Berrocal's

Some of you have been watching my posts on facebook for the past two days so what you see here is nothing new.  Maybe a bit more detail.  I know this is going to end up being my all time favorite post.  Because these are my all time favorite puzzles.  I'd heard of them before, even saw one or two up for sale on eBay but was never really interested.  Not that is until IPP31 when I was invited to Hendrik Haak's house.  I saw Michelle and fell in love!  With the puzzle, not him.  (Sorry Hendrik, married.)   Since then, I've been wanting to get a Berrocal for a while but there were many other puzzles that were more important.

She doesn't look like much there on the shelf between those two Doreamon puzzles, but there was just something about her that I liked.  That led me on a three year hunt for a set of my own.  Being a collector I couldn't stop at just one.  I needed all 6 in the series.

The Berrocal's are not only puzzles, but they are also beautiful works of art.  And they are fun too.  Each one has a ring inside.  The ring size for the Mini's is a US size 6 (yes, I have a ring sizer at home).  Many of the pieces have some sort f sexual innuendo incorporated into the work.  Some are rather obvious like David's observable penis, others are more subtle, like Maria's internal male genitalia.  I have hunted up and down trying to find these puzzles.  Some I've gotten through eBay, some through art auctions, some through private collectors.  All I love.

My first was Michelle.  I met her and wanted to bring her home.  She was a lucky find.  Really lucky.  Within four months of seeing her, I had my own Michelle winging her way to me.  She arrived on Thanksgiving day 2011.

Michelle has 18 pieces including the plastic base she sits on. She's got a nickel plate on her and stands 13.5 cm tall when on the base.  She came out in 1969.
Like all the other Berrocal Mini's, she has a ring inside.  It's made of enamel and cubic zircona.

My next Berrocal was micro-David.  And my last mini was David.  I'm writing about the two together here because visually, they are the same puzzle, structurally they are very different.  Micro David has become somewhat of a good luck talisman to me.  I wear him every time I present.  If I leave for a talk without him, I've got to return home and pick him up again.  I got this one almost a full year after I bought Michelle.  The final Mini I received came from a Baxterweb auction.  David finally came home!  I have lusted after him for years, and this time I was determined to take him home.  David was by far the most expensive of the Berrocals that I have purchased to date.

Micro david has 18 pieces including the base and stands 7.7 cm tall.  David has 23 pieces and stands 13.5 cm tall. The rings inside are the testicles and penis of the torso.  Not as mundane as Michelle.  Micro David's ring is flexible and is looped around the piece next to it in the photo above.  Interestingly, the ring on Micro David is size 5.5  All the others rings in the minis are a size 6.  The photo above shows Micro David disassembled on the left and Mini David on the right.  Micro David is made of brass while David is Nickel plated. David came out in 1969 and Micro David followed in 1972.

Following Micro David I received Mini Zoraida.  I picked her up about a month after I got micro David.  This is the only Berrocal I have gotten with the box included.  She is in mint condition with only one tiny little flaw.  One of her shoes likes to fall off.  Not that I blame her, I hate wearing heals for any length of time.

 Zoraida is made up of 25 pieces and stands 13.4 cm tall when on the base.  Zoraida is also Nickel plated.  She was first sighted in 1970.

Next up came a very unloved Maria.  I was on a roll this quarter.  3 Berrocals each within a month of each other.  And all three for less than US$500 each.  I won't give exact prices in the event that Mr. Man reads this, but suffice it to say 500 was the most expensive of the last three.  Maria I got off eBay and unfortunately the seller neglected to tell me he lost two of the pieces.  One of them key to the puzzle.  Thanks to Kevin and another friend, I've sent off an email to see if I can't get a replacement part.  (BREAKING NEWS: As I write this post, the Berrocal Foundation has just contacted me with instructions on how to get my missing pieces!  Thank you Kevin and Jim!)

  Maria is made up of 23 pieces (sadly mine has only 21)  She stands 13 cm tall on her base. She is covered in chrome. She hit the market in 1969 along with David and Michelle.

I was good for a while, I waited a few months before I purchased Christina.  She came not from eBay, but an art auction in Florida.  And before you bat your eyes and balk at the price, she was by far the cheapest of the bunch.  Ok.  shipping cost a bit, but overall price.  She was better.  If you are looking for Berrocals, I recommend this route.  Once I got Christina this way I quit looking at eBay and yahoo.  The only fault with Christina is a bit of pitting along her base, and some on her arms.  Again, I can live with this.  

 Christina is the only one of the miniatures that has a letter on the ring.  Christina stands 15.2 cm tall and has 25 pieces.  Christina was released in 1970 as well.  

Following Christina I obtained Mini Cariatide.  She came to me in lovely condition.  No book, no box.  But very well taken care of.  Her previous owner loved her like I do.  Cariatide is also special because she was the last of the multiples for me.  Remember, at this time I had micro-David.  

 Cariatide, like Maria, is chrome plated.  She stands 16 cm tall and is made up of 26 pieces.  She came out in 1969.

Which brings me to my last two Berrocal purchases.  I managed to win an auction of Alexandre, but sadly, there is no key that is needed to open him up.  I can't wait to get one because he has not one, but NINE rings inside.  All I can show you is Himself in his solved state.  Once I get that key, expect  blog  post on him.  Alexandre is relatively new coming out in 1976.  

The final purchase has made me most happy.  Again, it is an auction win.  This one I placed a bid on and went to sleep.  At the end of the day, she's just slightly more expensive than Alexandre and is now being packaged and shipped to me.  I can only give you photos from the auction house.  I eagerly await her coming home to me.  And for those of you going to IPP.  Well, you can expect to see me sporting her next August.  ManyMoreHorses was released in 1982.

 I leave you with a final photo of all my toys.  2 years and 2 months later, I have found the full set.  Next up?  Manolete or Romeo and Juliette...

Hong Kong Puzzler gathering #2 and #3

No, I'm not being lazy, it's really that both of the second two gatherings were quite short for me.  I had a house warming at my bosses for the first, and birthday party for one of the lads for the second  so my time with the guys here was short and sweet.

My boss and his wife trying to solve Cariatide.

I'll start out by saying I love it when Otis comes into town.  He's one of my real boys.  He's just great and I adore him.  Any excuse to meet up is good for me.  No, It's great!

The second dinner saw the usual suspects, Smaz, Otis, Myself, but we also had Kim and Phillip with us as well as Michael's family.  It was a nice little gathering of friends.

When I got to the restraunt, there weren't many puzzles out and I felt horribly bad for only bringing along a few metal toys.  Of course the first thing I did was give Otis an unsolved Cariatide to reassemble.  He did a bang up job of it!

Even Michaels son got into puzzling.  he was playing with the coin safe I bought a few years back and the Tdof I picked up last year.

 Yes, there is something wrong with this photo.  Can you guess what it is?

Michael Explained to us how to solve this puzzle.  I'm not sure of the name, but I kept calling it a peppermint twist.  Mr. Strijbos sells them for  interested parties.

 Kim and Phillip were given a go at the Berrocal and it took two to reassemble it.

The obligatory ring on hand shot.

The boys are almost done!

All and all, this gathering was very short for me.  Only an hour or so.  I didn't get to spend as much time with the guys as I'd have liked, but I had that other thing to go to first.

So on to gathering #3 of Otis' stay.

We met at a restaurant in Wan Chi where we had taken Hendrick before.  I was working over there and Michael very kindly worked out that I would be able to find it easily.  When I arrived both Otis and Michael were already there.  Beer was ordered, a glass downed and then the party could begin.  

 Of course, Otis asked for another Berrocal and this time I brought along Christina.  I had an ulterior motive with this one.  It was stuck and I needed help moving the parts.  Otis dutifully took her apart.

Again the obligatory ring photo.

I also brought along a few other puzzles.  Oskar's Writers Block made by recent toys.  (which was solved with the aid of a toothpick and a lot of laughter)

 This one is simply called Metal Art. It's like a snake, made by a company in Taiwan.  Hendrik showed it to me at the toys fair so I had to pick up a copy. It works like a snake, but can be disassembled and reassebbled-Oh wait, Oddzon made one of those in the early 2000's didn't they.  Well, this one is metal and very heavy.  It's a highly recommended puzzle if you can find one.  (by the magpie in me)

Puzzle's brought.  3 people, small gathering.  But the puzzling doesn't matter as much as the company does.  I can't wait for the next time Otis comes to town.  He's said maybe April, maybe May....Next time...Zoraida and David.

Hong Kong puzzlers gathering #1

This post is long overdue but between preparing for conferences, going to them, and getting sick upon my return, I've been unable to post.  With the permission of Otis, I have reprinted his TwistyPuzzles.com post here. Forgive my laziness, it's been a hell of a month.  

My name is Otis Cheng. A puzzle lover who start from twistypuzzles. I don't know if it is allowed to write a post about our recent puzzle gathering in Hong Kong and posted here. Anyway we do have twistypuzzles in our post so...please tell me if there's a problem. Just want to share about our first puzzle gathering in Hong Kong. 

Date: 27-01-2014 08:30pm
Place: Sharp Star Restaurant

Recently we found that there're many puzzle lover in Hong Kong, but we never have a chance to stay together. This time I'm coming back to HK for the chinese new year, and most of us think it is the time. So we decided to hold a puzzle gathering at 27th night at the "Sharp Star restqurant". We choose this place because Rox, Smaz & I had been here before, eating & playing puzzles as well. The meal is good & the boss of the restaurant even attracted to play puzzles with us last time. So we decided to hold our first "HK puzzler gathering" here. 

Puzzler introduction. From Left to Right: Victor Lam, Mr Wong, Mr Tang, Kyoo Wong, restaurant owner Mr Wai, Smaz, me, Rox, Saul Symonds, Ricky Ng. All are puzzle lover from......ah no.....in Hong Kong  

We're having our gathering and the dinner at the same time. But it's not easy to book a table while close to Chinese new year, and some of us can't be there too early due to work, so we decide to have the dinner at 08:30pm. a bit late. For those who can attend earlier, we met at a Mcdonalds nearby & play puzzles first. As you can see, we have much different type puzzles. 

The Mcdonald gathering start from 6pm. We have 5 of us here. Play & discuss puzzles there and we don't know how the time passed to 08:30pm.

Anyway I should talk about puzzles. I'll start from twistypuzzles type as this is TP.com. Octo Star Cube. Designed by David Pitcher. First shown in 2013 by 3d printing. But the one in the pic is a mass-produced version by Calvin's puzzle aka nowstore. Octo Star Cube is somehow like a bandaged version of "eight direction turning 3x3" cube. you got to turn the middle layer to a certain place to allow 45 degree turning. So there'll be shape shifting. As this bandaging idea is contained with this puzzle, so it'll be slightly hard I think. We popped once during the gathering, but it's not so hard to assemble it. However the little triangle pieces is very thin so I accidentally broke one during break in.

chinaminx. A design which is very close to Hungarian Supernova. I eventually got this one at the same day of the gathering. So the restaurant is located in ShamShuiPo, a rather old district of Hong Kong. Sometimes we can dig some old stuff out here. And at that day I found this puzzle selling in a small booth at the street. So bad one tile is missing, and it's not really clean & neat. But consider the price is cheap enough I think it's ok, especially while I'm a dodecahedron avid. 

I don't know the name of this puzzle in English, in chinese it's called "四大天王". Interlocking puzzle. This is designed by Mr Gong Yong Ming who is from Shanghai of China. This puzzle is combined with a holey box and 4 different wooden pieces. Each piece have different "leg". And so they're stuck inside the box. You can turn, slide or pull up & down every pieces, in order to achieve the aim: Take out all four pieces. This is somehow a prototype. So I give this one away to Rox while I still have another one in Beijing.

Fortune Cat Puzzle. A Cartoon 2x2 cube it is. This puzzle is produced by a china company which is not allowed to shown here, as the mechanism of this puzzle copies the patented ES 2x2x2 design. Anyway this puzzle is actually not bad in turning, and having a nice outlook. So I brought 8 of them to the gathering and give each puzzler one as a present.

Fortune Cat Puzzle. A Cartoon 2x2 cube it is. This puzzle is produced by a china company which is not allowed to shown here, as the mechanism of this puzzle copies the patented ES 2x2x2 design. Anyway this puzzle is actually not bad in turning, and having a nice outlook. So I brought 8 of them to the gathering and give each puzzler one as a present. 

Cast U&U. Newest cast puzzle. Brought to us by Kyoo Wong. This puzzle is not even start to release to the market. But Kyoo brought us a few as he is the producer of hanayama. So consider this as a kind of "final test by puzzler" before it is officially released. As you can see Cast U&U is combined with two U shape screw, each of it has two bolt at the end. Your aim is to take them apart. This puzzle will be rated as level 4 difficulty by hanayama. But none of us except Smaz solved it that night.

Saul trying to solve U&U.

Smaz show us a puzzle he got recently. It's called Hufeisenpuzzle, designed by Jean Claude Constantin. The whole thing is in the pic, only 3 pieces. The objective is to use one among three of them, to hold another two up. Of course none can fall or it is considered as fail. This is a gift from Hendrik Haak to Smaz during the HK toys fair at January. 

So the time came to 08:30pm, we head to Sharp Star restaurant to meet another 4 of us. We wait for a while even we had booked a table.....but fortunately not so long waiting. When we are told to go in, we didn't seat tight and order the meal, but to take out all of the puzzles we brought there! We played all puzzles even while the meal is up~So tight it is. Well but this is Hong Kong. We get used to the crowd anyway.

I don't know if anyone will be interested but still I'm showing the meal we have. They're really tasty for Hong Kong people. A little pricy but for nine people is still not bad. Especially the owner Mr Wai is a very kind person and interested in puzzle as well. That's why we choose here for the gathering. For the meal, we had goose, fish and pork something. It's really hard to translate the name of the meal into english......Oh we ordered some Tofu and vegetable as well coz Saul is a vegetarian. I think the meals are really good. But most of us are not concern on the food but puzzles.

So I'm talking about puzzles again. The first one will be a twistypuzzle as well. The transparent version ofTime Machine. Designed & made by Smaz. There's only one in the world coz Smaz only make one of it. So bad the inner 2x2 doesn't have transparent version so he has no choice but to use black 2x2. Smaz show this to everyone and everyone think it's amazing puzzle. 

As the offical dealer of hanayama cast puzzle, Victor Lam of course he can get the newest cast puzzle. So he brought me the newest one I don't have: Cast Twist. designed by Oskar Van Deventer. As we know Oskar designed this puzzle in 2004 and called it "Snake Ball". Up to 2012 he brought this puzzle to IPP and attract the attention of hanayama. So at the end of 2013 hanayama produced this puzzle under the name Cast Twist. 

Rox brought up anouther wire puzzle. It's called "Tricky Dick wood and rope puzzle". This is actually a very classic design which has many different variants. The aim is to take apart the Metal ring. I heard that this design is already been out at 1999. But the one we're watching is by Mr Puzzle from Australia. 

I didn't expected to see this one at the gathering. Rubik's 2x2. If you look closely you'll see this one is not a sticker version usually seen from Rubik's, but tiles. Oh yes this is the New version of Rubik's 2x2 cube. Using sphere core inside, and tiles outside. Ricky Ng brought this to us at the gathering. Ricky is a wire puzzle lover but still want to learn about twistypuzzles at the age of 60+. 

Kyoo Wong brought us his binder clip puzzle. He like to make these cool stuffs recently. I don't know if these can be sorted as puzzle or not, may be impossible object? Anyway Kyoo told us it is not so hard to make one. Just search keyword "binder clip puzzle" and there'll be many websites teaching us how to make one. The first time to make one will take some time but after that it'll be easier & quicker. There're a few cool sculpture showing here.

20 cent Box brought by Rox. So strange that there's not much information about this puzzle on the web. So the only thing I know is that it is designed by Jean Claude Constantin. The aim is straight forward: to take out the 20 cent inside. The puzzle provide with a wooden made key which can insert in a hole at the bottom of the puzzle. But till then nothing I can do. There's another hole at the front which is smaller, I think this hole must be useful or else it won't exist. Well I didn't solve it at last during the gathering.

Kiste Mini. Means "Mini box". Another design by Jean again. Jean is known as his great design and personalized Wooden type puzzles. But he didn't make many wooden box puzzle. Most of his puzzle box is rather easy for beginner. The one showing is one of them. Each side of the box is flat. There's a image of a lock hole in front of the box. From the top you can pull up a little but still stuck. After several times of trying I successfully open the box. After that I think the box is easy enough, if you can think of it in a total opposite way. 

I didn't photograph all the puzzles as there're too many of them. But we all tried each of them suring the gathering. We learn from each other, as we usually focus on one specific type of puzzles. So we learn much during sharing out view of puzzles and playing different puzzles. We even exchange some of our puzzles!

Mr Wai, who is the owner of the restaurant, he is a magic lover. Somehow the item of Magic is similar to puzzles. Which seems like impossible but actually possible. So he came several times during the gathering, and play different puzzles with us as well. Sometimes he'll show magic to us. We decided to have the next puzzle gathering at his restaurant again in the future. 

I brought my Eitan's Star to let everyone to play. As most of them are not actually twistypuzzles player, they didn't dare to turn it......So I scramble the Eitan's Star and then they feel free to try it then. Saul seems very interested to it, he tried to solve it but, it's too hard for a beginner to start from Eitan's Star anyway. 

Mr Tang brought us his design. A metal puzzle. Which contains a long box, a even longer screw a metal ball and a few caps. There's a hole through the top and the bottom of the metal box. So if you put the ball on the top of the box, it will fall out at the bottom of it. After that Tang insert the screw to the box horizontally. So the ball will be blocked by the screw and stay at the top. Later Tang put on a few caps at the top, bottom and the end of the screw, and do some secret movement. While he took out the caps again, the ball drop off from the bottom, while the screw is still remaining inside. Actually as a puzzler all of us figure out where the trick is but not exactly the solution. Finally Tang show us where the tricky part is. What a nice design. So bad he only made two. 

Actually Tang himself produce puzzles too. He invented "progressive Tangram" and mass produced them to the market. As you can see in the pic, nice puzzle it is. He gave each of us one at the gathering. Thanks!

It's really nice to have such a puzzle gathering in Hong Kong this time. As a puzzler who start from twistypuzzles only, and then broaden his interest to different type of puzzles, I'm feeling lucky that I can meet so many nice puzzlers and have a chance to communicate with them, even in such a small city like Hong Kong! I hope we'll have even more puzzle gathering in the future. And I got to force them to play twistypuzzles!  

So the above is the whole situation of our gathering. Hope you like it. And please forgive my poor english.