The puzzle looks very simple, contrary to many other wire puzzles, that look scary and complex right from the start. Nevertheless, its looks are deceiving, as it can prove to be frustratingly difficult to solve. The goal is also very simple: you try to remove the orange string from the heart-shaped frame, without breaking or use too much force on the string or the frame itself. 

The description from the designer is very interesting and clever. According to him, you have something in your heart, may be a bad feeling, a sin or even a vice and your objective is to remove it from your heart. The name he had originally for the puzzle was Love Secret, but decided later to change it to Clear Heart, as in a heart free from bad things.

The level of difficulty in PuzzleMaster's scale is an 8 out of 10, and I think it fits perfectly with its complexity, as far as solving goes. I had several tries with more than 10 minutes each and I couldn't come close to a solution. I found myself trying the same approach each time, even though I struggled to look at it from another angle to see what could be done differently to reach a resolution. I even thought at times that the solution was behing some kind of a knot trick, like those you see in Marine Knots. Finally, in my last attempt, which by the way was just over a minute, I freed the string from the heart with ease. I don't know what changed, but I guess it had something to do with the fact that I haven't touched it in more than a week, and when I returned to it for another session with a fresh mind, I had it solved in no time. Do you want to know the trick? - If no, don't look at the picture below and don't read the rest of this paragraph: the key is to move the string to the middle of the heart (around the two parallel vertical wires) and then stretch it to one of the ends of the horizontal oval shape in the middle. Now just pass it around the rest of the oval and you should see it pop right out of the heart. Make the same thing, but backwards to return the string to its original position.

The Panic Attack is a perfect puzzle, even for those who are not crazy about wire puzzles, like me. It has a simple design, easy to comprehend and has a great level of difficulty to keep you guessing about the solution for quite a while. If you find the solution for yourself, you'll see it has that rewarding feeling and the surprise factor.

You can find the Panic Attack at PuzzleMaster for CAD $9.95

This is the Cast Quartet, a design made by Mineyuki Uyematsu for Hanayama and released in September 2007. 

 

The Chain Gang, a Wire Puzzle produced by PuzzleMaster, which has three versions: the wire version was designed by Dick Hess, the rope version by Markus Goetz and the version here for review was adapted by Allan Stein.

The puzzle looks complicated just by looking at it. No wonder, it's a level 9 out of 10...

You need to free the golden oval ring from the wire and ring tangly, which proved to be an impossible task for me, at the time of writing.  The pieces can be divided into four categories. There's two small wires and two long ones, three silver rings (one smaller than the other two) and finally the bigger golden ring. 

Wire puzzles aren't usually my forte when it comes to solving. I've been trying it unsuccessfully for the past week and I think I didn't come even close to figure out its solution. You can move the oval ring freely along the silver wires, but the big golden ring keeps blocking your apparent exit, so the solution needs a bit (or a lot) of "thinking outside the box". As I was unable to find the solution in time for the review, I can't tell much more on how to solve it. If you need a solution though, that's going to be tough, because PuzzleMaster doesn't provide any in their website, although you can always try to contact them.

EDIT: If you still require a solution, you can now download one here.

If you're a Wire Puzzle fan, go for it, because it's among the harder ones you can find. And if you want this exact version, you can only find it in PuzzleMaster's website.

The puzzle is made of three spiral entangled pieces, all different from each other, and you have to disentangled them with a specific order.

Well, this is the most difficult puzzle from Hanayama that I've tried so far. As of now, I'm yet to completely disassemble the three pieces, having them with the ends still entangled. When you first look at the puzzle, the way that the pieces are entangled, resemble the Cast Coaster, which is also made with three parts. Disentangling the first part is not that hard: you just need to loosen the pieces one at a time until they all move freely (not that much), but still entangled. The problems start when you try to separate a piece from the trio, something I'm still struggling with. I see grooves on each piece, meaning that you need to combine or pass one of the ends of a piece to one of these grooves, although I can't seem to find an exact combination for the right groove with the right end-piece. 

Now, I could've just looked at the solution and write a completely different review, but stubborn as I am, I'm  going to keep trying until I solve it. I have been trying this puzzle for about two weeks now, a little bit each day, though the longest I've spent with a Cast Puzzle is over a month, with the Cast Elk.

The Vortex is rated by Hanayama as a 5 out of 6 level and a 9 out of 10 by PuzzleMaster, but unless I'm missing something, this has to be top difficulty in both scales, for the time it takes to separate the pieces and the level of complexity applied to the concept.

I really recommend this puzzle if you like a really tough mind boggling challenge. I think it's clear that it's not one of those puzzles you solve in minutes, so you'll have in hands something to entertain you for days, unless you lose your patience before that... If you do lose your patience, you can always try to solve it with the help of a solution sheet.

As of the time of writing this review, PuzzleMaster has the Cast Vortex sold out, but if you're really interested in buying one, check back their site often, because they restock frequently.

Optimal Tumble

Built in 2009 with red alder and walnut wood, this is one of my favorite William's work, alongside the Celtic Knot, though I don't own it (yet), I love its brilliant design.


With twelve pieces, divided into three types, you have to make shapes (preferably symmetrical) with the space unfilled by the pieces. This happens, because the area that the pieces occupy in the tray are smaller than the total area, leaving room to make all kinds of shapes with the hole left over by the piece's arrangement. All three types of pieces are symmetrical and you can use both sides of them, because they both have the same color, meaning that it's possible to have more configurations with a simple piece swap.

The difficulty of the puzzle can vary depending on the type of shape you're trying to do. Asymmetrical shapes are much easier and there's probably many more solutions, whereas the symmetrical ones are harder to build and fewer. There's five shapes on the tray to try to get used to the solving method, but you can find many more.


The number of solutions is unknown, so you never know if you've solved them all. A nice thing, if you think about it, because, even after you've found a handful of new solutions, there could be much more to discover. A great puzzle, indeed.

Peg Trap


This puzzle was built in 2007, also with red alder and black walnut wood, and its goal is similar to that on the Optimal Tumble, meaning that you have multiple levels of difficulty that will suit anyone and the main challenge is to find symmetrical arrangements.


You have nine pieces with a pattern that, when placed in the tray, they will leave six holes. Now, there's over 800.000 solutions, but most of them will be just random patterns of holes. If you want a harder challenge, you need to make a symmetrical pattern with the holes, although not all symmetrical patterns are possible. Also similar with the Optimal Tumble is the double-sided pieces that will increase greatly the number of possible arrangements. If you want to just move a hole around, you can do that by flipping a single piece.


Overall, I noticed that the Peg Trap was a bit harder than the Optimal Tumble, mostly because it took much more time to come up with a symmetrical solution. I found that the trick is to just swap a couple of pieces at a time, instead of removing all the pieces from the tray and try again.


Closing Comments:

William Waite's puzzles are a joy to play with. Both puzzles have a high replay level and are definitely worth their money. Even after you've played with them for many hours, you can always return to them and find new solutions. If I had to pick one of his puzzles, I would definitely go with the Optimal Tumble, for the amazing shapes it can create. All of his puzzles are original designs and you can find them only in his website, Puzzle Mist that has been a display for his great work.

As a special offer, Puzzle Mist is offering a free $10 puzzle for every 3 or more puzzles that you buy from their site, so don't waste this great opportunity. Also, shipping is free within the US for any order, and free International for 3 or more puzzles as well.

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This is the Cast Duet, one of many designs from Oskar van Deventer produced by Hanayama, for the Cast series. It was released together with the Cuby (another one from Oskar) in October 2005.

The puzzle is a 3x3 grid with grooves on every square and a ring, which is actually two rings that are bound together by magnets. Your task is to separate the ring in two and remove them from the grid, one at a time by moving them around the grooves, until you find the exit. The challenge is similar to the one found in the Cast Bike or the ABC Puzzle, where you have to follow a path full of grooves in order to solve them.

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This is probably the only Cast Puzzle, at least that I can think of, that has multiple challenges. It's great for replay value, as after you've accomplished the main task of removing the rings and return them to their original position, there are another four challenges, each harder than the last one. You'll notice around the four corners of the center square, small triangles with dots in them (1 through 4), indicating the level of difficulty. These challenges require that you place the rings, joined together, inside those particular square vertices. Below is a picture of the rings in the position number two, the only extra challenge that I solved so far.

The Cast Duet is rated by Hanayama at level 5 (out of 6) and PuzzleMaster at level 9 (out of 10), which is no surprise given the high level of difficulty of those harder challenges. The main challenge is somewhat easy enough to get the hang of it, but as you try the extra levels, you'll start to feel the frustration as you try to get the rings across the grid with no apparent result. Sometimes, you might get the rings in the right location, but with the wrong orientation, so you need to start over and try a different path.

Solution: Feeling trapped? Get the solution .pdf here. Alternatively, you can click here for a video solution.

Closing Comments:

The Cast Duet is among the most enjoyable puzzles by Hanayama. It's a great design by Oskar van Deventer, who always tries to get the most out of his puzzles. There's a level of difficulty that will suit anyone from a casual puzzler to an experienced puzzle buff. Definitely recommended...

The Cast Duet is available at PuzzleMaster for CAD $12.95.

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Links:

Hanayama's Factory Visit (Many thanks to Roxanne Wong for sharing these pictures)

Cast Elk, a concept that's been around since the 19th century and perfectly redesigned by NOB (Nobuyuki Yoshigahara), is one of Hanayama's best in their Cast series. The Cast News is another one of the great NOB's designs. The Elk was the fifth Cast puzzle release by the company, way back in 1986.

The Cast Seahorse is one of the most beautiful of this special set, alongside the Cast Starfish. You have two seahorses that are bound together, and you have to carefully disentangle them. There's a silver seahorse with two closed loops and the second, a golden seahorse has two gaps that will work as two open gates to navigate your way across the other one. Wonderful design with the two different colors that adds a nice touch to the overall presentation.

This is a Hanayama level 3 puzzle (out of 6) or PuzzleMaster's level 7 (out of 10). I agree more with the PuzzleMaster's level classification, because it was a bit more challenging than what I was expecting (around 20 minutes solving time). You start with the golden seahorse, hooked by the head to the bottom of the silver one. Your next step is to rotate the golden seahorse to its bottom loop, while still joined at the bottom of the silver one. Next, you have to transfer it to the upper loop of the silver seahorse and you end up separating them at the top by their heads. It's a bit complicated to visualize all this, but for guidance, you can use PuzzleMaster's sheet solution found here. Like most disentanglement puzzles, putting them back together can be a tougher task than to separate them. This is because you spend many time concentrated on how to solve it, that you forget all the steps that were required to successfully disentangle them. So, by the time you achieve your goal, you are so thrilled at that moment to have solved the puzzle, that when you finally try to put them back, it's a whole new challenge. It isn't necessarily a bad thing if you like tough puzzles.

The Marine Series are a fantastic addition to the Cast collection. They follow Hanayama's excellent presentation standards and philosophy and for a collector's point of view, a must have (all of them). The actual puzzle concept is not new, but it's its design approach that makes all the difference between an ordinary puzzle and a brilliant puzzle.

The Cast Seahorse can be bought at PuzzleMaster, as well as all other Cast Puzzles.

Note: In previous reviews, I had as the Cast Puzzle's official website, the English version, but apparently this site has been down for a few weeks now, and I'm not sure if it will return. For now, I will only list the Hanayama's website, which unfortunately is in Japanese only.

The Destroyer is designed and produced by PuzzleMaster. There's a wide variety of these puzzles, all made by PuzzleMaster and you can find them here.

Wire disentanglement puzzles date back from a couple of centuries ago, and back then were recognized as some kind of magic tricks, because of the steps required to separate them. This type of mechanical puzzles are also among the most difficult ones to solve, mostly because of their design, which is always different for each one. This implicates that whichever puzzle you solve, you won't gain much experience for solving a completely different one. Over these couple of centuries, thousands of different designs have been made, which fall into several categories. You can see a comprehensive guide on these puzzles at Robb's Puzzle Page.

The goal of The Destroyer is somewhat easy to comprehend, compared to other designs. There's a red string with a green bead attached and you need to remove them from the puzzle. The puzzle is rated by PuzzleMaster at 9 out of 10, which is pretty difficult, but I found it much easier than I was expecting it to be (around 10 minutes to solve)... You just have to look at it with a different approach, much like any other wire puzzle, for that matter. At first glance, when you try to work out how to remove the string, it looks like the only possible way is to pass it around the big ring. It's an impossible task though, because the red string is smaller than the diameter of the ring. The correct method to get the string out, is actually through the bottom part of the 4-shaped frame, but since you have that black string with the ring blocking your way, you need to shift it to another part of the frame, leaving open space to finally remove the red string. You'll need to pass the ring through the frame in order to make the black string able to move freely around the wire. To get the red string back on its original position, just repeat the same steps backwards.

I was pleasantly surprised by the clever design of The Destroyer. I was able to solve it in a fairly amount of time, probably in a lucky move, but I bet there'll be others that will struggle to see the solution so easily, because after all, this is a level 9 puzzle. While Wire Puzzles aren't among my favorite type of mechanical puzzles, they do provide a serious level of challenge and creative thinking. I recommend it for anyone that likes to think outside of the box.

The Destroyer is available at PuzzleMaster, along with many other great wire puzzles.

The Cast Medal is comprised by two medals that are linked together and a ring. Basically, you have to remove the ring, but to do that, you must work with the two medals at the same time. You start with the medal that has a salmon in a flowing river and a ring in its mouth (it's this ring that you have to free). Then, you must join the two medals, as if they were one, to allow the ring to get across the two paths and out. On the other medal there are six holes scattered between the "rocks" that will make your journey through the river, a little bit more complex. The challenge resembles the one found in the Cast L'œuf, because of its two different paths that must function as one and, although a bit more complicated, is plays like the classic Cast Plate, for its similar design with holes.

The Cast Medal is available at PuzzleMaster, as well as other Cast Puzzles.

Right out of the box, I was very impressed by the Xmatrix design. The golden and silver frames look extremely elegant and the mazes on both puzzles seem a little complex, especially the larger version. The packaging used is different for each version: on the Quadrus you're presented with a nice card drawer box that can be used for display purposes and on the Cubus, you have a gold plated clear plastic box, however it can brittle very easily due to the nature of the material and doesn't have much use after you open it. Other than that and besides looking very pleasing to the eye, both puzzles are of great quality and should withstand the more careless handling of the younger puzzlers.

There are two different size versions, the Quadrus (large) and and the Cubus (small), with both having two color choices for the mazes (yellow and blue). If you can afford the two designs, I recommend the Quadrus in yellow and the Cubus in blue - For being larger, the Quadrus will look much nicer with a complete golden appearance and the Cubus, because it's smaller, will accentuate the contrast between the blue labyrinth walls and the golden and silver frames.

Your task is to guide the ball from one side to the opposite one and return it to the starting point. You'll usually start at the golden frame and only one of the four openings is large enough to let the ball pass through - This is also true for the silver frame, where you have just one way in, which proves that there's only one correct path. The Quadrus is supposed to be slightly harder than the Cubus, but to put it mildly, slightly is an understatement... It's frustratingly tougher and you're gonna have much more trouble to complete it, not just because it's bigger, but also for having a lot of dead-ends. I found myself walking around in circles on several occasions, without finding the right path to the middle of the opposite frame. The Cubus, on the other hand, is a joy to play. The overall size of the maze is much smaller, which ultimately will facilitate the memorization of the labyrinth for faster solving times. If you get easily frustrated by a hard puzzle, then I recommend starting off with the Cubus to get used to the nature of the puzzle. However, if you like a real challenge, then you won't be disappointed by the Quadrus.

*Solved Golden Sides*

Both puzzles are classified, in terms of completion time, as "Genius!", "Bravo" and "Well done", with 4, 10 and 20 minutes respectively for the Cubus and 5, 15 and 30 minutes for the Quadrus. ...Well, I'm not a "Genius" with the smaller puzzle, as my first completion time was around 10 minutes for both journeys and I didn't count the time for the larger one, but it was way more than the 30 minutes... The trick is, if you're stuck on the big maze without any real progress, just put it down for an hour or so, and you're gonna return with a fresher mind for another session.

As I said in previous reviews, presentation is everything when you launch a new product in the market. The Xmatrix puzzles do this in great style, as the overall visual appearance is very attractive in both puzzles, capturing your attention right away. The designer didn't leave anything to chance and you can witness this even in the logo, where an Ambigram is cleverly used to read Xmatrix from both sides.

After almost two and a half years of collecting, I have acquired a lot of different Dexterity puzzles, but none of them can be compared and don't come close to the Xmatrix puzzles. Not only do they look good, but the level of complexity put into them is astonishing. As I first looked into them, they seemed pretty hard and after I played with them for several hours, I can say that each of them provide a very satisfying level of challenge for everyone. Like everything, practice makes perfect and if you play with the Xmatrix long enough, perhaps you'll be able to aim for that "Genius" score.

You can buy the Xmatrix Puzzles on the official website.

Youtube Video - Demonstration of both puzzles

*Solved Silver Sides*