recycling containers. I'm super chuffed by the work being done by Flipping Awesome and Chilly Inc. They are an amazing group of guys who have done some wonderful work for us.

And now we wait. When will customs release our toys? When will the first batch of 241 boxes of puzzles arrive? The waiting game is the worst. Today we place the shelving units in the garage and throw the hurricane bolts for good. The garage will no longer be a garage. It is now just an extension of the Museum. Until next week...Happy Puzzling all!